Political Geography: Turkey / Publication Year: within 25 Years / Journal:

1601. Whither an Axis Shift: A Perspective from Turkey's Foreign Trade

Author:: Mehmet Babacan
Publication Date:: 02-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Our analysis will discuss Turkey's changing direction, if any, in terms of its trade orientation. This paper argues that Turkey's trade sector has maintained its long-standing direction towards the major European Union (EU) member countries with only minor setbacks, while new dimensions in bilateral trade have emerged not only due to Turkey's changing foreign policy considerations but also global economic transformations. Moreover, this paper argues that Turkey's trade partners are subject to these changes, as the epicentre of the global economy shifts, i.e. to the East. In the first section, a brief introduction with regards to Turkey's foreign trade under the AK Party's administration -since 2002 will be provided. The second section will discuss the scope of regional and worldwide changes in trade patterns and analyze the recent shift in Turkey's trade orientation in the context of Asia's economic and political rise in early 21st century. The Third section will focus on the role of political dynamics in Turkey's trade sector and structural issues.
Topic:: Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: Europe and Turkey

1602. Turkey-GCC Relations: Is There a Future?

Author:: Birol Baskan
Publication Date:: 02-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The historical solution to the security problem in the Persian/ Arabian Gulf, that is, the active military protection of a super power, is no longer sustainable as the unipolar world gives way to a multipolar one and the credibility of the United States to provide military security is being increasingly questioned. This paper addresses a question neglected by both international and regional analysts: can Turkey play any role in the future Gulf security architecture? The paper argues that Turkey can help the GCC states develop effective state institutions and build regional institutional mechanisms to solve potential crises and alleviate the security dilemma in the Gulf. It can deliver this public good to the region precisely because Turkey has strong economic and political interests to have good relations with all sides concerned with the Gulf security.
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: United States and Turkey

1603. Turkey's Eurasian Agenda

Author:: F. Stephen Larrabee
Publication Date:: 12-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Washington Quarterly
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: In the last two decades, Eurasia has emerged as an area of growing strategic importance for Turkey. Much media attention has been driven by Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East, with Turkey's rapprochement with Iran and Syria, its close ties to Hamas, and the growing strains in Ankara's relations with Israel prompting concerns in various Western capitals, including Washington, that Turkey is reorienting its ties away from the West and toward the East. Yet, Turkey has also pursued important foreign policy initiatives toward Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Political Geography:: Central Asia, Turkey, and Syria

1604. Agency theory and agency environment: elements and relations within British civil service

Author:: Önder Kutlu
Publication Date:: 02-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:: Central European University
Abstract:: This article examines an important tool of politics, the dichotomy between politics and administration, to reform administrative systems. Due to its success and the pioneering role in the implementation of agency reform and resultant provision of lessons for many countries (i.e. Netherlands and Norway) the British case is selected for evaluation. The British Next Steps Agencies Reform is examined by deploying historical reconstruction model, and intended to find out its basic elements and interactions between different such actors of the initiative as politicians, bureaucrats, agencies and departments. This illustrates the scale and scope of the relations with the idea of having shed light on Agency theory. Having examined the essential elements the study wishes to focus on the mechanism which has been introduced by the initiative dispenses certain degree of power to agencies. In doing so, the paper targets a balance between two actors of political systems, bureaucrats, and politicians.
Political Geography:: Turkey

1605. What Impact? The E10 and the 2011 Security Council

Author:: Naureen Chowdhury Fink, Paul Romita, and Till Papenfuss
Publication Date:: 03-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Peace Institute
Abstract:: Much has already been written about the 2011 Security Council. This has been with good reason. The current configuration of powerful non-permanent members with aspirations for permanent seats is notable. As a result, there has been widespread speculation regarding the impact so many large members will have on the tone and substance of the Council's work this year. Like last year, when countries like Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, and Turkey all served together, the collective strength of the non-permanent or elected membership is impressive.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, International Cooperation, International Organization, United Nations, and War
Political Geography:: Japan, Turkey, Libya, Brazil, Mexico, and Nigeria

1606. How to Renew Transatlantic Relations in the 21st Century

Author:: Marcin Zaborowski
Publication Date:: 03-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The EU and the US, mainly through NATO, have been successful in securing peace and prosperity in Europe during the Cold War and in promoting peace beyond Europe after 1990. With the emergence of new powers and the rise of multipolarity, however, it is no longer apparent that transatlantic relations are indispensable and ways must be found to make sure that the relationship remains relevant. The EU and the US currently relate poorly to each other and as a result do not obtain the best possible outcome from their combined resources. Two elements are key to improving transatlantic relations: an inclusive policy towards Turkey (in the strategic interests of both the EU and the US) and more permanent and workable structures suited to the realities of the 21st century.
Topic:: NATO
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, and Turkey

1607. Turkey's Cyprus Problem

Author:: Andrew Jacovides
Publication Date:: 05-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: To the Editor: Hugh Pope ("Pax Ottomana?" November/December 2010) observes that Turkey succeeded in being elected to a rotating seat of the UN Security Council for 2009-10. It might then be assumed that Turkey's policies have been guided by the principles of the UN Charter. But Turkey continues its 40,000-strong troop occupation of a large part of the Republic of Cyprus -- an EU and UN member state -- despite numerous Security Council resolutions since its initial 1974 invasion calling for its immediate withdrawal. Turkey does not comply with its legal obligations to Cyprus or to the EU and forcibly interferes with Cyprus' rights in its exclusive economic zone of maritime jurisdiction. Pope writes that "in 2003, the [ruling party in Turkey] reversed traditional Turkish policy by agreeing to endorse a UN plan to reunify" Cyprus. What he does not say, however, is that the latest version of the plan wholly incorporated Ankara's demands. In addition, Pope makes an unfounded assertion in stating that "since joining the EU in 2004, Cyprus has pulled all available levers to block Turkey's own accession to the union." If this were the case, Turkey would not have been endorsed as a candidate for EU membership in 2005, since such a decision requires unanimity, and so Cyprus could have exercised its veto. Like Pope, many welcomed Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's declared goal of the "settlement of disputes" that "directly or indirectly concern Turkey" and Turkey's "zero problem" policy toward its neighbors. Other than paying lip service to supporting the UN-sponsored intercommunal talks on Cyprus, however, Turkey has not conceded an inch toward achieving a solution within the agreed framework. If the Cyprus problem were solved through a viable compromise settlement with Turkey's help, Turkey will have removed a major obstacle to its EU accession. Moreover, a reunited and peaceful Cyprus, free of foreign troops, would be transformed into a bridge of peace from a bone of contention and would cooperate with Turkey and Greece on an array of issues. This outcome can be achieved through good neighborly relations on the basis of the principles of the UN Charter, not through occupation, domination, and a Pax Ottomana. ANDREW JACOVIDES Former Ambassador of Cyprus to the United States
Topic:: Security and United Nations
Political Geography:: United States and Turkey

