Insight Turkey / issues

Editor's Note | Spring 2012

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 11:28:00 GMT

As the spring issue of Insight Turkey goes to print the Middle East nears another great crisis or even a war. The Syrian quagmire may be the current harbinger of full-out war in the region. It has been a year since the uprisings started. The Syrian regime met the peaceful demonstrations of its people with violent and bloody repression. The Arab spring, it seems at the moment, got stuck in Syria where President Bashar Assad confronted the demands of his people for change with a violent crackdown. The well-known “mukhabarat state” of Syria did not bow to “people power,” at least for the time being.

Monetary Policy of Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey after Global Financial Crisis

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 12:47:00 GMT

The recent global financial crisis presented substantial challenges and lessons for all economic agents. One of the most important lessons learned was the indispensability of financial stability for the smooth functioning of the economy as a whole. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT), being aware of the conditions that new global economic conjuncture necessitates, decided to modify its existing framework of inflation targeting by adopting a new policy by using required reserve ratios and interest rate corridor. The new policy mix approach preserves the main objective of achieving and maintaining price stability while safeguarding financial stability as a supporting objective.

Charting Transitions in the Middle East: Lessons Learned from Tunisia and Egypt

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 11:32:00 GMT

As I write, revolutionary fever in the Middle East and North Africa has deposed presidents in the Arab republics of Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Of these states Tunisia and Egypt shared similar revolutionary trajectories, where several weeks of sustained mass street protests forced dictators from office without significant violence or direct external intervention. Since these euphoric moments, Tunisia and Egypt have progressed along very different paths. While both countries have held competitive democratic elections—the conventional benchmark of liberal democratic legitimacy—their choices on key transitional questions have diverged with substantial consequences.

The Syrian Quagmire: What’s Holding Turkey Back?

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 11:58:00 GMT

The Assad regime has been playing all the diplomatic, political, and security cards it has accumulated over the past several decades. While keeping the violence under a certain threshold on a daily basis so as not to provoke immediate international action, the regime has benefited from the entangled and often conflicted international interests in Syria. The opposition has been unable to deal a serious blow to the regime and international pressure has so far yielded no major results. Though calls for international and regional action have recently intensified, there exists no clear international leadership or consensus on how to handle Syria. The Arab League and Turkey, along with other countries, have created the “Friends of Syria” group after the failure of the UN Security Council resolution on Syria, but Russian and Iranian backing for the Assad regime is seriously limiting options. Given its support for the people against authoritarian regimes during the Arab Spring and its anti-Assad stance, expectations for Turkey to “do something” are increasingly more pronounced. So, what’s holding Turkey back?

Insight Greece: The Origins of the Present Crisis*

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 12:53:00 GMT

This commentary counters conservative, liberal, and social democratic explanations about Greece’s sovereign debt crisis. It advances an original analysis as to what the sources of the Greek debt are and what steps should be taken in order to emerge successfully from it. The argument put forth is that responsibility for the country’s debt should be placed squarely on the shoulders of Greece’s two main parties ruling the country since 1974 (New Democracy and PASOK) in conjunction with the Euro-Atlantic political elites, the inter-section of which is straddled by a comprador-cum-financial oligarchy Greek style. The solution is a debtor-led default and immediate exit from the eurozone. But, it is maintained that this cannot take place under the aegis of the old two-party corrupt regime.

The Rise and Fall of Military Tutelage in Turkey: Fears of Islamism, Kurdism, and Communism

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:02:00 GMT

What explains the rise and fall of military tutelage over Turkish democracy? This article argues that the military’s civilian allies, particularly in the judiciary, political parties, and the media, provided it with political power. The reason why these civilians supported the military tutelage over democracy was their ideological fears of ‘Islamic reactionism,’ ‘Kurdish separatism,’ and ‘communism.’ Yet since 2007, the military’s political influence has declined due to the weakening of its ideological allies and the rise of a counter-elite, mainly the alliance of the pro-Islamic conservatives and the liberals. The article reviews the alternative state-centric, culturalist, and institutionalist explanations, while comparing the pre-2007 and post-2007 periods of civil-military relations.

Refining the Story of the Financial Crises in Europe and the USA

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:11:00 GMT

A significant amount of research has already been made about the financial crisis. But a midterm primer is nevertheless necessary; it is critical to assess the nature of the crises to ensure that the proper lessons are learned. This article aims to present a history on the causes of the financial crisis that first emerged in the U.S. in 2007. Then it will analyze the roots of the current state of the economic crisis in Europe and the U.S. It will also assess the effects of the crises on the European and American economies. Consequently, a range of topics are discussed in the article, some of which have received deeper treatment elsewhere in economic literature, but have not been pieced together to provide a coherent past and present picture of the situation. The article concludes briefly on how this story relates to today’s economic environment and the next steps that need to be taken going forward.

