On October 13^th TUSIAD-US hosted a group of Turkish bankers at its seventh “TUSIAD Breakfast Meetings” series in concurrence with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group’s annual meetings in Washington, D.C.  Moderated by TUSIAD-US President Abdullah Akyuz and entitled “The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election: What’s in it for Turkey?,” the event featured Ike Brannon, a Senior Policy Advisor for the John McCain campaign, and Daniel Benjamin, the Director of the Center on the U.S. and Europe at the Brookings Institution. 

The panelists discussed and debated the impact that the recent crises in world financial markets will have on the presidential election as well as the implications of a new U.S. administration for Turkey’s EU accession process, Armenian issue, U.S. actions regarding Iraq, Iran and Russia, the future of free trade, and the prospects of the Middle East peace process and Syria-Israel dialogue.