Excerpted from Stephen Kinzer’s latest book, “Reset: Iran, Turkey and Ameri- ca’s Future,” this piece evaluates Turkey’s foreign policy orientation with a fo- cus on Turkey’s relations with the EU, the U.S., and Middle Eastern countries. According to Kinzer, “Turkey is no longer on the edge of anything. Instead it is once again what this piece of geography has been since time immemo- rial: the epicenter of the immense Eurasian landmass. The combination of Turkey’s location, its Ottoman heritage, and its successful blend of Islam and democracy gives it enormous strategic potential. It is seizing that potential in ways that benefit not only itself, but also the United States and the West.”
Copyright © 2010 by Stephen Kinzer. Reprinted by arrangement with Times Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.