As a major regional power, and the territorial gateway between the East and West, Turkey has been considered a strategic ally for both world powers and regional states.
In the past decade Turkey, which has been considered as a liberal-democracy has shifted to its Islamic roots as its former Prime Minister and current President-elect, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, garnered strong support from over 50% in the state of over 80 million citizens. As the only NATO member which borders with Syria and Iraq, Turkey has played a major-role in the US-led coalition to battle the rising threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, ISIL. Guests Dr. Ofra Bengio, Senior Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African studies who authored the book “the Turkish-Israeli relationship – Changing ties of Middle Eastern Outsiders.”; and Senior Lecturer at the Hebrew University on Turkish Studies.
