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551. Balkan Genocides: Holocaust and Ethnic Cleansing in the Twentieth Century

Author:
Perparim Gutaj
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
PAUL MOJZES is a well-informed and eminent historian of religion with a profound interest in the study of ethno-religion as the rationale for genocide. In this book, Mojzes is set to examine the Balkan genocides and ethnic cleansing during the troublesome twentieth century. He offers his readers an excellent, comprehensive and systematic, narrative of the horrific events that dominated the first and last decades of the previous century. Balkan Genocides develops the argument of how Balkan nations frequently were immersed in genocides and ethnic cleansing, mainly due to the power shifts in the region and the concept of 'cycle of revenge.' The book covers the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), World War I, the Greek-Turkish Wars, World War II, the post- World War II ethnic cleansing and genocides, and the Yugoslav Wars of disintegration during the 1990s.
Topic:
Genocide and War
Political Geography:
Turkey

552. The Seljuqs: Politics, Society and Culture

Author:
Osman G. ÖZGÜDENLI
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
AFTER the passing of such researchers in Seljuq history as Osman Turan, İbrahim Kafesoğlu, Mehmet Altay Köymen, Faruk Sümer, Sergei G. Agajanov, Claude Cahen, and Ann K. S. Lambton, there was, from the 1970s onwards, a serious dearth of studies in the field, both in Turkey and Europe. However, it is with great pleasure that we state that from the 2000s on-wards, Seljuq studies have been revivified by the training of new young researchers in the field and by the organisation of symposia and the publication of new books and articles, among which is the book reviewed here.
Topic:
History
Political Geography:
Europe and Turkey

553. Prisoners of Ourselves: Totalitarianism in Everyday Life Turkey and the Dilemma of EU Accession Towards a Social History of Modern Turkey: Essays in Theory and Practice

Author:
Laurence Raw
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
ALTHOUGH written from a variety of perspectives at different points in history, all three books reviewed here offer penetrating insights into Turkish politics past and present, as well as commenting on how they are interpreted both inside and outside the country. Written in English, while he was guest professor at the University of Marburg, Germany (having quit his post at Boğaziçi University in protest at the law curtailing academic freedom), Gündüz Vassaf's Prisoners of Ourselves comprises a series of meditations mostly written between October 1986 and March 1987. His basic thesis is straightforward enough: although human beings consider themselves members of the free world, they are actually subject to totalitarian rule. He surveys some familiar binaries—for example, madness and sanity—and shows how they are used to curtail individual liberties. Western historians have conventionally accepted that the Nazi period in Germany was one of collective madness. However the validity of that judgment can be called into question in the light of Adorno and Horkheimer's research, which discovered that anti-semitism in the United States was much higher than it had been in Germany after Hitler came to power. Vassaf concludes that everyone is part of that “collective madness,” in which one nation is willfully prioritized over another as a means of sustaining power (p. 35). Anyone questioning that notion is abruptly silenced.
Topic:
Politics and History
Political Geography:
United States, Turkey, and Germany

554. Turkey's Kurdish Gamble

Author:
Nathalie Tocci
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Relations between Turkey and Northern Iraq have evolved at a breathtaking pace, with Turkish policies currently bolstering the KRG's drift towards independence, a prospect considered unthinkable in Ankara only a few years ago. Energy politics is an important component of this puzzle, but Ankara's strategic choice can only be understood against the backdrop of Iraq's deepening sectarianisation, the unfolding civil war in Syria and the dynamics in Turkey's own Kurdish question. The Turkish government is pursuing a high risk/high gain strategy. A more democratic Turkey, in partnership with the KRG, would be best placed to hedge against the centrifugal sectarian trends afflicting its southern neighbours. It is far more likely that Turkey will win its gamble with the support of the European Union.
Political Geography:
Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and Kurdistan

555. Ful text issue: Volume 8, Number 2, 2013

Author:
Mehmet Karakaş
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Sakarya University (SAU)
Abstract:
The construction of identity is one of the determinant factors in constructing a valid individual and social world, for identities are constructed both individually and socially. Identities through the demarcation of political boundaries the internalization of the essential dissimilarity of the other is created and the theoretical underpinning of actual practices is formulated. In addition, it always requires a politicized society. The construction processes of identity in Turkish society have always functioned as a dynamic of political change. In fact, policy formed around identity politics has always been an essential determining factor on political, and in general, on the social structure from Ottoman to modern times. At turning points in the history of societies, changes in the issue of identity also occur. The developments that took place under the partiality for Westernization and in the post-1980 neo-liberal process exhibit variations in the identity construction of the Turkish community. In this study, the politics and sociology of identity will be discussed in relation to the formulations of identity from the time of Ottoman Turkey to the modern Turkish Republic.
Topic:
Islam
Political Geography:
Turkey

