Turkısh Politics Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The aim of this manual is to provide a coherent and balanced historical perspective of Turkish political life, the evolution of political ideas, and key interpretations read together with the main social and cultural transformations. The manual starts with the modernization process of the early nineteenth century, examines the main ideologies emerged since late 1800s, their evolutions through the decades, the key political events that shaped the political system, presents the key intellectuals and politicians at the centre of Turkey's political life, and ends by studying the AK Parti era.
The book has been conceived as a manual for university BA courses of Turkish Politics, Turkish political life, and Political History of Turkey. However, it is also a compact introduction for all those willing to understand contemporary Turkish politics.

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- Turkısh Politics, Turkish politics, Modern Turkish History, Turchia

Turkey's recent democratic backsliding has been profoundly reflected in the near-complete government control of mass media. Pro-government mainstream media, rather than pursuing truth, has engaged in systematic production and dissemination of simulacra. Developed by Baudrillard, the simulacrum concept can provide insights into Turkish voters' truth and reality perceptions. This has been a topic widely discussed, given that produced simulacra establish a legitimation framework for the Turkish government's domestic and foreign policy. Various print and electronic sources are studied to analyse the content of speeches and used techniques. In this study, Baudrillard's scheme will be applied for the analysis of three political narratives dominant in the Turkish public sphere: Turkey's 'struggle for survival (bekâ mücadelesi)', the projection of key opposition leaders as 'traitors,' and exemplary leadership and diplomacy from past to present through two popular television series, 'Diriliş Ertuğrul (Resurrection Ertuğrul)' and 'Payitaht Abdülhamit (Leader Abdülhamid).'

- by Ioannis N Grigoriadis and +1
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- Media Studies, New Media, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Turkey
- by Zaza Tsurtsumia
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- Ottoman History, Ottoman Studies, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Turkey

This CMI Working Paper presents an analysis of civilian-military relations in Turkey, casting light on institutional, legal and economic aspects that have shaped the military’s role in society. An assessment of contemporary civilian-military relations in Turkey needs to be informed by a historical background. To that end, this paper chronicles how the military has evolved since the Ottoman Empire up till today, emphasising key historical processes that influence the dynamics between military and civilian powers. The paper concludes by observing that in recent decades the Turkish military has, by and large, withdrawn from the political scene, yet that recent political developments in the region and a corresponding intensification of security concerns leave open how this may evolve. Civilian-military relations have been considered in the context of the failed coup attempt of July 2015 in which the government aimed at absolute control over the armed forces and the military lost all of its major privileges.

- by Acar Kutay
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- Turkish and Middle East Studies, Turkısh Politics

Makalede, liberal ve toplulukçu yurttaşlık anlayışları perspektifinde, Cumhuriyet Türkiyesi'ne hakim olan Kemalist ulusçuluk zihniyetinin eleştirel analizini aşmaya yönelik demokratik yurttaşlığın mümkünlüğü ele alınmakta ve sorun... more

- by adem caylak
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- Turkısh Politics, Citizenship Theory, Communitarianism, Citizenship

تسعى الأطراف الدولية المتدخلة في الأزمة السورية إلى إطالة أمد الصراع التركي-الكردي في سوريا لاستنزاف القدرات العسكرية التركية، وتحجيم النفوذ التركي في سوريا، بهدف استبعاد أنقرة من معادلات تقاسم مناطق النفوذ بعد نهاية الصراع. وفي المقابل، تسعى تركيا لإيجاد موطئ قدم لقواتها في سوريا، وانتزاع الهيمنة على المناطق الحدودية الفاصلة بين تركيا وسوريا من وحدات حماية الشعب الكردية، بالإضافة إلى تأسيس مسارات مستديمة للإمداد العسكري لدعم الفصائل السورية الموالية لها.
وفي هذا الإطار، يتناول هذا التحليل تقييم أبعاد التدخل التركي الذي دخل في أسبوعه الرابع، ويتناول الأهداف التركية من وراء هذه العملية، وأبرز تداعياتها السياسية، والعوامل المؤثرة على مستقبلها.