1608. Malik Mufti, Daring and Caution in Turkish Strategic Culture. Republic at Sea (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Author:: Ömer Aslan
Publication Date:: 05-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:: Central European University
Abstract:: The post-Cold War endeavor not to take for granted the fundamental concepts in security studies that realism and its kinds had simply presumed, found its resonance in the study of Turkey's foreign and security policy. The scholarly engagements on that subject embracing a constructivist approach to security studies, or inspired from critical security studies, have recently proliferated. Malik Mufti's Daring and Caution in Turkish Strategic Culture, Republic at Sea, adds to that suite by introducing the concept of strategic culture, a concept that has hitherto been poorly explored in previous studies on Turkey. In it, Mufti aims to explain the peculiar way in which Turkish security policymaking actors throughout the Turkish Republic perceive their external environment and conceive of what constitutes the most proper way to respond to the threats they subjectively perceive. In doing so, he also hopes to offer insights into some of the ongoing debates in the strategic culture literature.
Topic:: Climate Change and Cold War
Political Geography:: Turkey

1609. The Great Arab Revolution: Challenges, Dilemmas and Opportunities?

Author:: Graeme P. Herd
Publication Date:: 03-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:: Beyond noting the fluidity, ambiguity and ambivalence associated with the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, there is little consensus on causes and likely consequences. Do these geopolitical earthquakes constitute an “Arab Spring” leading to transition democratization, akin to 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe? Or should we look to 1979 in Iran, and the prospect of Sunni rather than Shia theocracy taking hold? Might the wider Muslim world – Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey – provide alternative potential governance models for the MENA region, given indigenous variants appear exhausted and no longer able to self-reproduce? What are the lessons which other MENA incumbent regimes and the international community will identify? How might those lessons be learned?
Topic:: Democratization, Regime Change, and Insurgency
Political Geography:: Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Middle East, and Arabia

1610. Regional Innovation Policy: An Analysis of Turkey's Aegean, Marmara, East Anatolia and Southeast Anatolia Regions

Author:: Yavuz Selman Duman
Publication Date:: 05-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
Institution:: Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
Abstract:: This paper analyzes the main intuition behind the concept of Regional Innovation System (RIS) and the corresponding policy implications in a literal notion. The aspects that are the reasons of regional disparities in terms of innovation such as clusters, agglomerations, research and development (R) will be investigated via observing whether development agencies, clusters, industrial zones and universities which overall are contributing factors in regional development exist or not. Aligned with these aspects, this paper analyzes the reasons for the disparities between regions. Consequently, policy approaches and innovation strategies towards the regions that are distinguished due to disparities (as peripheral, metropolitan and industrial regions) will be presented. The following will constitute of the analysis of Turkey's Aegean, Marmara, East Anatolia and Southeast Anatolia regions with respect to the results reached in the prior analysis. The objective is to investigate the characteristics of the corresponding regions and determine the aspects for the developmental gap between them. The policy applications regarding regional innovation systems, the effects of universities in the mentioned regions and the adopted policies within the process of EU membership are presented. The literal analysis indicates that although in the recent years there have been improvements regarding regional development, previously it has been the western regions that received the most attention. These findings could be verified in a further research with a thorough statistical analysis using regional data on labour productivity, capital investment, expenditure on R, registered patents and economic growth.
Political Geography:: Turkey

1611. Turkish Political Culture and Civil Society: An Unsettling Coupling?

Author:: Begüm Burak
Publication Date:: 05-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
Institution:: Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
Abstract:: This paper attempts to analyze Turkish politics in the post-1980 period with a special reference to the relationship among the state elites, political elites and societal actors, and its impact on the constitution of civil society in Turkey. After the 1980 military intervention, the political and economic realms of Turkey witnessed a relative degree of liberalization through Özal's neo-liberal policies. The January 24 economic decisions paved the way for economic liberalization as well as letting new economic and societal actors emerge. These new economic actors were different from the prevailing economic actors which used to enjoy a considerable amount of opportunity spaces in the economic sphere. Together with the Özal governments, Islamic segments started to become powerful in both political and economic realms. This paper analyses the chief traits of Turkish politics and economics and their impact upon civil society aftermath the 1980 coup in general, and the relationship and/or interaction among the state elites, political elites and societal actors in particular. The engagements of newly-emerging societal and economic actors into Turkish political scene and the challenge of these actors against the so-called “Kemalist-Republican” elites are also illustrated in the paper. Moreover, state-Islam interaction, politics-Islam interaction as well as Kemalism-newly-emerging societal and economic actors interaction will be studied with a special emphasis to the post-1980 period. The major argument of the paper is that, in Turkey, both civil society issues and political issues reveal outcomes which are primarily shaped by the nature of the relationship between state elites and political elites in general and by Turkish political culture in particular.
Topic:: Civil Society
Political Geography:: Turkey

1612. The Arab Uprisings: Debating the "Turkish Model"

Author:: Alper Y. Dede
Publication Date:: 04-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Mass uprisings on the Arab streets have become the vehicle for reform as the availability of modern means of communication has enabled the Arab opposition to express their frustration caused by the stagnancy and inefficiency of the status quo-oriented authoritarian-bureaucratic regimes of the region. There is currently an ongoing debate about whether Turkey could become a model for the region with its growing economy, strengthening democracy, and spreading soft power due to Turkey's increasing popularity in the region and its warm relations with the Arab world. Thus, it is not Turkey's authoritarian secularism or its debacles in the process of democratization that has brought forth Turkey's prominence as a model. This article discusses what the Turkish model is, whether it is applicable to the rest of the region, and the potential risks of proposing Turkey as a model country for the region.
Topic:: Communications
Political Geography:: Turkey

