Soner Cagaptay is a Turkish-American political scientist and author. He is the director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a professor at the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. He is the author of several books, including The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey and Rising Turkey: The Erdogan Era and the New Sultanate. Cagaptay has been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He has also appeared on CNN, BBC, and NPR. Cagaptay is a frequent commentator on Turkish politics and has been a keynote speaker at many international conferences. He is a sought-after expert on the Middle East and has been a consultant to the U.S. government on Turkish affairs.