- by Ebru Gençalp
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- Turkısh Politics, Turkish politics, Türk Basını, Turkish Press
- by Howard Eissenstat
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- Turkish Nationalism, Turkey, Turkey And Europe, Turkısh Politics

Türkiye’de çok partili hayata geçiş süreci ve 1950li yıllar, Türk basın tarihi açısından enlerin yaşandığı olumlu/olumsuz birçok uygulamaya şahitlik eder. Tek partili rejime muhalefet olarak siyasi arenada yerini alan Demokrat Parti (DP), 1950 yılındaki iktidarıyla birlikte basın özgürlüklerine dair devrim niteliğinde uygulamalara imza atmış olsa da kısa süre içerisinde basında muhalif seslerin artmasıyla özgürlükçü ortam yerini çetin bir hükümet-basın çekişmesine bırakmıştır. DP dönemi basın politikalarında temel gündem, 1954 ve 1956 basın yasaları ile medya üzerindeki kontrolün katılaştırılması, hükümet tekelinde gazete kağıdı tahsisatı ve reklamların yanlı-yansız bütün medya organları arasında eşit paylaştırılması meselesine yoğunlaşmıştır. Türkiye’de çok partili hayata geçiş ve demokrasi denemesinde iktidarın muhalif basın karşısındaki tutumu, gelecek kuşak iktidarlara demokratik ya da antidemokratik teamüllerin miras bırakılması bakımından önem arz etmektedir. Bu çalışma, Başbakan Adnan Menderes ve DP iktidarının muhalif basın karşısındaki politikalarını İngiliz ve Fransız diplomatik temsilcilikleri gözünden yeniden okumayı hedeflemiştir. İngiliz ve Fransızların, DP iktidarının basın karşıtı politikaları ve Başbakan Menderes’e dair birbirlerine paralel tasvirler çizdiği görülmektedir. Bu tasvir ilk bakışta, hükümetin eleştiriye yoğun derecede hassasiyet duyduğu ve muhalif basını dize getirmek amacıyla baskıcı politikalar belirlediği şeklindedir.

The aim of this article is to analyze Turkey’s recent authoritarian transformation from a critical political economy perspective and to examine the main determinants of, what we call, the ‘authoritarian consolidation attempt’ of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). For that purpose, first, we sought answers to the following question: why did the AKP engage in a more authoritarian political agenda in the 2010s? We critically review the literature on the contemporary dynamics of authoritarianism, particularly focusing on two explanatory frameworks, competitive authoritarianism, and authoritarian neoliberalism. We argue that the crisis of authoritarian neoliberalism did not end up with democratization in Turkey in the 2010s, rather the power bloc initiated a strategy of the authoritarian fix as a reaction to the multiple crises that were a combination of the state crisis and the crisis of capital accumulation regime. Second, we analyzed how authoritarianism in Turkey is en route to consolidation in the aftermath of the transition to the Turkish presidential system in 2018, and what the fundamental factors of this consolidation are. We investigated the main features of Turkish presidentialism following the three-dimensional framework of authoritarian consolidation, including infrastructural, despotic, and discursive power analyses. As a result, we suggest a critical political economy account to unfold contemporary dynamics of authoritarianism based on the Turkish case.

- by Gorkem Altinors and +1
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- Turkey, Turkısh Politics, Turkish politics, Regime change
- by Jasper Doomen
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- Law, Criminal Law, Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law
- by Fatih Özbay
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- Russian Studies, Nationalism, Russian Politics, Russian Foreign Policy

Post-secularism literature has been developed to respond the need for resolving problem of pluralism in the Western societies by putting emphasis on inviting the religious to the public sphere. The main goal of this research is to transpose this literature to the analysis of Turkish experience which is an officially secular and predominantly Muslim context. Turkey under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) can be considered as an example of post-secularism. The AKP is seen as an evolution of political Islamist National Outlook movement which antagonised secularisation in Turkey. Dissimilarly, the AKP did not challenge the secular credential of the Republic of Turkey directly and acted in between secularism and Islam. This ‘in-between-ness’ can be seen as a reflection of post-secularism. Nonetheless, the main thesis in this research is: Turkey under the AKP-rule cannot be considered as post-secular and this is assessed along with the following criteria of conditions for post-secularism in Turkey: (1) consolidated democracy; (2) deeply established secularism as a political principle; (3) the objective guarantees on the freedom of religion and conscience; (4) management of problem of pluralism; and (5) analysis of the AKP in relation to post-Islamism.

