Insight Turkey
Insight Turkey
Challenging ideas
On Turkish politics and International affairs

The Crisis and Governance of Religious Pluralism in Europe

The Crisis and Governance of Religious Pluralism in Europe

In recent years, religious pluralism has become the focus of intense debate in Europe – from controversies regarding religious clothing and symbols...

The Kurdistan Regional Government Elections A Critical Evaluation

The Kurdistan Regional Government Elections: A Critical Evaluation

This analysis offers an evaluation of the last three elections of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq. These three elections included...

A Quick Glance at the History of Elections in Turkey

A Quick Glance at the History of Elections in Turkey

Generally speaking, two traditions – right-wing politics and the Left – have dominated Turkish politics over the years. This study aims to analyze...

The AK Party Dominant Party New Turkey and Polarization

The AK Party: Dominant Party, New Turkey and Polarization

One of the fiercest electoral battles fought in the Turkish political history, the March 30, 2014 local elections yielded results akin to an...

The Structural Causes of Political Crisis in Turkey

The Structural Causes of Political Crisis in Turkey

The December 17th process was started allegedly by a political move by the Gülen movement, which, until recently, had been seen as a religious...

Strengths and Constraints of Turkish Policy in the South Caucasus

Strengths and Constraints of Turkish Policy in the South Caucasus

Just after the end of the Soviet Union and the emergence of three independent states in the South Caucasus Turkey started to manifest a real...

Elections in Iraq What Does the Future Hold

Elections in Iraq: What Does the Future Hold?

Iraq held parliamentary elections in April, the country’s first vote since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in December 2011. Although turnout was...

Hezbollah and Syria From Regime Proxy to Regime Savior

Hezbollah and Syria: From Regime Proxy to Regime Savior

Hezbollah’s longstanding ties with the House of Assad lie at the core of its domestic and regional policies. Losing Assad would undermine...

The Impact of the New Zero Problems Policy and the

The Impact of the “New” Zero Problems Policy and the Arab Spring on the Relations between Turkey and Lebanese Factions

As the Arab Spring unfolds, a new power configuration is emerging in the Middle East. Turkey is at the center of the new setting, with a fully...

Can the U S Government Accept an Independent Turkish Foreign

Can the U.S. Government Accept an Independent Turkish Foreign Policy in the Middle East?

The end of the Cold War marked the end of adversary patterns of alignment in the Middle East, and the ebbing dichotomy between the U.S. and USSR...

The Turkish-Kurdish Peace Process Stalled in Neutral

The Turkish-Kurdish peace process began in early 2013 and stalled soon after. During that period, the Kurds expected the government to release KCK...

A Fire in the Minds of Arabs The Arab Spring

A Fire in the Minds of Arabs: The Arab Spring in Revolutionary History

Fire is both the symbol of revolution and its most potent weapon. Much like the American Revolution and other key historic events, the Arab Spring...

International Relations and Migration Management The Case of Turkey

International Relations and Migration Management: The Case of Turkey

States often fall out or collaborate over issues to do with international migration whilst migrants through their very actions shape the...

From Democracy to Military Dictatorship Egypt 2013 Chile 1973

From Democracy to Military Dictatorship: Egypt 2013 = Chile 1973

During the months leading up to July 3, 2013, the state of Egypt mirrored that of Chile 40 years ago. What Egypt’s Mohamed Mursi and Chile’s...

The Iran Nuclear Deal Rewriting the Middle East Map

The Iran Nuclear Deal: Rewriting the Middle East Map

Surveying today’s Middle Eastern and North African landscape offers few straws of hope. Iran’s reemergence producing a potential catalyst for a...

Gezi Park Revolts For or Against Democracy

Gezi Park Revolts: For or Against Democracy?

The anti-government protests in Turkey emerged as a legitimate and even necessary reaction against police brutality to evolved into violent revolts...

Political Culture and National Identity in Conceptualising the Gezi Park

Political Culture and National Identity in Conceptualising the Gezi Park Movement

This essay interprets the Gezi Park protests that began as a local resistance to government plans to level a public park but quickly escalated into...

Ergenekon An Illegitimate Form of Government

Ergenekon: An Illegitimate Form of Government

On August 5th, 2013, an Istanbul court reached its verdict in the Ergenekon coup plot trial, handing down various prison sentences to 247...

Democratization and Relations with the EU in the AK Party

Democratization and Relations with the EU in the AK Party Period: Is Turkey Really Making Progress?

This brief commentary assesses the progress made by Turkey under the Justice and Development Party (the AK Party) toward European Union (EU)...

A New Challenge for Turkey Civil War in Syria

A New Challenge for Turkey: Civil War in Syria

The Arab Spring gave rise to a variety of transitions in the Middle East. Although initial developments in Tunisia and Egypt created optimism,...

Military Political Islam and the Future of Democracy in Egypt

Military, Political Islam, and the Future of Democracy in Egypt

Egypt’s democratization efforts require domestic and international considerations: Domestically, the country must focus on the economy at the...

Insights for Egypt s and Tunisia s Islamists from Turkish

Insights for Egypt’s and Tunisia’s Islamists from Turkish Experience of Democratic Transition

Turkey is achieved a viable combination of Islam, democracy and development. After prolonged periods of political instability and interruptions in...

Gezi Anatomy of a Public Square Movement

Gezi – Anatomy of a Public Square Movement

The Occupy Gezi movement has been a staging ground for the creativity of micro-practices, and it embodies the importance of the politics of...

The Political Reverberations of the Gezi Protests

The Political Reverberations of the Gezi Protests

Although a lot has been said about the Gezi protests, analyses of the events consistently failed on two particular issues. First, in their efforts...

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