1613. Turkey's "Demonstrative Effect" and the Transformation of the Middle East

Author:: Kemal Kirisci
Publication Date:: 04-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: A string of uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt followed by those in other countries have rekindled the issue of Turkey constituting a model for reform and democratization in the Arab world, a point raised by many Western and Arab commentators. Independent of this debate, what is lacking in the literature is an analysis of how come there is a “demand” for the Turkish model. This article develops the concept of a “demonstrative effect” and argues that it is this “effect” that makes the Turkish model of interest to the Middle East and that this “effect” is a function of three developments: the rise of the “trading state”, the diffusion of Turkey's democratization experience as a “work in progress”, and the positive image of Turkey's “new” foreign policy. The concluding part of the article discusses several challenges Turkey has to meet so that its “demonstrative effect” can have a positive impact.
Topic:: Cold War
Political Geography:: Europe, Turkey, Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Hiroshima

1614. From Distance to Engagement: Turkish Policy towards the Middle East, Iraq and Iraqi Kurds

Author:: Mesut Ozcan
Publication Date:: 04-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Turkey's Middle East policy has witnessed revolutionary changes since 1999. The changes in the attitude of Turkey towards the region can be easily grasped by examining its policy towards Iraq. Today Ankara is an active player in the region using non-military means of diplomacy, such as economic tools and international conferences. This paper analyzes the changes in Turkish foreign policy towards Iraq through a framework of processes, means and outcomes. The article covers approximately the last ten years and looks at three turning points that triggered change. These turning points are the capture of the PKK leader Öcalan in 1999, Turkey's refusal to allow the transfer of US soldiers to Iraq in March 2003, and the Turkish responses to the PKK attack on the Aktütün military post on the Turkish-Iraqi border in October 2008. The article contends that as a result of the transformations in Turkey's foreign policy, it has become an indispensable actor in Middle Eastern politics.
Political Geography:: Iraq, Turkey, and Middle East

1615. Turkey as a Migration Hub in the Middle East

Author:: Secil Pacaci Elitok and Thomas Straubhaar
Publication Date:: 04-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: This article focuses on Turkey's process of transition from a country of emigration to a country of immigration and transit. The paper is organized in the following way: After a brief introduction, the second part of the paper will analyze the pattern of emigration from Turkey and immigration to Turkey (from the EU and Middle East) in its historical context. In the third part, theoretical expectations and empirical considerations with respect to the potential for migration from Turkey within the context of possible EU membership are outlined. In this section, a critique of the available literature estimating the amount of potential migration from Turkey and projections on the possible future migration obstacles for Turkey- if it is not successful in its accession bid for the EU membership- are presented as well. The fourth and final part of the paper analyzes the challenges and opportunities for Turkey, as it waits at the EU's gates, in terms of migration and concludes with a call for a necessary change in Turkey's policy to improve the management of its migration policies.
Political Geography:: Turkey and Middle East

1616. Britain, Turkey and the Soviet Union, 1940-45: Strategy, Diplomacy and Intelligence in the Eastern Mediterranean

Author:: Mustafa Sitki Bilgin
Publication Date:: 04-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Turkey, due to its geopolitical position, was subject to political and military pressures by the Great Powers during and immediately after World War Two. During the war, the Great Powers exerted substantial pressures on Turkey to obtain its compliance in operating the Straits policy in accordance with their own strategic interests. This situation led to collaboration and competition among the Great Powers. In fact, the rivalry and collaboration of the Great Powers in the eastern Mediterranean during these periods, and the interaction of British, Soviet and American policies with those of regional states, has been examined by a number of Turkish and foreign researchers in recent years. Nicholas Tamkin is one of these authors and he has meticulously trawled through British archives and other published and unpublished sources available in Britain to elucidate Turkey's role in British strategy and diplomacy during World War Two. He makes a significant contribution on the formulation of British foreign policy and wartime strategy towards Turkey with a special emphasis given on Turkey's place in the uneven relationship between Britain and the Soviet Union.
Political Geography:: Britain, Turkey, and Soviet Union

1617. Why Middle East Studies Missed the Arab Spring

Author:: F. Gregory Gause III
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The vast majority of academic specialists on the Arab world were as surprised as everyone else by the upheavals that toppled two Arab leaders last winter and that now threaten several others. It was clear that Arab regimes were deeply unpopular and faced serious demographic, economic, and political problems. Yet many academics focused on explaining what they saw as the most interesting and anomalous aspect of Arab politics: the persistence of undemocratic rulers. Until this year, the Arab world boasted a long list of such leaders. Muammar al-Qaddafi took charge of Libya in 1969; the Assad family has ruled Syria since 1970; Ali Abdullah Saleh became president of North Yemen (later united with South Yemen) in 1978; Hosni Mubarak took charge of Egypt in 1981; and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali ascended to Tunisia's presidency in 1987. The monarchies enjoyed even longer pedigrees, with the Hashemites running Jordan since its creation in 1920, the al-Saud family ruling a unified Saudi Arabia since 1932, and the Alaouite dynasty in Morocco first coming to power in the seventeenth century. These regimes survived over a period of decades in which democratic waves rolled through East Asia, eastern Europe, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. Even the Arab countries' neighbors in the Muslim Middle East (Iran and Turkey) experienced enormous political change in that period, with a revolution and three subsequent decades of political struggle in Iran and a quasi-Islamist party building a more open and democratic system in secular Turkey.
Political Geography:: America, Europe, Turkey, Middle East, and Arabia

