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981. Debating Turkey in the Middle East: The Dawn of a New Geo-Political Imagination?

Author:
Ibrahim Kalin
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
The interest Turkey has generated in the Arab world over the last few years is caused by the convergence of changes in Turkey, the Middle East and the global power-balance. Turkey's domestic political process, its new foreign policy and the EU membership process are closely followed in the larger Muslim world. The new configurations of power in the Middle East and the world at large lead to new types of geopolitical imagination. From Turkish soap operas and import products to Turkey's involvements in Lebanon and Palestine, Turkey is claiming a new space in the Arab public opinion in a manner never seen before. While AK Party's ties with the Arab and Muslim world are partly responsible for Turkey's renewed foreign policy activism in the region, the current debate is also reflective of the failures of the international system and heralds the advent of a new balance of power in Turkey's immediate neighborhood.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, Palestine, Arabia, and Lebanon

982. A New Agenda for the Kurdish Question

Author:
Taha Ozhan and Ozhan Ete
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
The Kurdish question in Turkey has a long history which was viewed within the framework of nation building, integration and underdevelopment until it was perceived as a security issue with the emergence of the PKK in the 1980s. During the 1990s, dominated by the security perspective, the scope of the question was reduced to terrorist acts alone under a state of emergency rule. A number of changes transformed the nature of question, such as the Kurdish political movement since the 1990s, forced migration, the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999 and the emergence of autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq. A permanent settlement of the Kurdish question must be based on developing new and alternative strategies vis-a-vis existing policies. In this context, a comprehensive package of measures should include not only security measures, but more importantly democratic reforms and economic investments.
Topic:
Security, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Iraq and Turkey

983. Compatibility of "Islam" and "Europe": Turkey's EU Accession

Author:
Ahmet Yukleyen
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
Turkey's membership in the European Union (EU) is contingent on economic, political, and cultural factors. Rather than a geographic area with a particular cultural and religious history, the EU defines "Europe" as a political project that espouses values such as human rights, pluralist democracy, and a liberal economy. However, Turkey's EU accession process highlights the cultural and religious dimension through which "Islam" and "Europe" may be mutually redefined. This article examines how Turkish Muslim immigrants in Europe have become an example of the compatibility of "Islam" and "Europe." It is concluded that opposing Turkey's EU membership based on essentializing arguments of cultural and religious difference is misleading and counterproductive, as it fails to address the shifting boundaries of Europe and of Islam.
Topic:
Economics and Islam
Political Geography:
Europe and Turkey

984. The new wave of foreign policy activism in Turkey: drifting away from europeanization?

Author:
Ziya Öniş
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Currently, the prospects for Turkey's EU membership do not look very bright. With key chapters for negotiation already suspended, the government is likely to resume a loose Europeanization agenda. The counterpart of this in the foreign-policy realm is an approach based on 'soft Euro-asianism'. An attempt is also being made to develop friendly relationships with all neighboring countries, coupled with a mediating role in regional conflicts, but without the EU providing the main axis for foreign policy. The present report investigates the continuities and ruptures in Turkish foreign policy during the post-2002 AKP era. It attempts to identify the underlying reasons for the decline in enthusiasm for EU membership following the golden age of Europeanization and reforms during the early years of the AKP government. The report also points to internal and external political developments which may help to reverse the current drift away from Europeanization.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Islam, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Asia

985. North Caucasus Weekly - Volume X, Issue 9

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
In this issue: Six Policemen Killed in Ingushetia Bombing Kadyrov Faces Fresh Accusations of Ordering Hits Abroad Kadyrov Defends Honor Killings Kadyrov Again Invited Zakaev to Return to Chechnya Briefs Dokka Umarov Suffers Setback in Turkey By Mairbek Vatchagaev.
Topic:
Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia and Turkey

