Search

Begin New Search Topic Politics Political Geography Turkey

171. The Politics of Incirlik Air Base

Author:
Selin M. Bolme
Publication Date:
07-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
The adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, doubled with the highly criticized US policy towards the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has placed the İncirlik Air Base at the top of the Turkish political agenda. The İncirlik Air Base has always played a key role in the Turkish-US relations due to its strategic location in the region. The base has been used by the U.S. in many regional events and operations. In every case, its use has brought the status and functions of İncirlik to the fore. However, it is difficult to find any research that particularly focuses on the İncirlik Air Base and its history. Hence, there are many speculations on the status and the functions of the base. The purpose of this article is briefly trace the history of the İncirlik Air Base and describe the obligations of Turkey and the rights of the US under the existing agreements. In the final part, the last crises will be analyzed to assess its impact on Turkish-American relations.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
United States, Turkey, and Armenia

172. Turkey's Bid for the New Constitution

Author:
Zühtü Arslan
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
This paper aims to analyse the basic parameters of the new draft constitution in Turkey. Having outlined the radical amendments to the current Constitution in terms of both fundamental rights and state organs, the paper takes up the procedural and substantial criticisms directed against the draft Constitution. It also contains a number of policy recommendations for taking necessary measures to ensure the broadest possible participation of the Turkish people in the constitution making process. The paper concludes that adoption of the proposed constitution will remove the physcological obstacle to democratisation of the Turkish political regime by disproving the deeply embedded belief that civilians in Turkey cannot make a new constitution under truly democratic circumstances.
Topic:
Government, Political Economy, and Politics
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

173. Contributions of the Turkish Armed Forces to Middle East Peace Operations

Author:
Selahattin Iban
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
The general view held by Middle Eastern nations is that political sensitivities make it impossible for regional or neighboring countries to perform peacekeeping in the area. However, the example set by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) in the past twelve years points to the fallacy of this view.
Topic:
International Relations, Peace Studies, and Politics
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

174. A Trajectory of Center-Periphery Relations in Turkish Politics and 27 May 1960 Coup

Author:
Serdar Gülener
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bilgi
Institution:
Sakarya University (SAU)
Abstract:
Bu çalışmanın amacı, Amerikalı sosyolog Edward Shils tarafından ortaya konmuş olan ve Şerif Mardin tarafından Türk siyaseti'ne uyarlanan merkez-çevre ikiliğini açıklamak ve bu ikiliği 27 Mayıs 1960 Darbesi'nde kullanmaktır. Öncelikli olarak Edward Shils'in merkez ve çevre kavramları ile ne anlatmak istediğine değinilmiş, daha sonra, bu kavramlar ile Türk siyaseti'ne tarihsel bir bakış açısı sunan Şerif Mardin'in merkez ve çevre kavramları anlatılmıştır. Son olarak ise 27 Mayıs 1960 Darbesi'ne giden süreç, darbe ve bu darbenin bir ürünü olan 1961 Anayasası merkez-çevre ikiliği açısından değerlendirilmiştir.
Topic:
Politics and History
Political Geography:
Turkey

175. Religion, Society and Politics in Changing Turkey

Author:
Ali Carkoglu and Binnaz Toprak
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
During the period from 1999 to 2004, Turkey’s path toward European Union accession promoted important advances in the consolidation of democracy and respect for human rights. Turkey’s long-standing democratization problems -- such as the treatment of minorities, the lack of democratic oversight of the security sector, and the failure to resolve the Kurdish question, the Armenian question and the headscarf issue -- have come to surface and been widely discussed. Yet pro-status quo groups, including political parties, some “civil society” organizations, and governmental institutions have harshly reacted to the public discussion of these issues. Since 2004, the momentum of the democratization process has slowed down, and 2007 brought to the Turkish agenda a critical debate over presidential elections. According to the prostatus quo, elitist groups the chair of the presidency is representation of the modern Turkish republic, and the government party’s candidate will not have the capability of representing the Turkish Republic with a first lady with headscarf. Since May 2007, the discussions over the presidential relations and the candidacy of a deputy from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have dominated the political agenda in Turkey. While the tension is represented as between religious people and secularism, in fact, this tension is more accurately one between the possibility of departing from the status quo, through democratization efforts, and thus confronting the deep-rooted democratization problems of Turkey. While all the discussions seem to be on the axis of religiosity and secularism, during the general election process, most of the opposition parties claimed that Turkey was under threat from internal and external enemies – whether Shari’a, Kurds, Armenians trying to divide and weaken it, or foreign powers like the EU and USA seeking Turkey’s economic subordination – and that the AKP was to blame. The opposition parties also blamed the AKP for the presidential election crisis, due to the fact that the AKP had not sought a consensus candidate. At this moment, the results of the elections show that approximately one-half of the country supports the AKP government and the majority of the people are opposed to any military intervention in the country’s democratic life. Although the prospective presidency of Mr. Gül should be evaluated through the lens of citizenship and even though Mr. Gül meets the requirements for being President, his candidacy has still been discussed in terms of the capacity of a man whose wife wears a headscarf -- which is seen as a symbol of the so-called “threat to the secular regime” -- to represent Turkey. Because the aforementioned agenda is very related to the problematic nature of Religion-State-Society Relations in Turkey, TESEV’s Democratization Program has been working on the issue since 1999. The project on Religion-StateSociety relations, through research, publication, outreach, and advocacy, aims to contribute to the understanding of the changing dynamics between religion, state, and society in today’s world and specifically in the Turkish context. In addition, the project aspires to create dialogue and to increase mutual understanding between groups in Turkish society who have increasingly become polarized around the issues of secularism and religiosity. Religion, Society and Politics in a Changing Turkey, by Ali Çarkoğlu and Binnaz Toprak, is an output of a survey of 1492 votingage individuals that was carried out in rural and urban areas between May 6th and June 11th 2006. The survey report observes and compares the changing nature of Turkish people’s attitudes towards issues such as religion, democracy, terrorism and minorities. The Turkish-language edition of the study was received with high interest by the public and the media in November 2006. The study provoked an engaging debate as it was published during the controversy around the fact that presidential candidate Abdullah Gül’s wife wears a headscarf. TESEV hopes that the English version of the report will contribute to the debates over Turkey’s practice of Islam, people’s preferences to identify themselves, understanding of democracy and multi-culturalism in Turkey, and the political and sociological stance towards the headscarf controversy.
Topic:
Politics, Religion, State, and Society
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