- by Emrah Konuralp
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- Turkısh Politics, Postsecularism (Sociology), Secularism

2.Dünya Savaşı boyunca ABD, Sovyetler Birliği ve İngiltere Türkiye’nin savaşa kendi yanlarında katılması için çeşitli girişimlerde bulunmuşlardır. Türkiye bütün bu girişimlere rağmen kendi tarafsızlık politikasına sadık kalmış ve başarıyla uygulamıştır. Bu tarafsızlık politikası Türkiye’yi savaşın yıkıcı ekonomik ve siyasi etkilerinden korumuş, bunun yanı sıra savaş sonrası uluslararası arenada yalnız kalmasına neden olmuştur. Sovyetler Birliği savaş sonrasında yayılmacı bir politika izlemiş, bu yayılmacı politikanın hedeflerinden biri olan Türkiye Sovyetler Birliği tehdidiyle karşı karşıya kalmıştır. Sovyetler Birliği 1945 yılında verdiği notada bu durumu resmiyete dökmüştür. Egemenlik hakları açıkça ihlal edilen Türkiye tek başına Sovyetler Birliği’nin karşısında duramayacağına kanaat getirerek Batılı Devletlerden destek alma yoluna gitmiştir. Türkiye’ye ihtiyacı olan desteği ABD verecektir.
Savaş sırasında ABD ve Sovyetler Birliği kendi çıkarları için bir ortaklık kurmuştur. 1947 yılında bu ortaklık çatırdamaya başlamış ve iki kutuplu dünyanın temelleri atılmıştır. 12 Mart 1947’de ABD Başkanı Harry S. Truman Kongrede bu bloklaşma yarışını gündeme getirmiş ve durumu meşrulaştırmıştır, bununla beraber kendi adıyla anılacak olan vaatlerini açıklamıştır. Bu doktrin Soğuk Savaş’ın resmen başladığını işaret etmektedir. Çünkü savaşa fiilen katılmamış tarafsız bir devlete ABD hükümeti açıkça yardım vaadinde bulunuyor ve bu Sovyetler Birliği tehlikesine karşı yaptığını alenen gösteriyordu. Bu yardımlar akla Soğuk Savaş Dönemi’nde ABD ile ilişkilerde Marshall Planı ve Truman Doktrini özelinde emperyalizmin dönüştürücü gücü kullanılarak Türkiye Amerikalaştırılmış, Türkiye’nin bağımsız bir iç ve dış politika izlemesine engel oluşturmuştur. Bu yardımların devamı Paris Barış Konferansı’nda temelleri atılan Marshall Planı’dır.

Bu çalışma, 1960'ların sonlarında Türkiye'nin siyasal ve toplumsal hayatında önemli bir yeri bulunan sosyalist öğrenci hareketinin, Fransa'daki Mayıs '68 ayaklanmasını başlatan öğrenci hareketinden farklı yönlerini ortaya koymayı hedefleyen bir karşılaştırma denemesidir. Bu iki ülkedeki öğrenci hareketlerinin tarihsel nedenleri ve hedefleri üzerinde durulduğunda görülmektedir ki, Türkiye'deki öğrenci hareketinde Fransa'daki öğrenci hareketinde olduğu gibi devlete ve topluma karşı kategorik bir karşıtlık yoktur. Fransız öğrenciler burjuva devletine ve tüketim toplumuna başkaldırırken, Türk öğrenciler ülkenin sorunlarını emperyalizme ve azgelişmişliğe bağlamaktadır. Ayrıca, Türk öğrenciler, Fransız öğrencilerden farklı olarak, yeni tanıştığı Marksist-Leninist teoriden beslenmekte, karşı-kültür akımları ve Marksizme eleştirel yaklaşan teorilerden etkilenmemekte, aksine bu tür yaklaşımlara karşı olumsuz bir tavır geliştirmektedir. Öğrenci hareketlerinin Fransa'da Mayıs '68 süresince hayatı felç eden genel grev ve Türkiye'de yeni gelişmekte olan işçi hareketiyle ilişkisi üzerinde de durulmuş ve Türkiye'de Fransa'daki kadar güçlü bir işçi hareketi bulunmadığı için öğrencilerin genç aydınlar olarak, kendilerini işçilere sınıf bilinci kazanmaları ve örgütlenmeleri için yardımcı olmakla yükümlü gördüğü ortaya konmuştur.

