Transatlantic Roundtable
Sharing borders with Iraq and Syria, Turkey is directly affected by the violent conflicts in its southeastern neighborhood. However, Ankara’s initial reluctance to wholeheartedly join the U.S.-led coalition against the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) indicates a severe policy dilemma. While state officials fear a spillover of radical jihadist violence into Turkey and aim at remaining on the sidelines, hundreds of Kurdish fighters, supported by Ankara’s NATO allies, poured from Turkish territory into the conflict zone to break IS’s siege of Kobane. How can we assess and understand Turkey’s role in the fight against IS? To what extent are Turkey’s security interests and strategic goals at odds with those of other coalition members? If so, is there a link be-tween the erosion of Turkey’s old alliances and the domestic rise of Islamist movements? Please join us for a lecture and discussion with:
Speaker:
Dr. F. Stephen Larrabee
Distinguished Chair in European Security (Emeritus), RAND Corporation
Comment:
Dr. Magdalena Kirchner
Associate Fellow, USA/Transatlantic Relations Program, DGAP
The event is being organized by the USA/Transatlantic Relations Program and will be held in English. Dr. Henning Riecke will moderate the discussion.
