March 27, 2026
The Forum Roundtable:
An Ascendant Turkey in a Reordered Middle East
While it is as yet impossible to predict the results of the current war underway in the Middle East, it is clear that the region is passing through a moment of profound change. One of the rising forces in the Middle East is the Sunni Islamist axis of Turkey and Qatar. As Ankara and Doha build this regional alliance, questions remain about how Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan intends to pursue his expansive neo-Ottoman ambitions, what the implications are for Israel given his aggressive and hostile stance toward the Jewish state, and what we can expect from the Trump administration as events continue to unfold in this ever-evolving region. Joining us to discuss these important and timely matters are Sinan Ciddi, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and director of its Turkey Program, and Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, Turkey affairs expert at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University and the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.
Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and director of its Turkey Program. Ciddi has over two decades of research experience focused on Turkish domestic politics and foreign policy, with bylines in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Politico, Newsweek, The National Interest, and 19FortyFive. He frequently provides commentary on major media outlets, including BBC, CNN International, DW News, France 24, the Greek Current Podcast, and CBS’s The John Batchelor Show. He is an associate professor of national security studies at Marine Corps University and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He is the author of Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People’s Party: Secularism and Nationalism (Routledge, 2009). He received his PhD in political science from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak is a Turkey affairs expert at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University and the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. He received his PhD from Tel Aviv University’s School of History and is a lecturer there, as well as at Shalem Academic College. He is the editor of Turkeyscope: Insights on Turkish Affairs. He is the author of The Evolution of the Turkish School Textbooks from Atatürk to Erdoğan (Lexington Books, 2022).
Lauri B. Regan is vice president, treasurer, and board member of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East; a board member of Polaris National Security; and a member of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Forum, where she also hosts The Forum Roundtable, a monthly podcast featuring leading national security experts. A former attorney with 30 years of legal experience, including as senior counsel at White & Case LLP, Regan is a frequent writer and speaker on antisemitism, U.S.–Israel relations, and national security, with bylines in numerous prominent outlets and appearances in major media forums. She holds a BA from Emory University and a JD, with honors, from the University of Maryland School of Law.
