The October 7 attack and Israel’s brutal response have left a trail of devastation, which materializes in very different tragedies for Palestine and Israel, a story of missed opportunity for Turkey — and a tragicomedy of U.S. leadership.
Author: Ali Yaycıoğlu
Ali Yaycıoğlu is a historian at Stanford University specilizing in the Ottoman Empire, Middle East and Modern Turkey.
Turkey has more than a century of democracy and elections, and a bonafide opposition, which stands out from recent Russian and Iranian votes. We see it again in the victory in Sunday’s victory for Istanbul Mayor of the opposition party. Still, the increasingly authoritarian Turkish regime risks sliding toward a point of new return with its assault on rights and freedoms.