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51. Turkey and the EU: Democratization, Civil-Military Relations, and the Cyprus Issue

Author:
Kıvanç Ulusoy
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
The paper analyzes Turkey's democratization efforts between 2004 and 2008. In addition to the challenges that the EU accession process brings to the Turkish political structure, an assessment of the current impasse of Turkey's democratization along the EU accession process is made with respect to the detailed analysis of two major issues: the Cyprus issue and civil-military relations. With an eye to studying the EU's impact on the domestic politics of accession countries with special reference to Turkey, the paper concentrates on the current government's performance over the past three years in EU accession negotiations, showing how this immediate experience reveals the main problematical issues of Turkey-EU relations under these two headings. The concluding remarks focus on two crucial problems of the post-2004 period in Turkey: the sustainability of the reform process and the importance of the time factor in evaluating the EU's leverage on democratization.
Political Geography:
Turkey and Cyprus

52. Trauma, Identity and Search for a Solution in Cyprus

Author:
Vamık Volkan
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
Massive traumas at the hands of “enemies” affect both individuals and societies for decades. For the Cypriot Turks, their massive trauma started in 1963-1964 when they were forced to live in subhuman conditions in enclaves geographically limited to three percent of the island for eleven years. What happened during the summer of 1974 obviously traumatized the Cypriot Greeks too on a massive scale. Psychoanalysts who have studied the trans-generational transmission of massive social trauma inform us that if the impact of such trauma is denied or repressed, it will still manifest itself in various ways in new generations. The “therapeutic” way of dealing with previous generations' massive social traumas is not to deny or repress what happened to the ancestors, but to be aware of the history. There could be no solution on the island without understanding and addressing traumas of both communities.
Political Geography:
Cyprus

53. Cyprus: The Belgian 'Tool Box' Revisited

Author:
Ergün Olgun and Dirk Rochtus
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
Bi-ethnic Belgium has skillfully developed cooperation and concertation arrangements which meet even the EU's rigid "one voice" requirement, taking into consideration the continuing increase in the powers and functions of its regions and communities. Belgium consequently offers a huge box of tools, particularly to bi-ethnic or multi ethnic partnership states. Probably the most distinguishing differences between Cyprus and Belgium are the chronic conflictual relationship between the two ex-partner peoples of Cyprus, and the absence there of a common vision of co-existence and equal power-sharing. If the two sides in Cyprus could be incentivized enough to sincerely opt for equal partnership, the Belgian multi-tier governance experience, despite some significant differences between the two lands, could still offer some practical lessons from which eager parties in Cyprus could benefit.
Political Geography:
Belgium and Cyprus

54. Turkey, Cyprus and the European Division

Author:
Rebecca Bryant
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
More than three years after the opening of the ceasefire line that divides Cyprus, the island is closer than ever to rupture. When the Green Line first opened in April 2003, there was an initial period of euphoria, as Cypriots flooded in both directions to visit homes and neighbors left unwillingly behind almost three decades before. But a year later, when a UN plan to reunite the island came to referendum, new divisions emerged. While Turkish Cypriots voted in favor of the plan, their Greek Cypriot compatriots rejected it in overwhelming numbers. Visits stalled, and today social relations are mired in an increasingly divisive politics.
Topic:
Politics and United Nations
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Cyprus

55. The Cyprus Stalemate: What Next?

Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The last round of Cyprus's drawn-out peace process ended in April 2004 when the Greek Cypriot community, which had long advocated reunification of the divided island on a bicommunal and bizonal basis, overwhelmingly rejected the UN-sponsored “Annan Plan”, which provided for just that. At the same time on the northern side of the Green Line, the Turkish Cypriot community, in a major reversal of its traditional preference for secession, backed reunification. The failure of the referendum did not stop a still-divided Cyprus being admitted to membership of the EU a week later. Notwithstanding clear continuing support for the Annan Plan, or some variation of it, among all other members of the EU and the wider international community, the present situation remains stalemated.
Topic:
International Relations, Peace Studies, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Turkey, Eastern Europe, Greece, United Nations, and Cyprus

