The problem with the American Turkey-centered strategy is that Turkey was never a feasible candidate to rebuild the political order in the Middle East. The heirs of the Ottoman Empire – whose reputation in the Arab Middle East is anything but good – were tasked with “leading the Arab world” and leveraged opposition to Israel as a means of building political consensus. At the same time, the US tried to bring Turkey over to the Western side with the intent of introducing real moderation to Islamist policies, and tried to rebuild the region on the foundation of a Turkish-Israeli axis.
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