Talking Turkey: A Private Perspective on Public Diplomacy
A report reflecting the views of the Network 20/20 delegation to Turkey in October 2004.
Author: Patricia S. Huntington, with Richard M. Murphy
Turkey delegates at a briefing, fall 2004 | George Billard
In the fall of 2004, Network 20/20 chose Turkey as its first field study because of the country’s pivotal role in global security. Positioned between Europe and Asia, a member of NATO with a secular democratic heritage, close ties with Israel, and an independent foreign policy, Turkey was an apt location for discussions aimed at bridging the current gulf between the Islamic and Western worlds.
The American military effort in Iraq had triggered a surge of anti-Americanism in Turkey and strained relations between the two governments. The U.S. invasion had been deeply unpopular among Turks, a third of whom believed that the United States was the world’s greatest threat to global peace. In the spring of 2004, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had gone so far as to accuse the U.S. of terrorism in Iraq. In short, after a half century of amicable relations, the ties between Turkey and the United States seemed to be fraying.
A delegation of 10 Network 20/20 members engaged in 10 days of intensive meetings in Istanbul and Ankara with senior government officials, military officers, business leaders, journalists, scholars, Islamist activists, religious leaders and representatives from the nonprofit world. The comprehensive and heterogeneous set of interviews with persons not normally seen by Americans resulted in the report, Talking Turkey: A Private Perspective on Public Diplomacy. In this report, Network 20/20 made concrete recommendations for improving U.S.-Turkish relations including the need to build bridges with civil society in Turkey.