Book Launch: An Uncertain Ally

Wednesday, April 5, 2017 12:00PM - 1:00PM

David L. Phillips, director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights, will be discussing his new book An Uncertain Ally: Turkey Under Erdogan's Dictatorship at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Wednesday, April 5th.

About the Book

Under the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkey has become a dictatorship. Turkey promotes Islamism, abuses human rights, limits freedom of expression in the press, and wages war against the Kurds. While Turkey has historically been important geopolitically, it has become an outlier in Europe and an uncertain ally of the United States.

Erdogan has polarized Turkish society and created conditions that led to the coup attempt of July 2016. Erdogan seized on the failed coup to justify a witch hunt, arresting thousands and ordering the wholesale dismissal of alleged coup sympathizers. Rather than foster reconciliation, he pursued vendettas and turned Turkey into a gulag.

An Uncertain Ally is a straightforward indictment of Erdogan. Drawing on inside sources in his Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the police, the book reveals corruption and money laundering schemes that benefited Erdogan, his cronies, and family members. An Uncertain Ally exposes Turkey’s ties to jihadists in Syria and the Islamic State, questioning its suitability as a NATO member.

About the Author

David L. Phillips is director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. Phillips served as foreign affairs expert and senior adviser to the US Department of State during the administrations of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama.

For details, or to request a copy for review:

Contact Amy Vanderzee, Marketing Manager.