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131. Mücahit Küçükyılmaz, Türkiye'de Siyasal Katılım, Tek Partiden AK Parti'ye Siyasal İslam ve Demokrasi Tartışmaları

Author:
Talip Küçükcan
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
There are many institutions playing a role in weaving the ideals of democracy into Turkey's social fabric. Many political actors in Turkish politics, which include the leftists, rightists, liberals, and statists along with those who established the Republic with their military identity, all contributed to society's participation in the execution of the state affairs. They all had a stake in implementing universal democratic standards in Turkey in general, and within certain strata of Turkish society in particular. The reasons behind these actors' support for democratic ideals vary; some groups were Book Reviews Insight Turkey Vol. 12 / No. 3 / 2010 279 it can also play a role in persuading different religious segments of the society to accept democracy. Here, democracy can be perceived as a solution to many of Turkey's current problems, ranging from poverty to social injustices Movements, such as the Progressive Republican Party (Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkası), Free Republican Party (Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası), and Democrat Party (Demokrat Parti), have been instrumental in the consolidation of democracy as opposed to the authoritarian political system, which predominated the single party era of the Republic.
Topic:
Islam and Politics
Political Geography:
Turkey

132. Kurdish Political Movement and the "Democratic Opening"

Author:
Ruşen Çakır
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
There has long existed a Kurdish political movement with its illegal, legal, and semi-legal aspects of it. All of Turkey wants peace but most people in the Southeast want this peace not “despite the PKK” but with “the PKK's consent and participation.” While the Kurdish political movement wanted the government to shoulder all the weight of the opening, they also had serious responsibilities. It became clear very quickly that the important personalities of the movement were not very enthusiastic in facing these responsibilities. The Kurdish political movement has distanced itself from the opening process and, at times, appeared against it. Parallel to this, there have been changes in the state's perspective and even, to some degree, “return to the old state line. The discussion of “who is the counterpart?” impeded the process as much as, if not more, the opposition parties' obstructions.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
Turkey

133. Society without Politics or Republic without People: Socail Democrayc of CHP

Author:
Bünyamin Bezci
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bilgi
Institution:
Sakarya University (SAU)
Abstract:
In Turkish political life, social-democratic practice has been materialized in the experience of The Republican People's Party. However the relationship between social democracy and the Republican People's Party is contradicted with the foundational principles of this Party. Social democracy is a political ideology which is based on people's demands. But the populism of the Republican People's Party aims to determine people's demands. The state holds the political which should be holded by people. The Republican People's Party's social-democratic practice that begins in 1960s has not been coherent with the line of the Socialist International. The Republican People's Party could not follow the transformation of social-democratic ideology on the one hand and it has also been failed in following the political environment of global capitalism. If the Republican People's Party insists on the foundational principles, it seems very difficult for the Republican People's Party to become a real social democratic party.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
Turkey

134. Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy

Author:
Özdem Sanberk
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
BILGESAM (Wise Men Center for Strategic Studies)
Abstract:
This presentation will attempt an overview of Turkish foreign policy but it will dwell in particular on Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East, and with its ramifications or impact on our relations with the US and Europe. I have done this because these are the most prominent aspects in the rethinking or in the new directions of Turkish foreign policy. But this will not be exclusive and I will be happy to answer any questions on other aspects of our foreign policies for example as Russia or the Caucasus or other issues at the end. Foreign policy is something that has constantly to be revised and re-adapted in the light of changing conditions. Countries whose foreign policies are frozen – those of isolationist countries for example – are usually weaker as a result. Today‘s agenda on the world scene has changed greatly since the Cold War when the agenda consisted basically of peace, stability and security. An effective foreign policy today has to take into account matters such as climate change, environment, immigration, energy to cite a few.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Politics, Regional Cooperation, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

135. Turkey's Local Elections of 2009: Winners and Losers

Author:
ALİ ÇARKOĞLU
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
This article presents a descriptive account of the March 2009 local elections in Turkey and offers a nation-wide and regional evaluation of trends in Turkish elections since 2004. The results of these analyses suggest that, although the AKP's rise in support has stalled, it remains the dominant political party in Turkish politics. However, a regionally differentiated analysis shows that significant differences can be observed between the more developed western coastal regions, where the opposition parties received a lot of support, and the eastern and southeastern provinces, where parties that represent the ethnic Kurdish minority have seen rising support. In between these two areas, the AKP continues to dominate in the more conservative provinces, followed by the MHP. The article emphasizes the worsening economic conditions as the main factor that shaped these developments, and underlines the geographically advantageous positioning of the MHP which may mount a credible opposition to the AKP in the future.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
Turkey

