Ömer Taşpınar
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center on the United States and Europe
Ömer Taşpınar is a nonresident senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe and an expert on Turkey, the European Union, Muslims in Europe, political Islam, the Middle East, and Kurdish nationalism. He is a professor at the National War College and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He has held consulting positions at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights in Washington, and at the strategic planning department of TOFAS-FIAT in Istanbul. The courses he has taught at the National War College and SAIS are: Islam and the west; non-military elements of statecraft; Turkey and its neighbors; and the political economy of globalization.
Taşpınar has a doctorate and master's in European studies and international economics from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and a bachelor's in political science from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. He is the author of two books: "Political Islam and Kurdish Nationalism in Turkey" (Routledge, 2005) and "Fighting Radicalism with Human Development: Freedom, Education and Growth in the Islamic World" (Brookings Institution Press, 2006). Some of his recent publications include: "New Parameters in U.S.-German-Turkish Relations" (AICGS, February 2005); "The Anatomy of Anti-Americanism in Turkey" (Insight Turkey, July-August 2005); "Turkey’s European Quest" (Brookings Analysis Paper, September 2004); "Europe’s Muslim Street" (Foreign Policy, March-April 2003); "An Uneven Fit: The Turkish Model and the Arab World" (Brookings Analysis Paper, August 2003). Taşpınar is also a columnist for the Turkish daily Radikal and the Pakistan Daily Times. He has appeared on BBC World, CNN International, NBC, CNBC, CBS, and is a frequent commentator for Turkish Television. He speaks French, Italian, and Turkish (native).
Ömer Taşpınar is a nonresident senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe and an expert on Turkey, the European Union, Muslims in Europe, political Islam, the Middle East, and Kurdish nationalism. He is a professor at the National War College and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He has held consulting positions at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights in Washington, and at the strategic planning department of TOFAS-FIAT in Istanbul. The courses he has taught at the National War College and SAIS are: Islam and the west; non-military elements of statecraft; Turkey and its neighbors; and the political economy of globalization.
Taşpınar has a doctorate and master’s in European studies and international economics from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and a bachelor’s in political science from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. He is the author of two books: “Political Islam and Kurdish Nationalism in Turkey” (Routledge, 2005) and “Fighting Radicalism with Human Development: Freedom, Education and Growth in the Islamic World” (Brookings Institution Press, 2006). Some of his recent publications include: “New Parameters in U.S.-German-Turkish Relations” (AICGS, February 2005); “The Anatomy of Anti-Americanism in Turkey” (Insight Turkey, July-August 2005); “Turkey’s European Quest” (Brookings Analysis Paper, September 2004); “Europe’s Muslim Street” (Foreign Policy, March-April 2003); “An Uneven Fit: The Turkish Model and the Arab World” (Brookings Analysis Paper, August 2003). Taşpınar is also a columnist for the Turkish daily Radikal and the Pakistan Daily Times. He has appeared on BBC World, CNN International, NBC, CNBC, CBS, and is a frequent commentator for Turkish Television. He speaks French, Italian, and Turkish (native).
The United States and Turkey have different threat perceptions. Turkey's main threat perception - it's enemy No. 1 - has been Kurdish nationalism, terrorism with Kurdish ethnic roots. For the United States, enemy No. 1, since 9/11, has been jihadist terrorism. So up until Syria, the two countries were able to agree to disagree on their threat perceptions. But with Syria, there emerged a situation where the United States partnered up with the Kurdish terrorist group in the eyes of Turkey. And Turkey has turned a blind eye to jihadist groups in Syria by basically opening its border, and a lot of ISIS fighters entered Syria through Turkey. So this is a nightmare for Turkish-American relations.
Victimhood is very convenient because it allows you to escape responsibility and accountability. Since you are never guilty, someone else has to be at fault for causing all the problems. You unleash the media and blame the West on the grounds that they are racist, orientalist, imperialist, etc. and as a result, the citizenry of these states believe their destiny is not in their hands.
Now the question is: how can a Turkey that becomes more autocratic provide hope for solving the Kurdish problem? This is the paradox: can the president with centralized decision making, who wants to continue a hegemonic style of governance, provide hope for the most important issues of the country, such as human rights, democracy, minority rights and the Kurdish question?