The Political Origins of the Greek Crisis: Domestic Failures and the EU Factor

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:35:00 GMT

This article argues that the origins of the Greek malaise are primarily political rather than economic and rooted in the delay, postponement, and half-hearted implementation of public policy reforms that preceded the crisis. The 2007-08 global economic crisis triggered market scrutiny over Greece, as it brought to an end a period of abundant liquidity and a relaxed attitude by global markets vis a vis Eurozone members. Greece’s impossible fiscal position was brutally exposed, and a downward spiral began. The article also argues that although Greece set itself up for failure, the Eurozone’s inability to act swiftly and early, to diagnose the problem correctly and to combine a policy mix consisting of budgetary consolidation and policy reform further exacerbated the problem. Despite the fact that disorderly default has been avoided and a sense of normalcy has returned, Greece has to move swiftly on the reforms front to avoid disaster.

The Changing Dynamics of Turkey’s Relations with Israel: An Analysis of ‘Securitization’

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:47:00 GMT

The present study seeks to answer the following questions: How was it possible that a state such as Turkey, which had until then pursued a low-profile policy in the Middle East, has able to forge a bold strategic alliance with the state of Israel in the 1990s? Conversely then, why was the unparalleled and positive nature of relations in the 1990s replaced by a hostile and toxic nature in the first decade of the 2000s? How can this difference in the relations between the 1990s and 2000s be explained? To answer such questions, this article uses the Copenhagen School’s theory of securitization. This approach not only helps to illustrate the characteristics of different periods in Turkish-Israeli relations, it also helps to highlight the specificity of the politics of civil-military relations in foreign policy making.

An Unfulfilled Opportunity for Reconciliation: Israel and Turkey during the Arab Spring

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:01:00 GMT

2011 brought an opportunity for Israel and Turkey to mend their bi-lateral relations. The re-election of Erdoğan in June 2011, coupled with the dramatic events of the Arab Spring, provided a new political and regional context in which the relations could be re-evaluated. This context enabled Turkey and Israel, with US mediation, to make progress towards drafting an agreement between them – an agreement intended to enable the two countries to restore normal working relations following the 2010 flotilla incident. However, the draft agreement was eventually rejected by the Israeli government in August 2011, leading to a new cycle of escalating tensions between the two countries. This article analyzes the Israeli decision-making process and discourse regarding the crisis with Turkey, and examines the changing circumstances of 2011, including the impact of the Arab Spring and the contrasting Israeli and Turkish reactions to it; the dynamics leading to the Israeli decision to reject the draft agreement; and the possible next phases in Israel-Turkey relations, including the conditions that can provide a new opportunity for the two former allies to become less alienated.

Rationalization of Turkey-Iran Relations: Prospects and Limits

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:09:00 GMT

This article examines Turkish-Iranian relations in the 2000s, when the two countries initiated an unprecedented rapprochement. It argues that modification of foreign policy paradigms in Turkey and Iran led to the rationalization of bilateral relations that paved the way for improvement of economic and political ties between the two states. In addition to the rationalization, a supportive regional context helped them expand their relations. However, structural differences prevent the Turkish-Iranian rapprochement from turning into a strategic partnership. Moreover, restructuring of the regional context and rise of the specter of a conflictual relationship, which is still alive, threaten the future of Turkish-Iranian relations.

America’s Asia-Pacific Strategy and Turkish-American Partnership

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:24:00 GMT

The debate on the future of the Turkish-American partnership has puzzled scholars in recent years due to its constant fluctuations. In the first year of the Obama administration, the parties tried to heal relations with high level exchanges and a new conceptual framework to define the relationship. However, in 2010 the discord between the US and Turkey on major policy issues, including Iran and relations with Israel, once again strained bilateral relations. With the Arab Spring, the pendulum swung once again. Since the eruption of the people’s movement in different parts of the Middle East, Turkey and the US have acted in coordination, and taken similar positions in debates in international forums. The Obama administration announced a new Asia-Pacific strategy, which will entail the concentration of its diplomatic, military, and economic resources to build partnerships and curb emerging threats in this region. This new doctrine may have a major impact on US relations with Turkey by opening up new opportunities for cooperation and new necessities to deepen the partnership.