986. Proto-Zionist–Arab Encounters in Late Nineteenth-Century Palestine: Socioregional Dimensions

Author:
Yuval Ben-Bassat
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
Based on rarely used documents from archives in Israel and Turkey, this article offers a new approach for the study of proto-Zionist-Arab relationships in Palestine at the end of the nineteenth century. It foregrounds the regional and sociological dimensions of the encounters between the two populations through focus on the Judean colonies southeast of Jaffa. These colonies, located relatively close together, maintained a close-knit network of mutual exchanges and gradually crystallized into a "bloc." Using a bottom-up approach, the article explores the developing coordination between the colonies and its impact on their relationships with their Arab neighbors. By the early twentieth century, the author argues, a distinct sociocultural identity had developed in the colonies and the close cooperation had begun to take on a nationalist coloration. RELATIVELY LITTLE has been written about the daily relationships between Jewish colonists and the Arab rural population in Palestine during the early years of proto-Zionist colonization. Existing research focuses mainly on the ideological and political aspects of the encounter, with less attention paid to the actual interactions between the two populations in this formative period, designated in Zionist historiography as the "first 'aliyah" (1882-1903). Using a bottom-up sociohistorical approach, this article addresses these daily relations while focusing on the six "Judean colonies" (moshvot Yehudah) established southeast of Jaffa at the end of the nineteenth century. In classical Zionist historiography, the early encounters between the two populations are often portrayed as just another set of obstacles that the first colonists had to confront and overcome. However, the contextual background of their multidimensional relationships and the broader regional implications of these encounters are largely ignored. Hence, it is often stressed that while the problems confronting the colonies with regard to their Arab neighbors were similar (arising from cultural misunderstandings and disputes over natural resources such as water, land, and grazing rights), each colony dealt with them separately according to its best understanding, judgment, and ability. Some researchers even argue that a common pattern of interaction developed, from alienation in the beginning, through gradual reciprocal acceptance, to the development of friendly relationships. By contrast, I argue that despite the similarity of the challenges facing the Jewish colonists, their relationships with their Arab neighbors were neither uniform nor restricted to the local level. On the one hand, differences in the colonists' sociocultural backgrounds and in the colonies' physical conditions played a role in shaping these relationships. On the other hand, the Judean colonies, located relatively close together, maintained a close-knit network of mutual exchanges, cooperation, and coordination in various domains, and gradually crystallized into a "bloc"-a development that had implications for their relations with the local rural population. Hence, this study, in addition to briefly discussing the particularistic nature of the Judean colonies, explores in depth their common activity and its effects on Jewish-Arab relations. SOURCES AND METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGES The bottom-up sociohistorical approach implemented in this research, which is grounded in a spatial analytical framework, makes possible a more nuanced analysis of early Jewish-Arab encounters and better accounts for their complex dynamics. This methodology, moreover, can serve as a model for examining Jewish-Arab relations in other regions in Palestine where Jewish colonization activity took place at the end of the nineteenth century as well as in later periods, especially given its tendency prior to 1948 to concentrate in specific regions. Arguably, this methodology can also be applied to the study of other cases of settlement in the Ottoman Empire. While a vast amount of primary material dealing with proto-Zionist colonization is available from the perspective of the Jewish colonists and Zionist organizations, it is a much harder task to trace the viewpoints of the Arab rural population. This stems from the destruction of hundreds of villages and the dispersal of their population during the 1948war, the lack of organized Palestinian national archives to date, and the fact that most of the rural population was illiterate and therefore left very little written documentation behind. Despite the methodological constraints created by basing a study primarily on proto-Zionist and Zionist sources, a careful reading against the grain makes possible a critical understanding of the experiences of both Arabs and Jews in Palestine at the time. Of particular importance are the understudied primary documents found in the local archives of five out of the six former first 'aliyah Judean colonies. These include materials such as logbooks, personal letters, receipts, contracts, maps, and pictures, which provide a unique firsthand account of the complexity and ambivalent nature of relations between the two groups. The logbooks of the colonies' managing committees, for example, provide detailed narratives of daily life in the colonies, particularly with regard to interactions with the neighboring Arab population. . . .
Political Geography:
Turkey, Israel, Palestine, and Arabia

987. Turkey and Armenia: Opening Minds, Opening Borders

Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Turkey and Armenia are close to settling a dispute that has long roiled Caucasus politics, isolated Armenia and cast a shadow over Turkey's European Union (EU) ambition. For a decade and a half, relations have been poisoned by disagreement about issues including how to address a common past and compensate for crimes, territorial disputes, distrust bred in Soviet times and Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani land. But recently, progressively intense official engagement, civil society interaction and public opinion change have transformed the relationship, bringing both sides to the brink of an historic agreement to open borders, establish diplomatic ties and begin joint work on reconciliation. They should seize this opportunity to normalise. The politicised debate whether to recognise as genocide the destruction of much of the Ottoman Armenian population and the stalemated Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh should not halt momentum. The U.S., EU, Russia and others should maintain support for reconciliation and avoid harming it with statements about history at a critical and promising time.
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, Genocide, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Asia, Soviet Union, Armenia, and Azerbaijan

988. Diaspora Design versus Homeland Realities: Case Study of Armenian Diaspora

Author:
Bahar Baser and Ashok Swain
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Caucasian Review of International Affairs
Institution:
The Caucasian Review of International Affairs
Abstract:
Recently the concept of "diaspora" has become a popular subject and two polarized views dominate the study on diaspora behavior: the categorization of the diaspora as good or bad, conflict or peace promoter, spoiler or peace-maker. The majority of the research on diaspora politics places emphasis on its conflict-promoting character. Researchers argue that a diaspora may even act against its homeland's interests. This paper aims to further explore this behavior of diaspora groups and try to locate the reasons behind this phenomenon. The focus is the Armenian diaspora and its policies, particularly targeting the foreign policy of the host country. Some of the critical issues are the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh and Turkey-Armenia relations, which includes the issues of "genocide" recognition, normalization of diplomatic relations and opening of the borders. With the help of theoretical frameworks, the Armenian diaspora's positions will be analyzed in this paper.
Political Geography:
Turkey and Armenia

989. Editor's Note

Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
The Turkish political scene did not witness a profound change with the local elections of March 2009. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) continued its strong electoral performance and maintained its status as the most popular political force. One change following the election was the cabinet reshuffle in May in which Professor Ahmet Davutoğlu was appointed as Turkey's minister of foreign affairs. Such an appointment was hardly a surprise, since it is no secret that he had been the architect of Turkey's foreign policy under the AK Party government as the chief foreign policy advisor to the prime minister.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Development
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

990. 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