- by Emine Öztürk
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- Turkısh Politics, Political Ideology, Turkish politics, 1968

This article explores the transformation of Turkey’s national and state identity under Justice and Development Party (JDP) rule in a spatial perspective by focusing on the counter hegemonic war on İstanbul’s panorama. (Re)construction of urban space have been used as means of transforming the ideologies into a concrete form and consolidating the symbolic power of the state in the everyday life. Urban space is not a static but dynamic “lieux de memoire” (the sites of memory) which reproduces the past, constructs the “new” and reflects state-society relations. The new Republic of 1923 used space-politics to create a Westernized, modern and secular nation-state by detaching the urban space from the traces of Ottoman past. (Re)naming and (re)construction by using specific symbols and modern architecture was operated by Kemalists not only to consolidate the new state identity but also to transform the society. However, counter hegemonic attacks towards Kemalist policies which lays behind the two main political cleavages, modernists vs. traditionalists and Islamists vs. seculars, has existed throughout the Republican history. Beginning from 1980s, rising with the identity politics in 1990s Islamic politics has consolidated its power under the rule of JDP since 2002. While the hegemony of Kemalist secularism has been strongly weakened; the visibility of Islamists in the society and public life has increased in JDP era and a new form of state identity is created with the support of mass media, architectural designs, Islamic arts as well as discursive practices. Istanbul, with its symbolic, geographic and economic significance, would be a compatible field to explain the transformation of Turkey’s national and state identity in the urban space. As a capital of Ottoman Empire and the biggest metropolitan city of Turkey, İstanbul has been the center of hegemonic wars on urban space; each political group who hold the power has tried to redesign İstanbul throughout the Republican history. AKP revitalized the İstanbul’s symbolic power by attributing it as a “de facto” capital of Turkey. İstanbul’s transformation in the last decade such as construction of Panorama 1453 Museum as a reviving the Conquest of Istanbul, the boom in the mosque construction and Çamlıca Mosque Project, using Ottoman symbols in the public buildings and landscaping; and renaming the Boğaziçi Bridge as “July 15 Martyrs Bridge” are some crucial samples of ideological using of space politics. All in all, the article argues that JDP redefined the national and state identity as well as citizenship and used urban space as a means of consolidating its ideology. This article explains that how Islamism, neo-Ottomanism and latest increasing Turkish nationalism are combined in the state identity and serve as the main pillars of nation building process under JDP rule.

Ancak, 30'lu yıllarda Türkiye’de rejim otoriter bir yapıya yönelse de, Cumhuriyet hiçbir zaman Balkan diktatörlüklerinin çizgisine girmiyor. Savaş öncesi halk arasında Avrupa'daki gelişmelerin etkisiyle antisemit görüşler revaç bulduğu bir dönemde Cumhuriyet hükümeti bu esintiye kapılmıyor; hatta ırkçılığın önünü kesme girişimlerinde bulunuyor. Kıta Avrupası'ndaki hakim militer düşünceye prim tanımıyor. II. Dünya Savaşı yaklaştıkça “şef” sözcüğü giderek yaygın kullanım alanı bulsa da meclis hiçbir zaman kapatılmıyor. Bu dönemde Kıta Avrupası’nda, ve yakınımız Balkanlar'da olduğu gibi ne devlet terörü uygulanıyor, ne de kaba kuvvet ve işkenceyle toplumsal katmanlar yıldırılıyor. 1923-1945 dönemi bir bütün olarak algılandığında Türkiye'de Tek Parti rejimi bir tür “otoriter modernizm”.

The main topic of the research is the importance of Caucasia and Karabakh issue in Turkey’s
foreign policy. The aim of the research is to indicate the main principles of Turkish foreign
policy related to Caucasia and to show the impact of the Karabakh problem to the national
interest, security and normative system in Caucasia. The main problematic of the paper; to
analyze if it will be more correct to establish Turkey’s politics regarding the Caucasia in the
aspect of balance of Turkish-Armenian relations or in the aspect of Turkish-Azerbaijanian
relations. The main hypothesis of the research is for Turkey, the security of South Caucasia
is not only depends on normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations, but also on solution of
Karabakh issue, return of the people that were displaced and compensation of the harm. The
realization of these factors may come up to the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations
and the regional peace can be established with the method of co nstruction of the relations.

