Turkish Politics after Elections
Editor's Notes
Editor's Note | Fall 2011
It seems that the 2011 summer elections marks the end of the old maxim that conveniently formulates politics as “the art of the possible.” It is no secret that the transformative agenda by the consecutive AK Party governments since 2002 has been restricted by the “ancien regime,” which has drawn the limits of “what is necessary” or “what is possible” in affecting “fundamental changes” and reconfiguring the relations between the “old” and “new” power centers. However, the historic appreciation of the AK Party government expressed in votes by half the population suggests that as the old power elite is fading away, politics for the next AK Party government goes beyond its “fight” for emancipating politics from the constraints of Kemalist power centers.
Commentaries
This piece is on a number of critical rulings issued recently by high courts in Turkey in brazen...
Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan visited Somalia in mid-August to raise awareness on the devastating...
Over the past decade, Turkey has been experiencing a decisive transition that North Africa and...
The wave of popular protests engulfing the Arab Middle East has yielded markedly different...
The Mavi Marmara tragic affair is viewed in Israel as part of a Turkish political maneuvering...
On May 31st, 2010, Israeli commandos killed nine passengers aboard a humanitarian flotilla...
After the Israeli attack of May 31, 2010 on the Freedom Flotilla led by the Mavi Marmara, the UN...
Articles
The changes in Turkey’s political landscape over the past decade have been quite dramatic. In...
The MHP won 13 percent of the vote in the June 2011 elections, which guaranteed it 52 seats in...
This essay argues that the 2011 election results point to a number of important conclusions...
This paper discusses the CHP within the paradigm of party individualization and the “political...
The 2011 elections marked the emergence of the AKP as a political brand that is likely to win all...
The article analyzes the new roadmap for Turkey after the summer 2011 elections as not a...
Book Reviews
Gregor Schoeler’s The Biography of Muhammad: Nature and authenticity was first published in...
The key argument behind Steven Hill’s comprehensive analysis of the European way is that Europe...
“Hold on to Your Veil Fatima!” takes the reader on a journey into 21st century Egypt. The book...
The problem with this book is that it does not deliver what the title promises. In a study of any...
Are Muslims Distinctive? is an exceptionally objective book that examines the highly subjective...
An observer of contemporary Lebanon may be struck by two interrelated aspects of Lebanese...
This is not just another book criticizing Turkey for its well-known Kurdish problem. Rather it is...
Through this thoughtful and carefully researched account of US relations with the Kurds, Marriana...
In The Caucasus Under Soviet Rule, Alex Marshall examines the complexities of internal politics...
Although it is widely accepted that there have been important elements of continuity as well as...
Nikos Skoutaris has written a timely book on the European Union’s (EU) handling of the legal...
Revisionist history is “in.” Indeed, there is no other history these days. This is the case for...