Turkey between Environmental Protection and Energy Security: A Regional Perspective

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:34:00 GMT

Today, states not only find it necessary to secure energy supplies but also to address environmental threats due to climate change, decrease in biological diversity, concerns over water resources, and increasing individual and industrial energy needs. In this framework, Turkey is also focusing on environment and energy policies in its relations with its neighbors. Droughts, decreases in water resources, transit passage of oil tankers through the Black Sea and the Turkish Straits and a decline in biodiversity force Turkey to emphasize the access and use of environmentally friendly energy. However, economic and geopolitical concerns are also playing a crucial role in agreements with the energy producing countries. This paper demonstrates the dichotomy between energy and environment policies in the Black Sea region and Turkey, with references to international and regional needs.

Allies with the Infidels, The Ottoman and French Alliance in the Sixteenth Century

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:02:00 GMT

Christine Isom-Verhaaren’s book is not a history of the Franco-Ottoman alliance in the 16th century; rather its aim is to show how the Ottomans and French of the time saw this alliance, which has so often been presented by later historians as exceptional and shameful, and why its real meaning and historical context were misunderstood. Chapters one to five describe what she calls the “traditional historiography”. In consequence what she says is not always new for Ottomanists and the book is clearly meant for a broad Anglophone readership.

The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:06:00 GMT

The comparative study of empires is undoubtedly one of the fastest growing fields since the end of the Cold War. Dominic Lieven was among those who paved the way with his Empire: The Russian Empire and its Rivals (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), which was followed with some later additions such as Karen Barkey’s Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008) and Jane Burbank and Frederic Cooper’s Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010). Indeed the field of empires is so vast that the combinations and permutations of comparative studies are endless.

Turkey: A Short History

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:09:00 GMT

Early on in this slim account of 1,300 years’ of Turkish history, Norman Stone suggests: “If you are Turkish you have to ask what you owe to: (1) the ancient native Turkish tradition; (2) Persia; (3) Byzantium; (4) Islam; (5) what sort of Islam; and (6) conscious westernization.” It would be far-fetched to imagine that every modern Turk self-consciously ratiocinate these things and comes up with their own credit-debit account of historical heritage. This book’s major strength, however, is to demonstrate the lesser-appreciated continuities—as well as sudden changes—that do make up so much of Turkish history.

The Influence of the European Union on Turkish Foreign Policy

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:12:00 GMT

Özlem Terzi’s book analyzes the impact of the European Union membership process on the “alleged transformation” of Turkish foreign policy, particularly during the last few decades. The author reviews the existing literature on Europeanization and shows how several political thinkers and theoreticians have elucidated the basic parameters of the foreign policy of the European Union, particularly with regards to the non-member states and candidate countries. The author focuses on the normative power of the European Union in shaping world politics and tries to show how the EU has managed to change the course of Turkish foreign policy in the last few years.

Kurds of Modern Turkey: Migration, Neoliberalism and Exclusion in Turkish Society

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:16:00 GMT

As the Kurdish question in Turkey has yet to be solved, the question itself does not remain constant but rather it is dynamic and revolves around the political, economic, and social transformations within Turkey. Metaphorically speaking, one of the ‘bright’ sides of the ongoing conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdish rebels has been that the violent conflict between the two parties has been hitherto secluded from the social space and it has not spread into a societal conflict between the civilian Kurdish and Turkish communities.

Activists in Office: Kurdish Politics and Protest in Turkey

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:20:00 GMT

Most of the recently published books on the Kurdish problem in Turkey focus on the armed struggle and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Watts, however, offers a much-appreciated alternative approach. “Pro-Kurdish political parties” (p. xvii), or what she also calls “challenger parties” (p. 16), “have made themselves matter and… have impressed their ideas and agendas on reluctant and often repressive states” (p. x). “The central argument of this book is that… pro-Kurdish elected officials and party administrators engaged [as]… ‘loudspeaker systems’ for the transmission of highly contentious information politics that challenged the narratives of security, identity, and representation promoted by Turkish state institutions…. They [also] tried to construct a competing ‘governmentality’ and new collective Kurdish ‘subject’ in cities and towns in the southeast” (p. 13).

The European Union and Central Asia

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:23:00 GMT

In this timely volume, Alexander Warkotsch gathers a variety of authors from different backgrounds who work and research Central Asia to produce an empirically well-sustained analysis of the policies and practices in the European Union’s (EU) approach towards the area. Warkotsch, an associate researcher at Würzburg University in Germany, has a strong research record on Central Asia, which together with the regional and EU expertise of the authors makes this volume an important contribution to studies about EU relations with Central Asia. In fact, this is an under-researched area and there are few studies attempting at grasping the dynamics underlying these relations.