1618. The Turkish Internal Reform and Foreign Policy Shift: Implications for the Cyprus Talks

Author:: Chrysostomos Pericleous
Publication Date:: 06-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Global Political Trends Center (GPoT)
Abstract:: Internal social change in Turkey, inaugurated by the liberalization of the economy in the 1980s and given a new impetus by Turkey's EU accession path during the AKP governments, has engineered a momentous reform process, which marks the beginning of a new post-Kemalist era in the country. Steady economic growth, along with democratization, brings new social forces to the forefront of the political arena and makes them stakeholders in the policymaking processes. As a result, one can observe a substantive shift in Turkey's foreign policy, from the “hard power” model of the Kemalist era governed by the siege syndrome, to the “soft power” approach of Ahmet Davutoğlu's doctrine of “nil problems with neighbors”, governed by a feeling of confidence that liberates the country from past obsessions. This foreign policy shift removes the Cyprus problem from the sphere of the untouchable grand national issues as well as from its historical context, and leads to a rationalization that allows for a compromise win-win settlement. Within this framework, Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan, having won a new mandate with a larger ever-popular support, has a free hand to take the initiative for a lasting settlement of the protracted Cyprus conflict. The practical recommendations made in this regard constitute substantive political actions, which, if materialized, would decisively contribute towards an early settlement.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Economics, and Territorial Disputes
Political Geography:: Central Asia and Turkey

1619. EU's Rejection of Turkey: The Real Underlying Reason

Author:: Yalım Eralp
Publication Date:: 04-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Global Political Trends Center (GPoT)
Abstract:: There are many negative elements in EU-Turkey relations. Some consider the difference in religion as the primary factor. The issue is deeper than that. It is cultural contradiction. When Europe says cultural diversity is richness, it tends to mean cultural integration.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Regional Cooperation, Religion, and Culture
Political Geography:: Europe and Turkey

1620. Turkey and Greece: Time to Settle the Aegean Dispute

Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Normalisation between Greece and Turkey has come far since tensions in the Aegean Sea threatened war three times between the NATO allies. Trade, investments and mutual cooperation and tourism have taken off, sidelining issues like the Cyprus problem, which first stirred up the Aegean dispute in the early 1970s. Frequent bilateral talks and Turkey's unofficial 2011 suspension of military over-flights of Greek islands suggest that the time may be ripe for a solution to that dispute. Turkey's strong new government elected in June is interested in further asserting itself as a responsible regional power, solving problems in its neighbourhood and clearing obstacles to its European Union (EU) accession. With Athens in the midst of a financial crisis and needing any economic lift and increased security it can find, this unnecessary and still potentially dangerous conflict should be resolved. A good strategy would be a synchronised set of steps to prepare public opinion on both sides, leading to a bilateral agreement and including, if needed, eventual re- course to international adjudication.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, NATO, Bilateral Relations, and Territorial Disputes
Political Geography:: Turkey and Greece

1621. Restrictions of Passage, Accidents and Oil Transportation Norms: Impact on Supply Security

Author:: Giacomo Luciani
Publication Date:: 06-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: This paper looks at restrictions of passage, accidents and oil transportation norms as causes of interruption in oil supplies. The key 'chokepoints' are discussed in detail: the Straits of Hormuz, Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb, the Canals of Suez and Panama, the Turkish Straits and the entrance to the Baltic Sea. It is concluded that in most cases the danger of closure can only be temporary; nevertheless, investment in bypasses and alternatives is highly desirable, and in the case of the Turkish Straits, has not been forthcoming. The discussion then turns to threats to navigation outside the chokepoints, such as piracy and oil spills in enclosed seas, particularly the Mediterranean. The final section looks at changing international norms, especially the entry into force of the requirement of double hulls for oil tankers. The paper's main conclusion is that there is no scenario of interruption of maritime oil and gas transportation that may cause a severe physical shortage of oil, in general or specifically for Europe. In almost all cases potential tensions could be easily allayed if responsible governments took the necessary steps to create alternatives (notably pipeline bypasses) or to curb illegal activities. The main factor preventing the required investment in transportation alternatives is the lack of a well-functioning market mechanism for burden sharing. Where passage must be paid for, the resulting income stream supports investment to increase capacity and accommodate growing demand.
Topic:: International Trade and Finance, Oil, Maritime Commerce, and Piracy
Political Geography:: Turkey

1622. Looking for Help: Will Rising Democracies Become International Democracy Supporters?

Author:: Thomas Carothers and Richard Youngs
Publication Date:: 06-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The emergence of a multipolar world gives Western democracy advocates cause for both optimism and anxiety. China's success sparks fears of the spread of an autocratic development model. Yet democratic states such as Brazil, Indonesia, India, South Africa, and Turkey are also gaining ground. These countries serve as powerful examples of the universal appeal of democracy and possess unique experiences with democratization. The United States and Europe understandably hope that rising democracies will use their growing prominence to defend democratic values abroad, potentially revitalizing international democracy support.
Topic:: Democratization, Development, Human Rights, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, China, Indonesia, Turkey, India, South Africa, and Brazil

1623. Editor's Note

Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: There is no better instrument than the ballot box to decide “who is to govern” if we care about popular legitimacy. No one can question the mandate given by the people through a free and fair election to a political party, irrespective of its ideology, identity and program.
Political Geography:: Turkey and Middle East

1624. Turkish Foreign Policy in the Balkans and "Neo-Ottomanism": A Personal Account

Author:: Hajrudin Somun
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: This essay examines the influence and performance as well as the perception of the new, pro-active Turkish foreign policy in South-East Europe. It emphasizes that certain political and intellectual circles in the Balkans have a different take on Turkey's policies in the region. The paper assesses how Turkey's activism in the Balkans has revived the debate on the Ottoman legacy in the region and Turkey's perceived aspirations to renew its influence under the guise of “neo-Ottomanism.” This paper will also address the impact in this debate caused by the recent book of the well-known Serbian orientalist, Darko Tanaskovic, entitled “Neo-Ottomanism – the Return of Turkey to the Balkans.”
Topic:: Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: Europe, Turkey, Serbia, and Balkans

1625. Turkey's 2011 General Elections: Towards a Dominant Party System?

Author:: Ali Çarkoğlu
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Since 2002, the Turkish electoral environment and the party system have been undergoing a significant transformation. The Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve KalkÄ±nma Partisi, AKP) has continued to increase its electoral support for a third time in a row. The declining volatility and fractionalization in the election results together with the expanding geographical base of AKP electoral support may be taken as signs of the emergence of a dominant party system in Turkey. This article offers a descriptive account of the election results and links those results to the literature on the dominant party system. A discussion on the implications of this new development for the evolution of Turkish party system, Turkish political landscape and future elections concludes the article.
Political Geography:: Turkey

