As the Arab Spring has darkened, the Obama administration has built a solid alliance with the prosperous and successful Muslim democracy of Turkey, which is a beacon for the region. The country is a role model for Arabs because it shows that democracy brings dignity, not chaos or extremism.
At the the World Economic Forum this week, the “Turkish model” was held up as a source for inspiration, a Muslim country whose economy has grown an annual average of 5.3 percent since 2002 and gross domestic product more than tripled.
Obama’s friendship with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (pictured, right), who has been elected three times, “has begun to pay big dividends — anchoring U.S. policy in a region that sometimes seems adrift,” according to the Washington Post’s David Ignatius.
(READ the story in the Washington Post)