Turkey on the brink

"Who lost Turkey?" A complacent West could be forced to confront this previously unthinkable question within the next few years. This risk has little to do with Turkey's alleged Islamic turn. On the contrary, the moderately Islamic Justice and Development Party (known by the Turkish acronym AKP) has done much more than previous Turkish governments to improve the country's chances of joining the European Union. Today, the problem Turkey faces is not Islamisation but rather a growing nationalist frustration with the United States and Europe. A majority of Turks still want to see their country firmly anchored in the West, but because of what they perceive as European double standards and the United States' neglect of Turkish national security interests, their patience is wearing thin.