The CFR Task Force Was at Bahçeşehir

On Saturday, 19 November 2011, the Bahçeşehir University Center for American Studies held a roundtable meeting on Turkish-American Relations in Light of Recent Developments in the Middle East after the Arab Spring.

The meeting, moderated by Bahçeşehir University Vice President Prof. Dr. Hasan Şimşek, was attended by Council on Foreign Relations analyst Steve Cook, George W. Bush's National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, as well as academics and journalists such as David Judson,, Sami Kohen, Prof. Dr. Sabri Sayarı, Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Esmer, Prof. Dr. Nilüfer Narlı, Prof. Dr. Mert Bilgin, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Süha Atatüreand Assist. Prof. Dr. Deniz Tansi , and evaluated recent developments in the Middle East.

In summary, the conclusions of the meeting were as follows:

• In the new order that Middle Eastern states are trying to establish after the Arab Spring, Türkiye can be a source of inspiration, not a model, for Egypt and Tunisia.
• The events in the Middle East are an important opportunity for the states in the region to write their own history and establish a state order of their own.
• Arab states can only win their freedom themselves; it is important that Türkiye has a guiding influence in the region.
• Türkiye-US relations will be decisive in the long-term stability to be achieved in the region after the Arab Spring.