When there is a need to understand a significant change on the planet, the World Affairs Council reaches out to authoritative voices. In this case the change is in Turkey and the authoritative voice belongs to William Tuttle, a veteran of observation and analysis of Turkish developments and, now, the Director for Political Risk and Security at Kosmos Energy in Dallas.
THE CHANGE: In mid-April the nation of Turkey held a constitutional referendum – 51.4 percent of the vote endorsed changing the nation's constitution, an act that some see as a movement toward one-man rule in the parliamentary democracy.
That man is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
(pictured above), a leader who is said to be abandoning the West.
The referendum stirred a lot of emotion and, Reuters reported from Ankara: "A lawmaker from Turkey's main opposition CHP said on Friday (April 28) he had submitted an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights demanding the annulment of a referendum that granted President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping executive powers."
The Economist wrote, "The new constitution will bring about the most radical overhaul of the state since 1923, when it went from being an imperial Islamic power to a secular republic under Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey."
THE AUTHORITATIVE VOICE: How will the Turkish change affect the European Union, NATO and the United States? To answer these questions and others, the Council is presenting a man with an understanding of the Republic of Turkey. Before joining Kosmos in 2015, Tuttle spent 16 years with the U.S. government involved in foreign policy, security and intelligence issues, primarily focused on Turkey.
From 2014-2015, he was Director for Turkish, Greek and Cypriot Affairs on the National Security Council under President Obama. Before that, he served at the U.S. Embassy in London where he was responsible for ensuring the U.S. and U.K. were aligned on issues such as Afghanistan, Russia and sub-Saharan Africa. He earlier served at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, and the U.S. Consulate in Adana, Turkey.
Tuttle graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in German and European Studies, then earned his master's Degree at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.