56. Rethinking Foreign Policy in Turkey as a Securitized Domain: The Case of Cyprus

Author:
Alper Kaliber
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
The implications of the Cyprus issue in contemporary Turkish domestic and foreign policues are far more complicated than in previous decades. Particularly with the beginning of the new millennium the heavily securitized and successfully bureaucratised Cyprus issue has turned out to be the main "discursive battlefield" of the polarisation among the ruling elites in Turkey. The present article aims at re-examining Turkey's security discourse on Cyprus with particular reference to its implications in the (re)configuration of political balances and power relations between the conservative state elite and the reformist political elite in Turkey. In this respect, it concludes that the security language premised on the constant assertion of such concepts as "national defence and security, national unity and integrity, geo-strategic importance and vital threats" has been operational in inscribing the legitimate boundaries of the political sphere.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Turkey and Cyprus

57. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: Regional and Transatlantic Challenges

Author:
Roberto Aliboni
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Transatlantic Relations
Abstract:
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) held their annual meeting in Naples on December 2-3, 2003. The Naples conference was the sixth in the series of such meetings since the founding conference of the partnership, which took place in Barcelona in November 1995. With an annual budget of €1 billion, the EMP is a process of “multi-bilateral” cooperation in the political and security; economic and financial; and social and cultural areas. It involves the European Union (EU), and Cyprus, Israel, Malta, Turkey, as well as seven Mediterranean Arab countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia) and the Palestinian National Authority. In Naples, the Ministers delivered only general declarations regarding contentious issues such as the situation in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian road map, and international terrorism. Predictable and incremental as it was, progress was nevertheless achieved on three main “baskets” of the partnership agenda.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, and Cyprus

58. NATO, Iraq, and the Greater Middle East: Implications for the U.S.-Turkish Relationship

Author:
Egemen Bagis
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
For years, the Turkish Cypriots have been blamed for the Cyprus issue. Nevertheless, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally convinced UN secretary general Kofi Annan to open the fourth round of negotiations, and Rauf Denktas, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, was much more productive in these talks than was the Greek Cypriot leader. The conclusions emerging from the Annan Plan negotiations were the best obtainable result, even though they did not address all Turkish priorities. According to the plan, the Greek and Turkish Cypriots each submitted the plan's proposals to a separate referendum. Yet, only the Turkish Cypriot leadership stood behind its word and asked for a "yes" vote. With this, the Turkish Cypriots sent the message that they were ready to integrate into the international community. Unfortunately, the Greek Cypriot leadership backed off of its support for the agreement, and the Greek Cypriots consequently rejected the plan in their referendum. The European Union (EU) had promised Greek Cypriot accession regardless of their referendum result, however, and on May 1, Greek Cyprus entered the EU while the Turkish side remains unfairly punished by international sanctions. The destiny of the Turkish Cypriots should not rest in the hands of the Greek Cypriots, and the world has begun to recognize this. Now, lifting the sanctions on the Turkish Cyprus is Turkey's priority.
Topic:
Security, NATO, and Religion
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Turkey, Middle East, and Cyprus

59. Hierarchy of Norms in the Primer Law during the European Contitutionalisation Process

Author:
A. Füsun Arsava
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
The discussion over the proposed derogations regarding the establishment of the United Cyprus Republic on the basis of Annan Plan and its EU membership has been the main motive in writing this paper. Since the acceptance of these derogations as secondary law stipulations could have resulted in a risk of annulment on the basis of their being in breach of primary EU law, some attention was paid to the possibility of accepting them as part of the accession agreement, thus rendering onto them primary law status. In connection with these discussions, this paper discusses the validity of derogations as primary law rules vis-à-vis founding treaties of the Union within the context of hierarchy of different norms in the EU legal system.
Topic:
Law
Political Geography:
Europe and Cyprus

60. Cyprus: Turkey's Other Difficult Decision

Author:
Seda Ciftci
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Overshadowed by the surprising failure on March 1 of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) to permit the deployment of American forces to open a northern front through Turkey in the likely war with Iraq, and the resulting strains in the US-Turkish relationship, the Cyprus issue has also reached a diplomatic climax. On March 4-5, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktas, who has been under increasing pressure from United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, came to Ankara seeking support. Proclaiming himself satisfied with his talks with Turkish leaders, Denktas now heads into a crucial meeting at The Hague on March 10 with Annan and newly elected Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos. The governing Justice and Development Party (JDP), which has been promoting a settlement of the Cyprus problem, now faces the prospect of the collapse of the UN-sponsored efforts as well as additional complications in Turkey's relations with the European Union (EU). However, despite JDP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan's complaints about the difficulties of dealing with the Iraq and Cyprus issues at the same time, he cannot avoid the urgent decisions that will redefine Turkish foreign policy.
Topic:
Government and Politics
Political Geography:
America, Turkey, Middle East, and Cyprus