Unrest in Turkey

Located at the crossroads of Europe and the strife-torn Middle East, Turkey is crucial in the West's struggle against Islamist extremism. Yet, foreign policy experts worry that Turkey's allegiance to democratic values has weakened under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and that domestic unrest could jeopardize Turkey's effectiveness in the fight against terrorism. Erdogan's conservative AKP Party is battling separatist Kurds inside Turkey and in neighboring Iraq and Syria, where the Kurds have been an important U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State. The controversial Erdogan has violently suppressed dissidents and journalists, been accused of corruption and supported stricter adherence to Islam. The 28-nation European Union (EU), meanwhile, has been inundated by Syrian war refugees and wants Turkey to prevent the more than 2 million refugees it is harboring from crossing into the EU. Erdogan hopes Turkey's role in the refugee crisis will bolster the country's longstanding bid to join the EU. But some Western leaders question Turkey's readiness for membership.