1626. Economic Liberalization and Class Dynamics in Turkey: New Business Groups and Islamic Mobilization

Author:: Gül Berna Özcan and Hasan Turunç
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The growth of new capitalist classes since the 1980s has transformed social stratification, multi-party politics and the international political orientation of Turkey. New business groups energized by Islam have facilitated much-needed class mobility. In this process, there has also emerged a confrontational split in middle-class positions between Islamic and secular political outlooks. These new middle classes are engaged in promoting Islam as a strategic resource in the class politics of Turkey and seek protection from the negative effects of market capitalism. More dramatically, these new capitalist classes have redefined the allocation of markets and the distribution of assets while they have increased opportunities for their affiliated groups at home and in foreign markets. However, the paradox between modernity and authenticity remains unresolved for Turkey's old middle classes and the new pious elite alike. Although the Islamic-leaning business groups have become the winners of the new regime, they have increasingly lost their cutting-edge idealism and originality and are being “normalized” as the new establishment.
Political Geography:: Turkey

1627. Turkey's New Activism in the Western Balkans: Ambitions and Obstacles

Author:: Erhan Türbedar
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Following the Turkish Chairmanship-in-Office of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), 2009 represented the year of Turkey's return to the Western Balkans as an influential actor. Granted, Turkey's Balkan policy became a matter of contention. Ankara's Bosnia and Herzegovina initiative even raised questions as to whether Turkey is aspiring to restore its former power and influence over the region. Those expressing their unease over this initiative are accusing Turkey of nurturing inclinations reminiscent of the Ottoman state. To counter this image, Turkish officials are using every opportunity to underline that Ankara has no intentions other than to contribute to the consolidation of peace and stability in the Western Balkans. This article reviews the last two years of Turkish policy towards the region, and includes evaluations on the perception of Turkey's proactive Western Balkans policy.
Political Geography:: Turkey and Balkans

1628. Turkish Interests and Involvement in the Western Balkans: A Score-Card

Author:: Žarko Petrović and Dušan Reljic
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The vigor which has characterized the Turkish approach to the Western Balkans since the end of the Cold War has transformed the country into an important regional actor from its previous position as a distant neighbor that showed little interest. Although Turkey and the Western Balkan countries have in the meanwhile achieved the most intensive relationship since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has not yet displayed the economic capacity and political weight that could make it compete with the magnetism of the European Union for Western Balkan countries. Turkish cultural influence, although significantly widened in the last few years, particularly through investments in educational institutions, is mostly limited to the Muslim population in the region. While potential EU membership remains the most important driver for the political elites in the region, the stalled EU membership prospects of both Turkey and the countries of the region might change this in the future.
Topic:: Cold War and Economics
Political Geography:: Turkey and Balkans

1629. Turkey in Europe: Record, Challenges and the Future

Author:: Daivd Lovell
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The relationship between Turkey (and its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire) and Europe has been long, often tense or openly hostile, and is in some senses fundamental to the identities and development of each; this relationship also adds a considerable burden of suspicion to Turkey's current aim of joining the European Union (EU). This essay examines these propositions by providing an account of the history of the relationship and of Europe's recent, conditional approach to Turkish accession to the EU. While accepting that much remains to be done at the institutional level to bring Turkey into alignment with EU norms, this paper argues that Turkish accession is a historic opportunity for Europe that it should not squander. Despite mixed signals, further development of Turkey's democracy along the path to Europe is the most likely course. The story is not “never-ending”, but the end will not come quickly.
Topic:: Development
Political Geography:: Europe and Turkey

1630. Cinema in Turkey: A New Critical History

Author:: Laurence Raw
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Cinema in Turkey differs from other recent books on the subject – notably Gönül Dönmez-Colin's Turkish Cinema: Identity, Distance and Belonging (2008), and Asuman Suner's New Turkish Cinema (2009) – in that Arslan focuses less on recent cinema in Turkey and more on the Yeşilçam era from the early 1950s to the late 1980s. More importantly, Arslan does not consider the cinema in Turkey either as 'Turkish,' or as expressive of a certain construction of national identity. Rather he employs a series of binary oppositions – the melodramatic and the realistic, the popular and the artistic, the forced and the spontaneous – to suggest that Turkish cinema is in a state of “perpetual 'trans-ing,' continual transition, translation and transformation.” (p.13)
Political Geography:: Turkey

1631. Headscarf Politics in Turkey, A Postcolonial Reading

Author:: Michelangelo Guida
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The distressing photo on the cover effectively represents the content of this book. The photo depicts a junior high school student amidst male and female police officers who tear up her headscarf at the entrance of a school in 2001. We do not see the girl's face, but we can imagine her shame and fury for the act and the injustice of the ban. Author of the book under review, Merve Kavakci Islam was an activist for the Muslim women's right to wear the headscarf during her term with the Virtue Party. When elected to Ankara's Parliament in 1999, she was prevented from swearing into office, first, by an astonishing media campaign and, then, by the opposition of the leading party in the assembly. Later, she was stripped of her parliamentary immunity and of her Turkish citizenship by the Constitutional Court, which also closed her party for alleged threats to the state. Those were the aftermaths of the 28 February Process previous to the advent of the Justice and Development Party (JDP), a period when the secularist wing was attempting to reinstate the most severe form of laicism in the country.
Topic:: Islam
Political Geography:: Turkey

1632. Rifat Bali, Turkey in the 1960's and 1970's Through the Reports of American Diplomats

Author:: Tanel Demirel
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Rıfat N. Bali has done us a great service by publishing reports of American diplomats about Turkey in the 1960's and 1970's. The book consists of 35 reports and cables prepared by American consulates in Istanbul, Adana Izmir, and the American Embassy in Ankara. Bali has organized the classified reports into five categories: the “political and social situation in Turkey,” “the situation after the May 27, 1960 Coup,” “the Turkish general staffs ultimatum of March 12, 1971,” “the Kurdish issue” and finally reports concerning minorities. It should be noted here that these reports did not exactly represent the views of the US government, but the views of serving American diplomats. Failure to distinguish between these two categories might lead to unwarranted conclusions.
Political Geography:: Turkey and Istanbul

1633. Alexander Murinson, Turkey's Entente with Israel and Azerbaijan: State Identity and Security in the Middle East and Caucasus