- by Soyalp Tamçelik
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- Armenian Studies, Human Rights, Energy, Turkısh Politics

While scholarly interest in the influence of Tatar intellectuals on Turkish nationalism has been strong, less attention has been paid to the interactions between Russian Azerbaijani and Ottoman Turkish intellectuals. This study applies theoretical tools developed by Benedict Anderson in the study of ethnic nationalism in the late Ottoman and Russian Empires. In doing so, this study focuses on the works of one leading intellectual from each side, Hüseyinzade Ali [Turan] and Mehmet Ziya [Gökalp]. Particular attention is paid to the concept of Turan, which they defined and elaborated as both a political ideal and a key element of the nationalist ideology they espoused through four poems they authored, two of which are homonymous. Their different views of the limits of the Turanian ‘imagined community’ and the political operationalization of the concept shed light on the development of ethnic nationalism in the declining Ottoman and Russian Empires. Ever since, Turan has become a significant symbolic conceptual tool that has fired the imaginations of Turkic nationalists (without, yet, ever leading to the establishment of a serious political movement).

- by Ioannis N Grigoriadis and +1
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- Ethnic Studies, Nationalism, Pan-Turanism, Nationalism And State Building

Bu çalışmada bürokrasinin temel davranış kodları ile bürokrasi modelleri esas alınarak Türkiye'de 1960-1980 arası dönemde siyaset bürokrasi ilişkileri incelenmiştir. Söz konusu dönemin siyasal ve toplumsal manzarası resmedilerek, ardından incelenen dönemde siyaset ve bürokrasinin birbirine dönük davranış biçimleri ele alınmıştır.
In this study, based on the basic behavioral codes of bureaucracy and bureaucracy models, the relations between politics and bureaucracy in Turkey between 1960 and 1980 were examined. The political and social landscape of the period in question was depicted, and then the attitudes of politics and bureaucracy towards each other were discussed.

- by Yasin TAŞPINAR
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- Politics, Turkısh Politics, Bureaucracy, Siyaset

The annexation of Crimea is not an ordinary event in contemporary international relations. Since WWII, there has been no precedent in Europe when one state under dubious premises has forcefully annexed a part of another state. This article scrutinizes the Crimean case in the context of the ongoing Ukrainian crisis and uncovers the rationale behind Russia’s aggressive policies in the Black Sea Region. To accomplish this task, several steps have been undertaken. Primarily, the recent speeches of Russian officials and Kremlin-originated documents have been analyzed. Secondly, the tactics favored by the Kremlin to achieve its geopolitical goals have been explained and assessed (through applying frameworks of meta-geography and soft power security). Thirdly, the future prospects for Crimea with its gradual transformation in the counter-NATO fortress have been outlined.

- by Ostap Kushnir
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- Russian Studies, Russian, Ukrainian Studies, Russian Politics
- by Fatih Özbay
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- Russian Studies, International Relations, International Studies, Russian Politics

Αυτό το άρθρο διερευνά την πολιτική ιστορία της Τουρκίας τα τελευταία διακόσια χρόνια σε τρία «resets». Τα reset εδώ εξετάζονται ως εικοσαετείς περίοδοι μειζόνων αναταραχών και μετασχηματισμών κατά τη διάρκεια των οποίων οι φατρίες που ιδιοποιούνται τη διαχείριση του κράτους, κάτω από διαρκείς συνθήκες έκτακτης ανάγκης, εξουδετερώνουν όποια εστία δύναμης περιορίζει την κρατική εξουσία και, καταπνίγουν τα πλουραλιστικά στοιχεία της κοινωνίας, που τελικά επιφέρουν πολιτιστικές αλλαγές. Στα δύο πρώτα reset, δηλαδή εκείνα των 1810-1830 και 1910-1930, η Ελλάδα και η Ρωσία έπαιξαν κεντρικό ρόλο. Οι τρέχουσες τεταμένες σχέσεις μεταξύ Ελλάδας και Τουρκίας, της οποίας το τρίτο reset ξεκίνησε το δεύτερο μισό της δεκαετίας του 2010, κάνουν την ανάλυση «reset» όλο και πιο σχετική.

