Henri J. Barkey is no longer with the Carnegie Endowment.
Henri J. Barkey was a visiting scholar in the Carnegie Middle East Program and the Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen Professor at Lehigh University.
He served as a member of the U.S. State Department Policy Planning Staff working primarily on issues related to the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean, and intelligence from 1998 to 2000. He has taught at Princeton, Columbia, the State University of New York, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Barkey has authored, co-authored, and edited five books, among them Turkey’s Kurdish Question with Graham Fuller, Reluctant Neighbor: Turkey’s Role in the Middle East, and most recently, European Responses to Globalization: Resistance, Adaptation and Alternatives.
His opinion editorials have appeared in Newsweek, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Daily Star, and Los Angeles Times, and he is a frequent guest on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer and NPR.
Selected Publications:
"Turkey's Transformers," Foreign Affairs (November/December 2009); "Turkey's Perspectives on Nuclear Weapons and Disarmament," Nuclear Security Studies (Volume VI); "Preventing Conflict Over Kurdistan," Carnegie Report (February 2009); “Deciphering Turkey’s Elections: The Making of a Revolution,” with Yasemin Çongar, World Policy Journal (Fall 2007); “Kurdistandoff,” National Interest (July/August 2007); “Turkey and the PKK: A Pyrrhic Victory?” Democracy and Counterterrorism Lessons from the Past (USIP Press, 2007); “Iraqi Kurds and the Future of Iraq,” with Ellen Laipson in Middle East Policy (December 2005); “Turkey and Iraq: The Perils (and Prospects) of Proximity,” USIP Special Report (July 2005); “The Endless Pursuit: Improving U.S.-Turkish Relations,” in Friends in Need: Turkey and the United States after September 11 (Century Foundation, 2003).
Turkey's June 12 elections are likely to usher in a new era and bring greater clarity to a number of issues, including whether a genuine alternative to the ruling party will emerge and whether Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pursue a presidential political system for Turkey.
Syrian refugees crossing the border into Turkey are forcing Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to rethink his relationship with Syrian President Assad and making it increasingly likely that he will chart a course on Syria that is more antagonistic toward Damascus.
The recent parliamentary elections in Turkey demonstrated the popular appeal of the ruling party and while the outcome will have a significant affect on Turkish domestic policy, it is unlikely to alter the general thrust of Ankara’s foreign policy.
The Arab Spring has presented problems for Ankara’s foreign policy of zero problems with its neighbors. The outcome of the popular uprisings in neighboring Syria will ultimately have a significant impact on this policy and on the projection of Turkish power in the region.
As protests spread through the Middle East, Turkish political parties are preparing for an election this summer that will likely spark significant political reforms, including the possibility of a new constitution.
Turkey’s June elections will represent a critical turning point in the country’s evolution, as their results shape Prime Minister Erdogan’s attempts to transform Turkey from a parliamentary to presidential government through a new constitution.
It is in Turkey’s interests to support democratic protesters in Syria and across the region, and to work with the West to find resolution to the violent conflict in Syria.
While Turkey’s integration of Islam, democracy, and economic growth is serving as potential inspiration for countries undergoing revolutions on how to effectively reform, Ankara’s reaction to the unrest is causing some observers to question its intentions in the region.
In spite of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi’s good relations with the leaders of a number of countries around the world, he may encounter some difficulty in finding a new place to relocate to if he is forced to leave Libya.
As protesters throughout the region challenge their authoritarian leaders, Iraqis are also standing up and demanding more accountability from their government and an end to the corrupt practices of their politicians.