176. Religion, faith and global politics

Author:
Mark Beeson, Stuart Harris, Lorraine Elliott, Shahram Azbarzadeh, and Greg Fealy
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Australian National University Department of International Relations
Abstract:
Since the end of the Cold War, a number of scholars have speculated that religious differences have come to replace the ideological differences of that earlier period, giving some resonance to Samuel Huntington's clash of civilisations and a new twist to Francis Fukuyama's end of history thesis. The empirical base for claims about a resurgence of religion-based inspiration for and justification of foreign policy actions, and the diplomatic challenges that this inspires, can be found in a number of quarters. This includes the proclaimed role of faith in the personal and public politics of a number of contemporary leaders; the growth in what seems to be faith-based non-state actors whose actions often link religion with rebellion, violence and resistance; internal politics in a number of countries in which religion or faith are increasingly tied up with matters of state and disputes over public policy (ranging from the debate over religious symbols in schools in France to electoral competition over the value of a secular versus Islamic state in Turkey); and provocations of various kinds that seem designed to demonise rather than respect religious difference, such as the recent confrontations over the so-called Muhammad cartoons first published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005.
Topic:
International Relations, Cold War, Government, Politics, and Religion
Political Geography:
Turkey

177. Turkey Gets Ready to Elect President under New Chief of Staff: Implications for the United States

Author:
Soner Cagaptay
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
On September 1, 2006, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit became Turkey's new chief of staff. Compared with his predecessor, Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, who came into office about the same time as the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, General Buyukanit is a more vocal personality on many issues, including secularism. As Turkey prepares for the April 2007 election of a new president by parliament, General Buyukanit's term marks a new, crucial era in military-civilian relations in Turkey. What are the dynamics of this new era, and what implications does it have for U.S. policy?
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States and Turkey

178. Rising Tensions Between Turkey's AKP and the Courts

Author:
Soner Cagaptay
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
On May 17, a gunman chanting Islamist slogans attacked the Turkish Council of State (the Danistay, or high court for administrative affairs) in Ankara. The gunman killed one judge and wounded four others who were sitting in the Council's second chamber, which has recently upheld Turkey's ban on “turbans” in schools. In accordance with the European and Turkish notion of secularism (laïcité in French) as freedom from religious symbols in the public sphere, Turkey bans public officials and school students wearing turbans—a specific style of women's headcover that emerged in the mid 1980s and that the courts consider an Islamist political symbol. (Turbans are distinct from traditional headscarves, which are not banned.) Photographs of the judges had earlier been published in Islamist newspapers with headlines targeting them.
Topic:
Ethnic Conflict, Politics, and Religion
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Middle East

179. Hamas Visits Ankara: The AKP Shifts Turkey's Role in the Middle East

Author:
Soner Cagaptay
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Khalid Mishal, a Hamas leader currently residing in Damascus, visited Ankara today. Despite fierce debate in the Turkish press and objections from the secular-minded foreign policy elite, Mishal's visit went ahead with backing from Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. From the American perspective, the visit is important for three reasons. First, it could potentially hurt Turkey's longstanding role as an honest broker between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Second, it serves as yet another foreign policy breech between Turkey and the West. Third, the visit is a telltale sign of the AKP's policy of “strategic depth” toward the Middle East, a policy that Washington needs to understand given U.S. objectives in Iraq, Syria, and Iran.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Politics
Political Geography:
Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Syria

180. Globalization of Culture and Change of Established Political Positions

Author:
Kudret Bülbül
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This article argues that the modernization process has created standardization in different areas of life, while culture has been relatively and independently preserved during this process. Nevertheless, it is difficult for societies to sustain independent compartments in the cultural area while employing standardized techniques, institutions, and principles in the areas of economics, politics, and technology. This article explores the reflections of members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) on cultural globalization, since the TGNA is the main policy maker in Turkey. Although the perceptions of TGNA members generally differ, according to whether they are members of the AKP (Justice and Development Party) the CHP (Republican People's Party), their approaches do not depart greatly from that expected from general theoretical discussions. The approaches of the members of parliament (MPs) do not pertain to Turkey only.
Topic:
Globalization and Politics
Political Geography:
Turkey