While Greek and Turkish nationalisms have followed diverse historical paths, they share several features. Following the model of Zimmer, this study explores how inclusive and exclusive boundary mechanisms have shaped Greek and Turkish national identity and which symbolic resources were utilized in these processes. It is argued that a shift from the use of voluntaristic to that of organic boundary mechanisms has characterized both Greek and Turkish nationalisms and influenced the definition of national ‘self’ and ‘other’. This study aims to track a pattern of historic-political conditions which favour a shift from voluntaristic towards organic models of defining the nation and discuss possible future trends.

This study explores the competition for Turkey's Kurdish vote through the instrumentalization of religion, ethnicity and victimhood in political competition. This becomes possible through the study of rally speeches of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – AKP), the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi – BDP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi – HDP), in Turkey's June 2011 and June 2015 general elections. The AKP campaigns framed the resolution of the Kurdish issue along with an updated version of the ‘Turkish Islamic Synthesis’. The issue of ethnicity was toned down in contrast to the idea of common victimhood of pious Turkish and Kurdish Muslims in republican Turkey. On the other hand, the BDP/HDP moved from a more ethnic-oriented and exclusive identity approach in 2011 to a more inclusive, liberal and extrovert agenda based on a civic definition of Turkish national identity in 2015. Religion and victimhood appear as the two most enduring symbolic resources for political party mobilization.

- by Esra Dilek and +1
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- Political Participation, Religion and Politics, Kurdish Studies, Turkish Nationalism

S. Aksu ve S. Kabaş olaylarının özelliği şurada ki, AKP+MHP iktidarının bu ülkeye verdiği en büyük zararı (ve ayrıca kendisi açısından yaptığı en büyük hatayı) simgeliyorlar: İktidar, bizzat kendi ağzından çıkan sözleri ve kendi koyduğu... more

- by Baskın Oran
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- Turkısh Politics, Turkish politics

Over the past decade, as ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) initiated Turkey's authoritarian populist turn, it sought to derive legitimacy through extra-institutional avenues, notably the emotional appeal to the repressed "people", advancing the party's socio-political vision, countering the arguments of its political opponents and reaching out to, and inspiring its constituency. Turkey's urban space, bearing the marks of a century of republicanism, provided fertile ground for the deployment of emotion. This article, drawing on an analysis of the events surrounding the mosque conversion of Hagia Sophia and of the relevant media coverage, as well as on elements of 28 interviews with informants with political sympathies across the political spectrum, constitutes an attempt to contribute to the broader discussion of the emotional topography of populism in Turkey.

- by Spyros A Sofos
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- Populism, Turkısh Politics, Sociology of Emotions

After reviewing the emergence of Turkish Euroscepticism in the context of the evolution of Turkey–European-Union relations between 1963 and 1999, the paper analyses party and popular Euroscepticism after 1999. The Turkish case appears to confirm the Taggart– Sitter thesis concerning the strategic Euroscepticism of opposition parties. The exception of the Kurdish nationalists suggests that strategic Euroscepticism does not apply to ethnic minority parties. In Turkey there is both ‘soft’ Euroscepticism (centre-left parties) and ‘hard’ Euroscepticism (nationalist and Islamist parties), the latter usually based on identity. At the popular level, identity Euroscepticism revolves around four key issues: national sovereignty; morality; negative discrimination; and Europe’s alleged hidden agenda to divide and rule Turkey (the so-called ‘Sevres Syndrome’).

Alevis of Turkey and Alawites of Syria have different origins, traditions and political experience. After the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, Turkish government took a clear stand by supporting the Sunni rebels fighting the Syrian state forces. This enthusiastic support for the Sunni segments was accompanied with condemnations against Syrian Alawites and discrimination against the Alawite refugees. The civil war in Syria and the Turkish government’s response to it brought Alevis of Turkey and Alawites of Syria closer and created a solidarity based on close religious beliefs. Alevi community in Turkey provided assistance to the Alawite refugees from Syria and Alevi leaders started to create a narrative focusing on identity similarities between and common threats against the Alevis and Alawite communities. Using interviews and public statements, this article shows how the securitization of identities and discrimination can result in new units of advocacy and belonging.