Author:: Jakub Wodka
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: In this timely book Alexander Murinson explores the forces behind the entente between Turkey, Israel, and Azerbaijan. He juxtaposes these three countries, which he characterizes as “garrison-, like-minded, 'Westernistic', secular, constitutionally nationalist and lonely states.” (p.143) Those features depict the identity construct of the three states, which on the face of it, may seem to have conflicting interests in the turbulent Eurasian region spanning the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and the Balkans. Each of the three states is a sui generis actor on the global stage – post-imperial, western-oriented Turkey with global ambitions ruled by a post-Islamist party, a Jewish state encircled by Arab neighbors, and an oil-rich post-soviet republic with an autocratic regime. Thus, the author seeks to understand how the common identities of the three countries on the one hand led to the formation of this peculiar alliance, and on the other hand what factors could and in fact do undermine the Turkish-IsraeliAzeri security relationship. Departing from the more classic, neo-realist approach to international relations, where the homogenous states – the so-called billiard balls are the sole actors on the world stage, the author draws from the constructivist importance of identity as the driving force of states' behavior and their foreign policy. He looks deep into the tissue of the three states and the regional and global context to decipher the emerging patterns and trends in Ankara's relations with Israel and Azerbaijan. As “all the three states have special relations with the world hegemon,” (p.147) it is warranted to say that the United States is the “fourth leg” of this triangular axis. Washington plays a key role in regional affairs and is interested in forging cooperation between countries potentially capable of counterbalancing the regional alignment between Russia, Iran, and Syria.
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Iran, Turkey, Middle East, Israel, and Syria

1634. Shoah: Turkey, the US, and the UK

Author:: Sylvia Tiryaki
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: T“I was alive only because I had a Turkish passport,” tells Lazar Russo in Arnold Reisman's Shoah: Turkey, the US and the UK. Lazar Russo was living in France when the Nazis occupied it. As with the other Jews, it was impossible for him to leave the country. However, remaining meant certain extermination. Only after the Turkish Consulate in Paris offered him a passport could he escape. He went to Turkey. It was an unusual move from a foreign country those days. But according to the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, France was only “one of the countries where Turkish diplomats worked to save Jews.”
Political Geography:: United States, United Kingdom, and Turkey

1635. Citizenship, Security and Democracy, Muslim Engagement with the West

Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The book under review regroups selected contributions from an international conference held in Turkey in September 2006 that was jointly organized by the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (UK) and the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (Turkey). Reflecting the mission of this conference, the book is concerned with the challenges of security and democracy in relation to Islamic discourses and Muslim communities. In the Introduction, the editor, Wenda Krause, convincingly highlights the importance of these issues, especially after 9/11 and 7/7. She states that “both security and democracy are becoming ever less attainable in today's climate of increased division and cleavages along ideological lines and Islamophobia – an acute problem for citizenship in humanity” and calls for the need of variously angled analyses and critical solutions. (p. xv) The twelve contributions of this volume, which are classified in five sections, therefore offer multiple points of entry to this main problem through case studies, historical accounts, policy analyses, as well as reflections drawing upon Islamic jurisprudence and intellectual history.
Topic:: Islam
Political Geography:: Turkey

1636. The Roots of Balkanization: Eastern Europe C.E. 500-1500

Author:: Ina Merdjanova
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: In his book, Ion Grumeza ambitiously sets about “to fill a gap with authoritative material on how the process of Balkanization came about, to separate fact from fiction and trace the patterns of ethnic and cultural life that originated fifteen centuries ago.” (p. ix) Furthermore, the book “traces the creation of the present Balkan nations and examines their influence on Eastern Europe.” (p.xiii) With this impressive aim in mind, the author has studied some hundred historical books on the Balkans, or at least this is what we find in his bibliography.
Topic:: Islam
Political Geography:: Europe and Turkey

1637. Between Kant and Machiavelli: EU foreign policy priorities in the 2010s

Author:: Albert Bressan
Publication Date:: 01-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty invites and enables Europe to develop elements of a common foreign policy. Europe should resist the tendency of listing all issues calling for attention, and be aware that it will have to address three agendas, not just one. The first agenda is the Kantian one of universal causes. While it remains essential to European identity, it presents Europe with limited opportunities for success in the 2010s as could be seen at the 2009 Climate Summit in Copenhagen. The 'Alliance' agenda remains essential on the security front and would benefit from a transatlantic effort at rejuvenation on the economic one. Last but not least, the 'Machiavellian' agenda reflects what most countries would define as their 'normal' foreign policy. It calls for Europe to influence key aspects of the world order in the absence of universal causes or common values. While Europe's 'Machiavellian' experience is limited to trade policy, developing a capacity to address this third agenda in a manner that places its common interests first and reinforces its identity will be Europe's central foreign policy challenge in the 2010s. A key part of the Machiavellian agenda presently revolves around relations with Ukraine, Turkey and the Russian Federation, three countries essential to Europe's energy security that are unlikely to change their foreign policy stance faced with EU soft power. Stressing that foreign policy is about 'us' and 'them', the article looks at what could be a genuine European foreign policy vis-à-vis each of these interdependent countries, beginning with energy and a more self-interested approach to enlargement. The European public space is political in nature, as majority voting and mutual recognition imply that citizens accept 'foreigners' as legitimate legislators. At a time when the European integration process has become more hesitant and the political dimension of European integration tends to be derided or assumed away, admitting Turkey or Ukraine as members would change Europe more than it would change these countries. Foreign policy cannot be reduced to making Europe itself the prize of the relationship. What objectives Europe sets for itself in its dealing with Ukraine, Turkey and Russia will test whether it is ready for a fully-fledged foreign policy or whether the invocation of 'Europe' is merely a convenient instrument for entities other than 'Europe'.
Topic:: Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: Europe, Turkey, and Ukraine

1638. Turkey-Ukraine Relations: High Potential, Low Voltage

Author:: Habibe Özdal and Viktoriia Demydova
Publication Date:: 03-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Strategic Research Organization (USAK)
Abstract:: With its strategic location of the existing power lines and economic potential, Ukraine, as one of the most important countries of Eastern Europe, is one of the pilot countries with which Turkey aims to develop its relations in an 'exemplary manner'. Besides, since Ankara and Kiev, share common values and priorities within the framework of preserving stability in the region, the Black Sea neighborhood adds another dimension to bilateral relations.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:: Europe, Turkey, Ukraine, and India

