On May 29th, Turkey celebrates the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 — complete with fake mustaches, costume parades, and flattering comparisons between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the sultans. The holiday has become a high-profile symbol of Turkey’s enthusiasm for its Ottoman past, which makes it a good day to reflect on whether any of this matters as much as some observers and analysts think it does.
For over a decade, discussions of contemporary Turkey have often made reference to the idea of “neo-Ottomanism.” Left undefined, it often serves as a convenient short-hand for anything aggressive, authoritarian, irredentist, overly Islamic, or anti-Western about Erdogan’s actions. Looking back, the issue is not just that the term makes no sense, but that it is deeply misleading nonsense that undermines Washington’s ability to predict and respond to Turkish policies. Abandoning the term once and for all will make it easier to think clearly about the challenges U.S. policymakers face in dealing with Turkey today.
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