136. Turkey's Local Elections of 2009: Results, Trends and the Future

Author:
ALİ ÇARKOĞLU
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
This article aims at presenting a descriptive account of the March 2009 local elections in Turkey. Comparing the general and local elections since 2004, an overall evaluation of trends in electoral preferences is presented. Using provincial general council election results, a detailed geographical comparative analysis of the 2004 and 2009 local elections is also carried out. The analyses show that the AKP's rise has stalled but it still remains as the dominant power in the party system. The electoral map continues to be divided between the coastal western and most developed provinces where the opposition is significantly supported, the east and southeastern provinces where the Kurdish ethnic electoral support is rising and the more conservative provinces in between where the AKP continues to be dominant with the MHP trailing behind. Even though the March 2009 elections had all the characteristics of a local election, they also revel the rising trends in electoral behaviour in Turkey.
Topic:
Democratization, Ethnic Conflict, and Politics
Political Geography:
Turkey and Asia

137. The Emergence of the 'Government's Perspective on the Kurdish Issue

Author:
Ümit Cizre
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
The AK Party's chronic 'political insecurity' may have passed a threshold as the ruling party resurfaces as an actor taking advantage of its pro-European Union sentiments to begin a 'grand negotiation' with Turkey's thus-far publicly shunned Kurdish leaders after decades of bloodshed. This new window of opportunity could not have emerged without the explosion of the Ergenekon incident, which has offered a persuasive critique of the closed, dark, intolerant and secret communities friendly with the military bureaucracy and state officials but insidiously devoted to destroying the government. In the post-Ergenekon era, the new democratic opening represents a significant departure from a military solution to the Kurdish issue which has blocked civilian imaginations by declaring the Kurdish identity demands as a security threat to the officially proscribed Turkish identity. The real issue at stake now for the AK Party government is a redefinition of the locus and space where the phenomenon of real political power takes place in Turkey.
Topic:
Government and Politics
Political Geography:
Turkey and Kurdistan

138. Georgia and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

Author:
Jonathan Wheatley
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Georgia is a multilingual and multi-ethnic society. A large number of minority languages are spoken in Georgia, including Abkhazian, Ossetian, Azeri, Armenian, Russian, Ukrainian, Kurmanji (Kurdish), Chechen (Kist), Ottoman Turkish, Pontic Greek, Syriac, Avar, Tsova-Tush and Udi. In addition, four distinct languages are spoken by the majority Georgian population -- Georgian, Megrelian, Svan and Laz -- although these are basically vernacular languages that are not normally written. According to Article 8 of the Georgian constitution, the official state language is Georgian, and in Abkhazia, also Abkhazian. Most minority languages are spoken only in certain regions of the country.
Topic:
Politics, Multiculturalism, and Minorities
Political Geography:
Russia, America, Turkey, Ukraine, Georgia, and Syria

139. Britain and the 1960 Cyprus Accords: A Study in Pragmatism

Author:
Michael Moran
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center (GPoT)
Abstract:
One of the main factors that led directly to the present status quo in Cyprus tends to be forgotten. This was the extraordinary display of timidity on the part of Great Britain in the 1960s when confronted with determined Greek Cypriot attempts to make Cyprus Greek. And, needless to say, the subsequent forceful division of the island by Turkey in 1974 should always be seen in this earlier context: not, that is, as some kind of unforeseeable interruption in the island's natural and peaceful progression towards its Hellenic 'redemption'; least of all as the result of a brutal and arbitrary interference in a sovereign state on the part of a 'foreign power', both of which notions still circulate among many Greeks and their political sympathisers.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
Britain, Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus

140. Black Turks, White Turks: On the Three Requirements of Turkish Citizenship

Author:
Mücahit Bilici
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
Turkish media frequently employ the term "White Turks" to describe the Turkish cultural elite. Although Turks are unfamiliar with American-style racial divides, the terms "black" and "white" are widely used to colorcode inequalities in Turkey. The common tendency to distinguish White Turks from Black Turks on the basis of wealth, however, fails to uncover the historical and cultural dynamics that gave rise to these two groups. This essay not only offers a necessary clarification of this popular heuristic device but also proposes a perspective for understanding the current standoff in Turkish politics between the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) and the secular establishment, with their distinct value systems and competing claims to modernity.
Topic:
Development and Politics
Political Geography:
America and Turkey