Insight Turkey / issues

Editor's Note | Spring 2009

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:24:08 GMT

The Turkish domestic and foreign policy agenda has been occupied by monumental developments over the last three months. Discussions have ranged from a new period in Turkish-US relations in light of US President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Ankara, to the efforts for a rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia, to the future of Turkish-Israeli relations, and to the strength of the AK Party following the March local elections.

Turkey’s Local Elections of 2009: Winners and Losers

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:28:29 GMT

This article presents a descriptive account of the March 2009 local elections in Turkey and offers a nation-wide and regional evaluation of trends in Turkish elections since 2004. The results of these analyses suggest that, although the AKP’s rise in support has stalled, it remains the dominant political party in Turkish politics. However, a regionally differentiated analysis shows that significant differences can be observed between the more developed western coastal regions, where the opposition parties received a lot of support, and the eastern and southeastern provinces, where parties that represent the ethnic Kurdish minority have seen rising support. In between these two areas, the AKP continues to dominate in the more conservative provinces, followed by the MHP. The article emphasizes the worsening economic conditions as the main factor that shaped these developments, and underlines the geographically advantageous positioning of the MHP which may mount a credible opposition to the AKP in the future.

Towards a Turkish-Armenian Rapprochement?

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:51:01 GMT

Given its close political, economic, social and cultural ties to the region, stability, prosperity and a cooperative atmosphere in the South Caucasus are of great significance to Turkey. From this perspective, the normalization of Turkey’s relations with Armenia is one of the priorities of the AKP government. So a new era is about to begin in Turkish-Armenian relations, which up until now have been burdened by historical legacies, inertia and a lack of trust. The process of rapprochement launched with the restoration of the Akhtamar Church in 2002 is likely to soon result in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries; however, the process is complicated, and it is still uncertain when the official ties will be definitively established. That is why a detailed look at the 18 years of deadlock between Turkey and Armenia would be helpful in order to better understand the changing dynamics of the problem.

Turkish-Israeli Relations after Davos: A View from Turkey

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:05:42 GMT

Despite the negative atmosphere it created for both sides, the Davos case should be seen as an opportunity to revisit the various aspects of Turkish-Israeli relations. Turkish-Israeli rapprochement is important for the regional order. However, both sides should realize that like all bilateral relations the Turkish-Israeli one is subject to social, political and psychological parameters. There is no ideal, correct model that is free of social effects. The fluctuations of a bilateral contact cannot be understood through simplistic analyses that prioritize personalities or other trivial issues. Every single event, including that at Davos, should be seen as one function of complex social phenomena. Even the most unexpected events in politics are the products of several major social machineries. This article will offer an alternative analysis of the Turkish-Israeli relationship in the light of a number of social structures.

Altercating Interests and Orientations between Israel and Turkey: A View from Israel

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:23:57 GMT

This essay analyzes the relationship between Turkey and Israel against the background of the AKP ascent to power in Turkey in 2002 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It argues that notwithstanding the sea changes that occurred in the region following the invasion, as well as the far-reaching changes in Turkey’s foreign policy, both states still have vested interests in maintaining their close relationship, even at times of crisis. One of the most important explanations for their relations’ longevity is that the two states have no serious problems on the bilateral level, while their strategic, economic and societal common interests have been strong enough to weather crises. The paper also explores the implications for the future of the Turkish-Israeli relationship of Turkey’s policy during Israel’s operations against Hamas in Gaza.

Between Crises and Cooperation: The Future of Turkish-Israeli Relations

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:37:43 GMT

Bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel nosedived after the recent Israeli operation in Gaza, and both countries tested each other’s red lines at the height of the crisis from January to mid-February 2009. The verbal spat between Israeli President Shimon Peres and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Davos and, later, an undiplomatic statement by the Israeli Ground Forces commander, Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi, led many observers to believe that the strategic relationship between Turkey and Israel had been dealt a fatal blow. However, diplomats and statesmen have already started mending diplomatic ties, while military cooperation between the two countries continued routinely. The latest crisis confirmed two oft-repeated conjectures regarding the pattern in bilateral ties: first, Turkey’s partnership with Israel is fundamentally pegged to Israel’s attitude toward the Palestinians, and, second, the profundity of the partnership has reached a level that makes a divorce quite complicated and difficult.

Sarkozy’s Policy in the Middle-East: A Break with the Past?

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:53:54 GMT

Nicolas Sarkozy’s election as France’s president in May 2007 has marked a rhetorical change in the foreign policy of Paris and has made the French presidency much more dynamic. Sarkozy has led many international initiatives and increased France’s presence in international and Middle Eastern arenas. Despite all these developments, however, France’s Middle-Eastern policy has been characterized by a large degree of continuity since Sarkozy has embraced traditional French perceptions and agenda concerning the Middle East. Thus, he has continued France’s so-called ‘Arab policy’, and mainly pursued past policies on key regional issues such as the Israeli-Arab conflict. Consequently, Sarkozy’s declarations concerning the changing nature of French policy do not seem fully compatible with reality. So far there has also been a gap between France’s optimistic assessment of the results of its Middle Eastern policy versus the less impressive outcomes on the ground.

