Biden should ask Turkey to double down on its commitment to the West

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will visit Turkey on Jan. 23 at a crucial time in the country's history. 

Recently, Turkish politics have been like a pendulum. The country entered the 21th century with a tradition of strict separation of religion and politics as well as having a strong pro-West orientation in its foreign policy, following the legacy of its founder, secularist Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

In the last decade though, Turkey has swung to the religious right with the rise of the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP). Led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, the AKP oriented Ankara's foreign policy towards Muslim countries, also eliminating Atatürk's firewall between religion, politics and education.  

The Turkish pendulum is ready to swing again. This time, there are two nearly opposite paths it could take - one auspicious, the other ominous. The Jan. 12 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attack in Istanbul which killed 10 tourists signaled just how dire the path could become.

From a positive perspective, Turkey continues to be a thriving pluralistic society, despite 14 years of single-party rule by Erdo?an, who wants to change the country's parliamentary form of government into a presidential system with himself at the helm.

This may be a tall order for Erdo?an. For starters, the country's economy is still controlled by large pro-Western businesses despite the president's attempt to create a crony class of capitalists by awarding mega construction projects to businesses supporting his party.  

Turkey's pluralism extends into the political sphere, as well. The country's 76 million citizens are split in the middle, between those who voted for the AKP and those who did not in the...