1639. Turkey and Taiwan: The Relationship Seeking Its Ground

Author:: Selçuk Çolakoglu and Arzu Güler
Publication Date:: 01-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Strategic Research Organization (USAK)
Abstract:: In the pre-1971 period, "One China" for Turkey was the Republic of China in Taiwan and the two countries were in cooperation against communist expansion. However, in 1971, though being reluctant for the expulsion of Taiwan from the United Nations, Turkey recognized People's Republic of China as the sole legal representative of China and pursued the "One China" policy in that respect. Thus, in the post-1971 period, Turkey's relations with Taiwan have continued only in terms of economy, trade and culture without recognizing it as an independent political unit. Beginning from early 1990s, Turkey began to take initiatives to increase its trade cooperation with Taiwan.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Bilateral Relations, and Culture
Political Geography:: China, Turkey, Taiwan, Asia, and United Nations

1640. Competitive Regulation: Stepping Outside the Public/Private Policy Debate

Author:: Jean-Paul Gagnon
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:: The central aim of this work is to try and detail the argument that governmental regulation can move beyond the public versus private policy debate. This argument depends largely on Kant?s and J.S. Mill?s works regarding the harm principle (see Ripstein, 2006; and Mertens, 2007, for further reading). In con-temporary political philosophy, we see the focus turning to equality and jus-tice within the framework of international peace and individual sovereignty (see Krasner, 1988; Guardiola-Rivera, 2010; Campbell, 2010; and Smith, 2008 for more). This discourse is central to my argument because I feel the literature supports my point that accountability, transparency and the right to question the public and private spheres wheresoever they may cause harm to be a right for any individual. It might be that, for many, this is simply part of democratic governance (see Hanberger, 2009; Meijer, 2009; Steffek, 2010; Tallberg, Uhlin and Bexell, 2010). This, in cumulative terms, manifests as the right for the pluralities composing citizenries to collectively challenge public and private industries and institutions if their activities cause harm or are suspect. This in turn may lead to the expectation that our representatives or leaders in civil society should champion this democratic right. If we do not have this right, the public and private spheres may operate in the dark: away from accountability, away from transparency, and away from popular knowledge and scrutiny.
Topic:: Government, Politics, Privatization, Governance, and Public Opinion
Political Geography:: Turkey

1641. Turkey: The Elephant in the Room of Europe

Author:: Hüseyin Selçuk Dönmez
Publication Date:: 05-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:: Turkey's accession process to the European Union (EU) has been a rather challenging issue for more than two decades now. Turkey applied for membership in 1987, "that is, three years before Cyprus and Malta and between seven and nine years before applications were lodged by ten Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs)." By the year 2011, Turkey has been waiting for 24 years to become a member of the EU. No other country in history of the EU enlargement has waited this long to become a member and not managed to become one after a quarter of a century. It would not be wrong to consider Turkey's bid to join the EU as a unique case in comparison to the former applicant countries, especially CEECs. As a result of this, there has been a continuous debate about Turkey's application and whether it has been treated differently or not. The aim of this paper is to shed a brighter light on this debate by presenting examples of different treatment towards the Turkish application. Before exploring the reasons of why and how Turkey has been treated differently, there are some key facts worth mentioning while defining Turkey's difference from other applicant countries. What makes these facts important is that they have formed the foundations of hurdles and their justifications for Turkey's possible membership in the EU. These facts will be touched upon prior to a deeper analysis.
Topic:: Economics, Sociology, and Culture
Political Geography:: Europe and Turkey

1642. The Paradox of Turkish Civil Military Relations

Author:: Richard Lim
Publication Date:: 03-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:: The history of Turkey is one of boundless ambiguities and contradictions. Once the center of the Islamic world, it now craves to be recognized as a secular, Western state. Although it was founded as a free republic, its military has exercised almost-Third World authoritarian power over the civilian leadership. Turkey, geographically, as well as ideologically, has been at the crossroads of the East and the West. Thus, few other countries can claim such a paradoxical mix of republicanism, authoritarianism, Islamism, and secularism.
Topic:: Civil Society and History
Political Geography:: Turkey

1643. The Political Feasibility of the Istanbul Canal Project

Author:: Mensur Akgün and Sylvia Tiryaki
Publication Date:: 08-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Global Political Trends Center (GPoT)
Abstract:: Popularly referred to as the “crazy” project, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Istanbul Canal Project has been debated vigorously since its proposal prior to the 2011 elections in the country. While some questioned its economic and ecological feasibility, others carried the discussion towards the Project's political implications. In addition to evaluating these debates, in this policy brief we discuss the Project through a historical perspective that includes the dynamics of the 1936 Montreux Convention. We argue that the feasibility of the Canal Project is valid only after certain changes are made in the application of the Montreux Convention. However, we conclude that this may lead to an outcome in which the signatories would question the legitimacy of the Convention under present conditions.
Topic:: Economics and Infrastructure
Political Geography:: Central Asia and Turkey

1644. Turkey's 2000/1 Banking Crisis: A Case Study for the Transformation of the Greek Finance?

Author:: Onur Bayramoğlu
Publication Date:: 08-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Global Political Trends Center (GPoT)
Abstract:: On April 2010, recently after the eruption of the Greek crisis, an unexpected hand from Turkey reached to Greece. Proud with his country's last decade growth figures, Turkey's then Vice Prime Minister, Ali Babacan, paid a visit to Greece in order to share his country's reform period after its 2000/1 crisis, arguing that it could also be a case study for Greece. In this brief, I analyzed Greek and Turkish financial crises. Although it is a mere fact that the structural problems in Greek economy complicate the reform period in Greece, there are certain lessons that Greeks can learn from the Turkish experience. As Turks did after 2001, they should see the crisis as an opportunity to overcome the long time problems . In this regard, Greeks first and foremost should establish consensus among themselves, signaling to the markets that they are ready to face the burdens of the reform period.
Topic:: Debt, Economics, International Political Economy, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:: Europe, Central Asia, Turkey, and Greece

