Gradually since 2003 Turkey's autocratic leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to make Turkey
a great power -- in the tradition of past Turkish leaders from the late Ottoman sultans to
Ataturk the founder of modern Turkey. Here the leading authority Soner Cagaptay author of The
New Sultan -- the first biography of President Erdogan -- provides a masterful overview of the
power politics in the Middle East and Turkey's place in it. Erdogan has picked an unorthodox
model in the context of recent Turkish history attempting to cast his country as a stand-alone
Middle Eastern power. In doing so Turkey has broken ranks with its traditional Western allies
including the United States and has embraced an imperial-style foreign policy which has aimed
to restore Turkey's Ottoman-era reach into the Arabian Middle East and the Balkans. Today in
addition to a domestic crackdown on dissent and journalistic freedoms driven by Erdogan's
style of governance Turkey faces a hostile world. Ankara has nearly no friends left in the
Middle East and it faces a threat from resurgent historic adversaries: Russia and Iran.
Furthermore Turkey cannot rely on the unconditional support of its traditional Western allies.
Can Erdogan deliver Turkey back to safety? What are the risks that lie ahead for him and his
country? How can Turkey truly become a great power fulfilling a dream shared by many Turks
the Sultans Ataturk and Erdogan himself?