Muslim Democrats in Turkey and Egypt: Participatory Politics as a Catalyst

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:07:32 GMT

Partial and limited opening of authoritarian political systems in Turkey and Egypt created new democratic opportunities for Islamists to participate in public life. It also fostered democratic learning by permitting Islamists to compete for power and popular legitimacy. In the process of democratic opening, Islamists have had to address and represent the interests of a group much larger than their own ideological constituency. They have also had to endure repression and party closures in a semi-democratic political framework. However, the democratic learning process coupled with the establishment’s constraints has paved the way for the transformation of Islamists to Muslim democrats. While the process in Turkey is almost complete, in Egypt there are still heated debates on the transformation among the Islamists. This study highlights the importance of the democratic opportunities given to Turkish Islamists and argues that if given similar opportunities, Egyptian Islamism will also transform to a post-Islamist phase.

The Emergence and Rise of Conservative Elite in Turkey

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:21:07 GMT

The purpose of this essay is to examine the emergence and rise of a new “social group,” or what I call a “conservative elite” in Turkey. By using in a historical perspective the theory of the circulation of elites as a theoretical construct, envisaged separately by both Mosca and Pareto and further developed by Kolabinska, I focus particularly on the underpinning factors that have brought about the changes which have paved the way for the new elite, namely: i) the negative effects of ‘assertive secularism’; and ii) the positive effects of Turkey’s democratization process, especially after the 1980s. This essay argues that Turkey’s new conservative elite has demonstrated the feasibility of a successful synthesis of religious and social conservatism with modernity. Its overarching message is that increased social inclusion helps reduce violent radicalization of religious sentiments. The integration of the new conservative elite into society heralds positive signs not only for Turkey but also for its immediate neighborhood and beyond.

Autobiographies of Orhan Pamuk: The Writer in His Novels

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:15:43 GMT

Autobiographies of Orhan Pamuk is one of the best introductions yet to the works of Turkey’s most famous author. This literary and biographical companion provides encouragement for those confounded by the many complexities conjured up by the 2006 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Michael McGaha untangles the way Pamuk weaves his own life into almost every story, gives critical accounts of all his major works and cleverly manages to teach the reader much about the history of modern Turkey as well.

Ibrahim the Mad and Other Plays: An Anthology of Modern Turkish Drama

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:20:57 GMT

During his long career as poet, scholar, and translator, Talat Sait Halman has done more than any other single individual to promote knowledge of Turkish literature in the United States. Ibrahim the Mad and Other Plays, which he has edited with the able assistance of Jayne L. Warner, is the largest collection of Turkish plays ever published in English—by far exceeding even Halman’s earlier Modern Turkish Drama (1976; reprinted in 1983)—and it is only the first of two volumes, containing plays dating from 1940 to 1969. The second volume, I, Anatolia and Other Plays, due out later this year, will carry the panorama up to the end of the twentieth century.

Turkey’s Modernization: Refugees from Nazism and Atatürk’s Vision

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:25:13 GMT

“Turkey’s Modernization” is about the German-speaking Jewish academics and artists who looked for and found shelter along the Bosporus during the difficult times of the Third Reich and World War II. Reisman indicates that there was a brief and shining moment in the early 1930s when providence sent a group of the most active, intelligent and dedicated people alive from Germany and Austria to Istanbul to push and pull Turkey into the modern age. The story of these Jewish émigrés is one of the least known episodes of World War II in non-Turkish, non-German-speaking countries. In fact, even in Turkish and German-speaking countries, the conditions under which Turkey provided a secure base for the émigré professors and their contributions to the advances in various scientific disciplines on a world scale are not well enough appreciated.

The Identity of Nations

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:29:00 GMT

In The Identity of Nations, Montserrat Guibernau engages in the current debates about the extent to which multiculturalism still offers a valid integration model and the challenges of preserving national identities and cohesion while promoting and incorporating ethno-cultural diversity. Her book essentially argues that national identities remain strong and act as a powerful political mobiliser despite being transformed by the impacts of devolution (for example, in Quebec, Catalonia, Scotland and Wales), European integration and migration.

Religion in Public Life: Must Faith Be Privatized?

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:35:39 GMT

Roger Trigg has written an insightful, balanced and clear-headed book on the complex topic of the relationship between religion and politics in a modern, pluralist, democratic state. Trigg defends a role for religion in public life in modern democracies, and along the way exposes many of the fallacies at the heart of much of contemporary academic thinking on this subject. Much of the discussion in the book revolves around a careful description of what is going on in various democratic states, both in terms of academic and elite opinion, and in terms of actual social, political and religious practices.

Cosmopolitan Europe

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:41:29 GMT

This is the third volume in a trilogy written by Ulrich Beck. The first two volumes – Power in the Global Age (2005) and The Cosmopolitan Vision (2006) were authored by Beck alone. The third volume is co-authored with Edgar Grande. The main argument in Cosmopolitan Europe is that Europe as a model must be rethought. It worked for fifty years but at the end it has succumbed under its own success. The turning point was the enlargement in 2004. The main question is what holds the enlarged Europe together? The main problem deals with how to conceptualise the future Europe.

Unintended Consequences: The United States at War

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:46:33 GMT

This book is almost surely designed for the use of undergraduates. It is short (193 pages of text), and covers ten of America’s wars from the time of the Revolution in the late eighteenth century to the current fighting in Iraq. The layout is clear and easy to follow. Each war gets a chapter, and each chapter begins with a general overview of the historical setting of the conflict, followed by a fairly detailed description of what is called “The War” itself, which usually narrates important military engagements.