- by Nukhet Sandal
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- Theology, Turkısh Politics, Copenhagen School/Securitization, Islam

This paper aims to evaluate the state of Greek-Turkish relations in light of recent developments leading to the reconfiguration of Turkish foreign policy. Following twenty years of détente and relative calm in bilateral relations, the year 2020 witnessed two escalations in Greek-Turkish relations, one in March 2020 involving refugees and immigrants on the Greek-Turkish land border and another in August 2020 involving military vessels of the two countries. The refugee crisis and energy exploration and monetization efforts in the Eastern Mediterranean have raised tensions at a moment the political and institutional tools for the promotion of conflict resolution between Greece and Turkey linked to Turkey's EU membership perspective appear to be obsolete. This paper seeks an answer to the question whether structural or ideational factors played the most prominent role for the recent escalation of the Greek-Turkish disputes and which analytical framework can be more useful in light of the recent shifts in Turkish domestic and foreign policy and Turkey's relations with the West, as well as Greece's post-crisis ambition to reemerge as a regional actor in the Balkans, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

- by Ioannis N Grigoriadis
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- Turkey, Modern Greek Politics, Turkısh Politics, Turkish Greek Relations

This chapter examines the political dynamics that have shaped the transformation of the Turkish welfare system since the 1960s. Over the years, income-based social assistance policies have supplanted employment-based social security policies, while the welfare state has significantly expanded. To explain why and how the Turkish welfare state has expanded during neoliberalism and why social policies have shifted from social security to social assistance, the chapter focuses on the rivalries between mainstream parties and the impact of grassroots politics, as well as the political mechanisms that mediate and transform structural pressures into policies. The chapter illustrates that political efforts to contain the political radicalization of the informal proletariat and to mobilize its elec toral support have driven the expansion of social assistance policies during the post-1980 neoliberal period. State authorities now see the informal proletariat as a more significant political threat and source of support than the formal proletariat whose dynamism drove the expansion of the welfare state during the pre-1980 developmentalist period. The chapter provides a historical analysis of the interaction between parliamentary processes and social movements in order to account for the transformation of welfare provision in Turkey. It concludes by locating Turkey in a larger context, in which other emerging markets develop similar welfare states as a response to similar political exigencies.

- by Erdem Yörük
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- Comparative Politics, Social Policy, Welfare State, Kurdish Studies

Türkiye’de demokrasi kararsız bir nehir gibi bazen kuruyarak, bazen yatağından şaşarak ağır aksak yoluna devam ediyor. Türkiye’de demokrasinin ve seçimlerin kökleri Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun modernleşme çabasına kadar uzanıyor. Birinci ve İkinci Meşrutiyet dönemleri Türk demokrasi tarihi kadar darbeler bakımından da bir müze niteliği taşıyor; bu dönemler olumlu, olumsuz nice olayları içinde barındırıyor. İktidar-muhalefet ilişkilerinin şekillenmesi ve seçimlere dair demokratik veya antidemokratik zihniyet ve tutumların pratiğe dökülmesi bakımından İttihat Terakki dönemi, Birinci Meclis ve bilahare tek parti dönemi çok derin izler bırakmıştır. İkinci Meşrutiyet’ten itibaren zaman zaman kesintiye uğramakla birlikte, tek parti döneminde dahi seçimlerin yapıldığı gözlemlenmektedir. Haliyle, seçimlerin yapılıyor olması demokrasinin zorunlu veya yeterli bir göstergesi olmuyor; Türk demokrasi tarihi bizlere bu gerçeği yalın şekilde gösteriyor.
Bu yazıda, 1946’dan günümüze Türkiye’de demokrasinin ve seçimlerin seyri ana hatlarıyla ele alınıyor; siyasi partilerin yapısına ve işleyişine yer verilerek iktidar-muhalefet ilişkilerinin niteliği ve seçimleri algılayış biçimleri değerlendiriliyor. Bu bakımdan, Türkiye’de seçimlerin tarihi takip ediliyor ve uygulanan farklı seçim sistemlerinin milletvekili dağılımı ve siyaset üzerindeki etkilerine yakından bakılıyor.
Demokrasi ve seçimlerin seyrine dair bu inceleme sırasında, demokrasiyi kötürüm bırakan faktörlerin, zihniyet ve uygulamaların açığa çıkarılmasına önem verilmekte; sonuç kısmında siyaset, demokrasi ve seçimlere dair sorunlar kısaca değerlendirilmektedir.

