Will Turkey be the Next Iran? with Michael Rubin

Cost: USD $250 per person
This lunch is complimentary for current MEF donors of $250 or more ($500 per couple). For all other guests, we request a $250 contribution.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has, for more than 45 years, been the world’s greatest state sponsor of terror. Its proxies terrorized Lebanon for decades, cost hundreds of American lives in Iraq, and continue to disrupt shipping through the Red Sea. Its covert nuclear weapons program challenges the region as Iranian uranium enrichment levels surpass that of the Hiroshima bomb. While the crisis peaks after direct military exchanges between Israel and Iran, could Turkey soon follow Iran’s trajectory as a rogue actor and regional threat?

Turkey’s president openly endorses terror groups like Hamas, and its president threatens war on Israel. One proxy group—Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham—previously endorsed Al Qaeda and now controls much of Syria. Turkey’s army and its proxies occupy portions of Iraq, Syria, and Cyprus. Turkey’s drone production rivals Iran. Turkey’s new nuclear plant raises the possibility the country could become a nuclear weapons state itself.

Is the Turkey threat exaggerated? And is the problem Turkey’s problem Recep Tayyip Erdogan, or is it now Turkey more broadly? Will the country take the same trajectory as Iran? And what does it mean to have an Islamist terror sponsor as a member of NATO? What can the United States do to counter the challenge?