1645. Maintaining International Peace and Security: A Summit Meeting of the UN Security Council

Publication Date:: 06-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Peace Institute
Abstract:: On September 23, 2010, the United Nations Security Council held a summit meeting on the maintenance of international peace and security, which is the primary responsibility of the Council. The summit was initiated by Turkey, a nonpermanent member of the Council in 2009-2010 and holder of the rotating presidency for September 2010. It was attended by nine heads of state and government and six ministers, and chaired by Abdullah Gul, President of the Republic of Turkey. The resulting presidential statement (S/PRST/2010/18, reproduced in the Annex to this report) reaffirmed that international peace and security require a more comprehensive and coherent approach. The Council also pledged to continue to strengthen the crisis-management toolbox at its disposal, including preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding, and to adapt it to changing circumstances. In addition, the statement reiterated the Council's support for the protection of civilians and its commitment to strengthening strategic partnerships with regional and subregional organizations and other relevant players. Further, it reaffirmed the importance of women in all aspects of prevention and resolution of conflicts and underlined the importance of addressing the root causes of conflict.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, International Relations, Security, Diplomacy, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:: Turkey and United Nations

1646. A Raid from the Sea: The Gaza Flotilla Attack and Blockade under Legal Scrutiny

Author:: Ufuk Ulutas
Publication Date:: 09-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The publication of the Palmer report written by the panel of inquiry established by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon once again brought the 31 May 2010 Gaza Flotilla incident and the blockade of Gaza back to world's attention. On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos stormed a passenger ship, the Mavi Marmara, the largest boat of a flotilla of six boats which were carrying 10000 tons of humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza, in international high waters. The operation left 9 activists dead and over 30 activists wounded. The Israeli military assault against the Mavi Marmara immediately ignited worldwide protests and condemnation. Turkey, whose citizens were attacked by Israeli soldiers in international high waters, 72 miles away from the Gazan coast, took the lead in protests and condemnation. Israel, however, claimed that the demonstrators on the Mavi Marmara were aiming to break the blockade of Gaza and the Israeli commandos were forced onboard to react in an act of self-defense.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:: Turkey, Middle East, Israel, and Arabia

1647. Turkey: Ending the PKK Insurgency

Publication Date:: 09-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: A surge in violence has dashed plans for a negotiated end to the 27-year-old Kurdistan Workers' Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK) insurgency. Since Turkey's elections in mid-June, clashes have killed more than 110 people, country-wide ethnic friction has hardened opinion, and the government has started bombing PKK bases and talking about an imminent ground offensive in northern Iraq. The PKK must immediately end its new wave of terrorist and insurgent attacks, and the Turkish authorities must control the escalation with the aim to halt all violence. A hot war and militaristic tactics did not solve the Kurdish problem in the 1990s and will not now. A solution can only lie in advancing the constitutional, language and legal reforms of the past decade that have gone part way to giving Turkish Kurds equal rights. Given the recent violence, returning to a positive dynamic requires a substantial strategic leap of imagination from both sides. Neither should allow itself to be swept away by armed conflict that has already killed more than 30,000 since 1984.
Topic:: Political Violence, Democratization, Ethnic Conflict, and Insurgency
Political Geography:: Iraq, Central Asia, Turkey, and Kurdistan

1648. Iraq and US Strategy in the Gulf: Shaping and Communicating US plans for the Future in a Time of Region-Wide Change and Instability

Author:: Anthony H. Cordesman
Publication Date:: 09-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: During the coming months, the US must reshape its strategy and force posture relative to Iraq and the Gulf States. It must take account of its withdrawal of most of its forces from Iraq, and whether or not it can give real meaning to the USIraqi Strategic Framework Agreement. It must deal with steadily increasing strategic competition with Iran, it must restructure its post-Iraq War posture in the Southern Gulf and Turkey, and define new goals for strategic partnerships with the Gulf states and its advisory and arms sales activity. It must decide how to best contain Iran, and to work with regional friends and allies in doing so. In the process, it must also reshape its strategy for dealing with key states like Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Yemen.
Topic:: Defense Policy, Terrorism, and Counterinsurgency
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, Turkey, Yemen, Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan

1649. Democracy, pluralism and the idea of public reason: Rawls and Habermas in comparative perspective

Author:: Funda Gencoglu-Onbasi
Publication Date:: 09-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:: Central European University
Abstract:: The notion of public reason, developed by two of the most influential contemporary political thinkers - Jürgen Habermas and John Rawls - as well as the contemporary discussions on the concepts of citizenship, civil society and the public sphere, among others, are all manifestations of the attempt to handle the thorny issue of the relationship between difference and equality. This article analyzes these two conceptualizations of public reason in a comparative perspective and its main contention is that the point where they depart each other is too important to be neglected. Although Habermas himself described his criticism of Rawls as a “familial dispute” and stated that he is engaged in a “friendly and provocative” critique in such a way that Rawls's theory can reveal its strengths, this article insists that the use of public reason is conceptualized radically differently by Rawls and Habermas.
Political Geography:: Turkey and Canada

1650. Stable Outside, Fragile Inside? PostSoviet Statehood in Central Asia

Author:: Arolda Elbasani
Publication Date:: 09-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:: Central European University
Abstract:: Stable Outside, Fragile Inside is one of the newest books in search of the distinctive development, erratic trends and widely perceived failure of Central Asian republics to make a successful transition to democracy after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The volume seeks to explain the region's specific trajectory to independent statehood, focusing on processes of socialization with competing external norms, emanating not only the main protagonists of the Cold War, Russia and US, but also an increasingly influential EU, a myriad of international organizations and European countries, as well as regional powers such as Turkey, China, Iran, and Pakistan. At the same time, the book draws attention to the specific domestic context of awkward statehood of Central Asian polities – a set of authority structures and state society relations as well as unpredictable international behavior – which makes it difficult for the conventional frameworks to capture the current state of affairs. Opting for a flexible and comprehensive analysis of practices of statehood, the analysis claims to go beyond mainstream understanding of compliance and delve into intricate processes of 'localization', which unfold at the intersection of local conditions and the larger world system.
Political Geography:: Pakistan, Russia, United States, China, Europe, Iran, Central Asia, Turkey, and Soviet Union

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS