Insight Turkey / issues

Editor's Note | Winter 2019

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 11:10:00 GMT

Insight Turkey’s last issue for 2019 “Turkey’s New Foreign Policy: A Quest for Autonomy” analyses how Turkey with great stamina has proven that it is a strong cooperative player and balancer between the polarities of the world, as a voice for the oppressed and a pillar of strength among the dominant forces in the world.

A Three-level Analysis of Turkey’s Crisis with the U.S.-led Order

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 14:21:00 GMT

Starting in 2013, Turkish-American relations have been undergoing one of the deepest and most alarming crises since the 1940s. Ankara, a NATO member and U.S. ally for more than six decades, not only defies U.S. interests in the Middle East, as in the cases of Iran and Syria, it also works with Russia on many strategic issues, such as buying high-tech weapons, building a nuclear power plant, and negotiating the Syrian crisis. In order to explain why Turkey, as a subordinate actor in the U.S.-led order, pursues policies that are incongruent with U.S. interests, this paper employs a hierarchy approach in order to identify when and why subordinate states challenge the lead state and its rules and dictates.

Turkey, the U.S., Russia, and the Syrian Civil War

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 14:49:00 GMT

This commentary provides an analysis of the Turkey’s relations with the U.S. and Russia in the context of the Syrian civil war. Owing much to the dynamics of the Syrian civil war and the American support to the PYD/YPG, Ankara has recently made considerable changes in its foreign policy and its relations with Washington and Moscow. As the U.S. government has failed to understand Turkey’s security concerns, Turkey, despite being a NATO member, now seems to be closer to Moscow than to Washington.

The Power of Law vs. the Power of Arms: The Turkish Judiciary’s Test with the Coup

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 15:32:00 GMT

Thousands of judges and prosecutors in Turkey risked their lives to inquire into the activities of an armed group and defended the law against them. The Turkish judiciary has been determined to protect the democratic constitutional state since the night of the coup attempt on July 15, 2016. Even during the early hours of the coup attempt, when nobody yet knew whether it would be successful, the Turkish judiciary showed the courage to initiate investigations against the coup-plotters. Since then, the judiciary has spent utmost effort to ensure the conduct and conclusion of the proceedings in a fair manner. This paper will shed light on the judicial process during the post-coup attempt period.

Preventive Detention in Counter-insurgencies: The Case of Kashmir

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 15:01:00 GMT

This paper offers an analysis of preventive detention in the context of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It primarily explores the covert objectives behind the use of a preventive detention law, namely the Public Safety Act in Kashmir. It explains how this law has been used as a political tool by authorities to achieve their ulterior motives, which diverge from the philosophy of detention, i.e. the rehabilitation of the prisoners. This paper seeks to answer two main questions: firstly, why is preventive detention being used abusively in Kashmir, and secondly, how and why has it persisted despite widespread condemnation and accusations of human rights abuse.

Iran’s Military Capability: The Structure and Strength of Forces

Wed, 22 May 2019 17:03:00 GMT

Economic upheaval in the post-revolutionary period, its ideological concerns, the lessons of the war with Iraq and the drive to assert regional dominance have shaped Iran’s emerging military doctrine. This research intends to determine Iran’s military strength, relying on a particular formula that assesses a number of factors, including military budget, manpower, army assets, ballistic missile arsenal, proxy forces, and cyberwarfare capability. The research assumes that Iran’s arsenal is very limited and somewhat antiquated, more suitable for defensive rather than offensive operations. The second objective of the research is to address the possible strategic consequences of Iran rebuilding its military capabilities on regional security. The article assumes that Iran will likely be judged by its intentions rather than its actions, meaning that if its rhetoric is offensive, then it is likely to be judged as a threat.

“The World Is Bigger than Five”: A Salutary Manifesto of Turkey’s New International Outlook

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 15:14:00 GMT

President Erdoğan has expressed his objection to the current structure of the UN with the motto “the world is bigger than five.” The international systemic root of this objection is the failure of the UN to make adequate contribution to peace and prosperity. Among other reasons behind this call for change are the AK Party’s ideological orientation, Erdoğan’s charisma and his powerful sense of mission to carry the ‘periphery’ into the center as well as Turkey’s ascendancy to a rising power that has prompted it to advocate multipolarity in the international system. This article argues that the motto “the world is bigger than five” has a number of connotations: a strong support for a just and peaceful international order; a plea against permanent membership and the accompanying veto mechanism; a call for reforming the UN to render the UNSC more representative, transparent and accountable; and an outcry against imperialistic interventions.

Relations between Russia and Turkey Before, During, and After the Failed Coup of 2016

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 15:22:00 GMT

Increasing cooperation between Russia and Turkey date back to the 1990s, and go beyond the preferences of a specific political party or leader. A number of geopolitical interests pitted Russia and Turkey against one another in neighboring regions. The escalation of PKK attacks in Turkey starting in July 2015 and the failed coup attempt of the Gülenists in July 2016 motivated Turkey to seek closer relations with Russia as the United States became an increasingly unreliable actor in the context of Turkey’s fight against the PKK-PYD and the Gülenists. Likewise, Russia’s dependence on the Turkish Straits as its main supply route to its bases in Syria, Turkey’s role as a key customer of Russian natural gas and grain, the goal of breaching Western economic sanctions, as well as consolidating Russia’s internal security, all motivate Russia to seek closer relations with Turkey.

Clashing Interests in the Eastern Mediterranean: What About Turkey?

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 15:24:00 GMT

The Eastern Mediterranean region has recently emerged as one of the pivotal foci of international affairs due to its considerable natural gas reserves. The region has become a point of intersection for surrounding countries and external actors, as well as major energy market players. The main challenge associated with Eastern Mediterranean natural gas is the position of the reserves in the Mediterranean Sea and the resulting ownership problem among its littoral states, while the de facto division of, and disputes over, the island of Cyprus is closely connected to the issue. Hence, the debates involve two key questions: (1) which countries have ownership rights, and (2) which countries will be the natural gas transit countries. This article examines the standpoints of Turkey and the other actors involved in the game in the Eastern Mediterranean. The positions are presented with a focus on how different actors interpret current developments, perceive threats, and formulate their reactions.

The Turkish Economy at the Crossroads: The Political Economy of the 2018 Financial Turbulence

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 15:26:00 GMT

In 2018, the Turkish economy suffered one of the most severe financial speculations in its 38-year open economy era. Some have tried to explain the causes of the financial turbulence solely by linking it to the deterioration in the macroeconomic indicators, such as the inflation rate and current account deficit. However, this approach cannot help us to understand the fundamental causes of the financial turbulence. This paper argues that internal and external shocks ranging from the coup attempt in 2016 to geopolitical risks hindered the designing and implementation process of the second-generation reforms Turkey needed to escape from its middle-income trap. As the reform process slowed down and the severity of shocks increased; uncertainties over economic performance and policies mounted. This uncertain environment paved the way for financial turbulence by providing opportunities for speculators to mislead the markets in line with their own interests.

Erdoğan’s Personal Diplomacy and Turkish Foreign Policy

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 15:27:00 GMT

In recent years, one of the most popular concepts in Turkish foreign policy has been public diplomacy, which refers to government activities to increase the country’s image among foreign societies. While the concept is important, the problem is that a similar emphasis and attention is not given to personal diplomacy, another state practice of modern diplomacy. This article illustrates that personal diplomacy is most effective in crisis periods, when there is dominant leadership, and when the political leader is confident about his/her ability to shape policies. As all these factors exist in Turkish foreign policy today, it is not surprising to see that Ankara increasingly relies on personal diplomacy in its relations with foreign countries.

U.S. Interests and the Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Review

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 15:31:00 GMT

There is a strong relationship between American journalists and scholars. One of the features that some American journalists and scholars have in common is their pro-Zionist bias. It has long been realized that Israel has been granted a certain immunity, which is unique in nature.

Widening the World of International Relations: Homegrown Theorizing

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 17:07:00 GMT

The discipline of International Relations (IR) has been subjected to various questions, challenges, and reformulations in the recent past. Certain paradigmatic challenges emanate from various theoretical orientations that question the foundations of mainstream IR.

Political Science: A Global Perspective

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 17:19:00 GMT

This new text on Political Science is a very advanced intellectual discourse on selected topics in the discipline. It is written by established and renowned scholars who have over the years distinguished themselves as resourceful promoters of the discipline across the globe.

The Gumilev Mystique: Biopolitics, Eurasianism, and the Construction of Community in Modern Russia

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 17:26:00 GMT

Professor Mark Bassin’s book deals with Lev Gumilev, the seminal Russian historian, ethnographer and philosopher, who is quite popular in Russia. Gumilev’s popularity was especially strong in the last years of the Soviet regime and the early post-Soviet era, as Bassin makes clear.

The Sovietization of Azerbaijan: The South Caucasus in the Triangle of Russia, Turkey and Iran, 1920-1922

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 17:37:00 GMT

The Sovietization of Azerbaijan is a political history of the occupation of the sovereign Azerbaijan state in 1920 by Soviet Russia, and of the establishment of Soviet bureaucratic and administrative control and structure in the country thereafter.

Cyprus and the Roadmap for Peace: A Critical Interrogation of the Conflict

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 17:39:00 GMT

Michális S. Michael and Yücel Vural’s edited volume of Cyprus and the Roadmap for Peace: A Critical Interrogation of the Conflict has its roots in a peace project awarded in 2014 by the Istanbul-based Journalists and Writers Foundation.

Qatar: Small State, Big Politics

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 17:44:00 GMT

Gaining independence from Britain in 1971 and enjoying enormous oil and natural gas resources, Qatar has exerted extraordinarily large influence both in terms of regional and international politics and the economy in recent years.

State of Emergency: Travels in a Troubled World

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 17:50:00 GMT

The prologue of Navid Kermani’s travelogue describes an eclectic teahouse in Cairo, and what follows is, indeed, an eclectic collection of writings with no chronological, but rather a topological order.

Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 17:56:00 GMT

This edited volume is a comprehensive text examining the relationship between identity politics and conflict management. The book works across three themes, namely, the formation of identities, the emergence of mobilization, and the transition to violence.

The Hell of Good Intentions: America’s Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 18:03:00 GMT

The Hell of Good Intentions: America’s Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy offers readers a persuasive explanation that aims to define exactly where everything went wrong with American foreign policy, and how it can change its course.