Producing Islamic Knowledge, Transmission and Dissemination in Western Europe

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:26:00 GMT

This collection of essays bridges the gap between arguments that emphasize the role of Islamic communities and the individualization of religious authority in the literature on Muslims in Western Europe. The editors propose to focus on the process by which Islamic knowledge—“whatever Muslims consider to be correct or proper belief and practice”—is produced through the interaction of religious authorities, lay Muslims, and their European context. There are two common themes that connect all the articles: the religious market model and the localization of Islam in Europe.

Thinking Through Islamophobia: Global Perspectives

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:40:00 GMT

Thinking Through Islamophobia contains 27 essays examining the concept of Islamophobia through discussions that cut across continents and disciplines. The papers were originally developed for the 2008 workshop on this topic organized by the Center of Ethnicity and Racism Studies at the University of Leeds. Together the chapters provide a deep and comprehensive understanding of the history, impact and breadth of Islamophobia, even while their authors disagree on the utility and credibility of the term. Readers of the complete text will begin to appreciate the wide range of limitations on the life of Muslims imposed by the security lens through which Muslims have been viewed since 9/11 and by their historical “outsider” image in societies where they are represented as “the other”.

Global Security Watch: The Caucasus States

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:43:00 GMT

Global Security Watch: The Caucasus States by Professor Houman A. Sadri of the University of Central Florida is an important addition to the Praeger series that has produced insightful studies on countries such as Iran, Russia and Turkey. Professor Sadri, an active participant in the International Studies Association’s (ISA) Post Communist States in International Relations group, is a committed scholar of the region.

Years of Blood: A History of the Armenian-Muslim Clashes in the Caucasus, 1905-1906

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:46:00 GMT

The first decade of the 20th century represents a very significant though turbulent period in the history of the Caucasian peoples. Not only had the region been shaken by the impacts of the drastic political changes taking place in the three neighboring empires—Russia, Iran and the Ottoman Empire—it had also become a scene of inter-communal violence due to the escalating tension between Armenians and Muslims of the Russian Caucasus. Although both communities had already been greatly influenced by the revolutionary ideas and movements of late 19th century, the real revolution for them had actually started with the bloody clashes in Baku in February 1905. The so-called Muslim-Armenian War of 1905-1906 was particularly influential on the national awakening of the Muslim Azeris as the Armenian community had already been very much organized as a result of the activities of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaksutyun) that was founded as early as 1890.

Islam and the Veil: Theoretical and Regional Contexts

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:12:00 GMT

No matter how many attempts there have been to clarify the significance of the Islamic veil it remains a hotly contested issue. In Western civilizational discourse it is taken to be a symbol of women’s oppression and, beyond that, of Islam’s inability to grant gender equality and so of its followers’ unsuitability for membership in the countries of secular/Christian Europe. In an ironic transformation of its literal meaning as a curtain or screen to preserve modesty by segregating the sexes, the hijab has become, for its critics, the flag of an Islamist insurgency.

Ethnicity, Migration and Enterprise

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:09:00 GMT

Under the impact of globalization, and despite increased calls for diversity to be recognized, universal citizenship rights that safeguard individual rights and freedoms fall short of grasping diversity. International migration and minority issues are contributory facets of this process. Citizenship has become susceptible to international migration and the minority issues, and the relationship established with the nation-state in the form of membership or belonging has gotten disrupted. States are now compelled to develop new policies to deal with the consequences of international migration and the challenge of minority groups.

The Narrative of the Occident

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:16:00 GMT

Georg Schmid’s The Narrative of the Occident was published by Peter Lang in 2009. The book consists of nine chapters; in the first four chapters the author discusses theories and methods with which a civilization, essentially the Occident, narrates and represents itself. The following chapters deal with the ways through which social perceptions are made and remade with the aid of rival or friendly paradigms. There are two insertions among the chapters: “Excursus A” (pp. 235–264) discusses the visual mechanisms and films which aided and extended the narrative of the Western civilization. “Excursus B” (pp. 353–378), entitled “Aviation Annotations,” deals with the aviation industry in the Western world as success stories. The details of several (Airbus and Boeing) aircraft models and their characteristics according to pilots, and the rivalry between the two companies are not spared! The load of unnecessary details and irrelevant issues for this insertion and in fact for the rest of the whole book makes the reading extremely painful.