556. China: Superpower or Superbust?

Author:
Ian Bremmer
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The National Interest
Institution:
Center for the National Interest
Abstract:
AS IF a global financial-market meltdown, the deepest U.S. recession in seventy years, an existential crisis in the euro zone and upheaval in the Middle East hadn't already created enough trouble for one decade, now the unrest and anxiety have extended to some of the world's most attractive emerging markets. Just in the past few months, we've seen a rough ride for India's currency, furious nationwide protests in Turkey and Brazil, antigovernment demonstrations in Russia, strikes and violence in South Africa, and an ominous economic slowdown in all these countries.
Topic:
Emerging Markets
Political Geography:
China, Turkey, Middle East, South Africa, and Brazil

557. The Kurdish Question and US-Turkish Relations in a Changing Middle East

Author:
Jeffrey Mankoff and Müjge Küçükkeleş
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
Growing disorder throughout the Middle East has created the possibility for major changes to the status of Kurdish minorities in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Turkey's handling of its Kurdish population and its relations with Kurdish groups throughout the region are creating new challenges for US foreign policy and US-Turkish relations. US policy toward the Kurds remains subordinate to wider regional security interests. Officially, the United States does not support the establishment of an independent Kurdish state. In practice, however, US policy is often inconsistent: the United States backs Kurdish groups in some states while opposing them in others.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Ethnic Government, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Turkey, Middle East, Syria, North America, and Kurdistan

558. Does Government Support for Private Innovation Matter? Firm Level Evidence from Turkey and Poland

Author:
Krzysztof Szczygielski, M. Teoman Pamukcu, Sinan Tandogan, and Wojciech Grabowski
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
Mediterranean and EU member countries consider enhancing innovation and R&D an important policy objective. In order to improve economic competitiveness and increase their citizens’ welfare, these countries have been formulating and implementing innovation policies. In recent years, the volume of resources allocated to such policies has considerably increased and the number of instruments used in this framework has widened. Nevertheless, a relatively limited number of studies have been conducted to assess the effectiveness of innovation policies in these countries and formulate proposals for those aspects of policies that are in contradiction with the aims.
Topic:
Government, Economy, Social Policy, and Innovation
Political Geography:
Europe, Central Asia, Turkey, Poland, Mediterranean, and European Union

559. The Spirit of the Police Laws in Turkey: Legislative Discourses, Instruments and Mentality

Author:
Biriz Berksoy, Mehmet Uçum, Zeynep Başer, and Zeynep Gönen
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
“The Spirit of the Police Laws in Turkey: Legislative Discourses, Instruments and Mentality” is a discussion of the quality of policing in Turkey as is laid out by laws and the authority and powers given to the police. It aims to uncover the dynamics that extend or restrict police authorities through regulations. Looking at police laws in this manner unearths clues – albeit at the level of discourse – about the mentality of policing, the elements of the conceptualizations of “crime,” “criminal,” “order” and “security” within the police force, and the grounds that legitimize police authority. We hope that the report will lead to a more fruitful discussion of the limits of police powers and duties together with the problems of insufficient oversight and impunity.
Topic:
Security, Law, Democracy, Criminal Justice, Police, and Justice
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

560. Judicial Reform Packages: Evaluating Their Effect on Rights and Freedoms

Author:
Hande Özhabeş and Naim Karakaya
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
“Judicial Reform Packages: Evaluating Their Effect on Rights and Freedoms” authored by Naim Karakaya and Hande Özhabeş, is published as part of TESEV’s ongoing work on judicial reform. The report focuses on the four judicial reform packages released by AK Party government between 2011 and 2013. It analyses the Judicial Packages and evaluates them from the perspective of rights and freedoms, and focuses especially on freedom of expression, right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial as well as the execution system.
Topic:
Security, Law, Reform, Freedom of Expression, Justice, and Judiciary
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East