Turkey’s leaders have dubbed their foreign policy “zero problems with neighbors.” The country has dramatically improved relations with such one-time rivals as Syria, which used to harbor Turkish Kurdish guerrillas, and Iran, once feared for its potential to export Islamist radicalism…

There is more going on, however, than just the Turkish government’s realignment in its neighborhood. Its citizens are more connected to the world, including Muslim causes abroad. The government has become more sensitive to public opinion. And voters feel more empowered, particularly religious ones.

Since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded Turkey on the remains of the Ottoman Empire, the country has had an official policy of “laiklik” (secularism). The powerful, pro-Western military launched coups against leaders seen as straying from Ataturk’s legacy. The army’s power, however, has declined.

The country “was secular but in a forced way,” said Barkey, the Carnegie scholar. “The majority of the population was far more conservative, far more pious than the authorities.”