FDD: Turkey in the grip of authoritarian nationalism in its centennial year

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In the US, during every presidential term and administration, a think tank close to the current administration comes to the fore. For example, during the Obama era, the prominent think tank was the CAP, or the Center for American Progress. When the Democrats lost the election, the CAP was pushed into the background. With the Trump era, another think tank that works quite intensively is drawing attention. The short name of this organization is FDD. The FDD stands for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), made statements about Turkey.

Most recently, CIA-linked analyst Jonathan Schanzer criticized Turkey's support for the Palestinian people on a Fox Business broadcast. During the live broadcast, Schanzer used the phrase, 'We should kick Turkey out of NATO.'

In the FDD event titled 'Turkey in the grip of authoritarian nationalism in its centennial year,' the following statement was included both by the speakers and on the organization's official website:

The Republic of Turkey, designed 100 years ago by Kemal Atatürk, was intended to be a solid member of the Western alliance. As a founding member of the United Nations, one of the first members of NATO, and a candidate for European Union membership, Turkey was a reliable US ally committed to secular governance and the rule of law. Unfortunately, it will celebrate its centennial under a completely different guise. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's twenty-year rule has transformed Turkey into a country defined by authoritarian nationalism, distant from the West, both as a people and as a government. For example, following Hamas's recent terrorist attacks against Israel, policymakers in Washington are monitoring Turkey's deep ties with the terrorist organization with increasing attention.

What will be Turkey's trajectory as a geopolitical and security partner of the West a century later? What are the primary security concerns of the US and its allies regarding Turkey, and what steps can Erdoğan take to change the course? How can policymakers support a more prosperous US-Turkey relationship in the coming century? To what extent can Ankara claim to be a member of the Western alliance while providing financial support to terrorist organizations?

Speaking at the event, Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Senior Vice President Jonathan Schanzer said:

"As many of you know, there is a history of a very dangerous turn that we have observed in Turkey over the last ten or twenty years. This wrong turn can be explained in many different ways, and I will list some of them here today. We have been recording it since 2011. Turkey has fully embraced the terrorist organization; there is a headquarters operating in Istanbul, there are military agents roaming the country, and there are those collecting donations. Despite the group's history of violence and despite sanctions, Hamas members continue to move freely in Turkey, and for some reason, the government in Ankara refuses to change its policy. But it doesn't end there; for a long time, we have been tracking the financing flowing through Turkey, and between 2000-2012 and 2015, it was a priority for us as the FDD to investigate this plan. What we learned in the investigation of the project known as the gold-for-gas scheme was that it was a plan facilitated by the Turkish government to help Iran evade 20 billion dollars in sanctions; this was one of the largest sanctions evasion and infiltration plans in modern history. It was designed to help Islamic countries. The Republic evaded sanctions at a moment when discussions between the United States and the Islamic Republic were at their most sensitive and pressure needed to be applied to Turkey. The issue does not end here; between 2012 and 2017, we saw a large influx of fighters join..."

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