The history of Turkish modernization has been inextricably linked with the question of secularism. From the advent of the Turkish Republic in 1923, Islam was held responsible for the underdevelopment and eventual demise of the Ottoman Empire. Based on the laïcité of the Second French Republic, the secularization programme of modern Turkey's founder, Kemal Atatürk, entailed the full subjugation of Islam to the State, its eradication from the public sphere and its limitation into a very narrowly defined private sphere.
The transition of Turkey to multiparty politics in 1946 was linked with a rising role of Islam in the public sphere. Islam became a crucial element in the political vocabulary of peripheral political forces which challenged the supremacy of the secularist, Kemalist bureaucratic elite. While a number of military coups aimed – among other things – to control religion, Turkish political Islam showed remarkable resilience and adaptability.
Most recently, the transformation of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – AKP) into the strongest proponent of Turkey's European Union (EU) integration brought Turkey closer than ever to EU membership, challenged the monopoly which the Kemalist elite enjoyed as the representative of Western political values and suggested a novel liberal version of secularism. Yet Turkey has been embroiled since 2007 in successive political crises which had secularism as their focal point. This article argues that the transformation of Turkish political Islam has produced an alternative, liberal version of secularism; yet, it has not resolved deep social divisions. Building a liberal consensus between religious conservatives and secularists is imperative for the resolution of deep social divisions in Turkey. The European Union as a guarantor and initiator of reform could play a major role in building trust between the secularist and the religious conservative segments of society.

- by Ioannis N Grigoriadis
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- European integration, Political Science, Democratization, Social Capital

The purpose of the study is to point out the problems of dualist theses which interpret the Turkish political history on the basis of conflicts between the İTC-CHP and the Entente-DP traditions. In the study, it is advocated that the ideology of DP and its formulation of state-society-invidual relations are largely parallel to the Kemalism, therefore it cannot be evaluated as the continuation of entente tradition and it is not contradictory to the CHP in terms of ideology. In this respect, it will be discussed that the DP had similar ideas with the CHP about the social/class structure of Turkey, it shared the same principles with the CHP on nationalism and foreign policy and it radicalized the state supervised controlling laicism.

- by Adem Çelik
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- Turkısh Politics, Turkish Political Life

სტატიაში საუბარია თურქი ხალხის ოცნებაზე, აღადგინონ ოტომანთა იმპერია, უფრო მეტიც გასცდნენ მის საზღვრებს და გააერთიანონ მთელი თურქულენოვანი ხალხები ერთი სახელმწიფოს შემადგენლობაში, რომელიც იქნება უდიდესი იმპერია კაცობრიობის ისტორიაში. სტატიაში საფუძვლიანად არის განხილული პანთურქიზმის იდეის წარმოშობის ისტორია და ამ იდეის მთავარ იდეოლოგთა მოღვაწეობა და დამსახურება.
ნაშრომში ვეხებით ისეთ მნიშვნელოვან საკითხს, როგორიცაა თანამედროვე თურქული გეოპოლიტიკა, რაც პირდაპირ კავშირშია დიდი თურანის იდეასთან და რაც ეხება ჩვენს სახელმწიფო ინტერესებსაც.
ამ სტატიის გამოქვეყნების სურვილი გამიჩინა მუჰამედ ფეთჰულა გიულენის მოწაფის ჰაიტი ქუჩუკის აღიარებამ, რომელმაც დაადასტურა ის ფაქტი, რაზეც რამდენიმე წლის წინ ვსაუბრობდი და დაბეჯითებით ვამტკიცებდი, რომ ფეთჰულა გიულენი მიზანმიმართულად ხსნიდა და აფინანსებდა სასულიერო სკოლებს არა მარტო საქართველოსა და კავკასიაში, არამედ ცენტრალურ აზიასა და რუსეთის ისლამურ ნაწილში. ეს ყველაფერი უკავშირდება "დიდი თურანის" იდეას და ჩემს საკვლევ თემაში სწორედ ამას ვამტკიცებ, რადგანაც გიულენი გახლავთ პანთურქიზმის აპოლოგეტის მეჰმედ ზია გოქალფის მოწაფე. ქუჩუკის აღიარებამ კი ნათელი მოფინა იმას, თუ რა მიზნით ხსნიდა გიულენი სასწავლებლებს საქართველოში. ზოგიერთის პოზიცია, რომლებიც გვიმტკიცებდნენ, რომ გიულენი საქართველოში და სხვაგანაც სკოლებს მოსახლეობის განათლების დონის ასამაღლებლად ხსნიდაო, ნამდვილად თავდაყირა დადგა. სწორედ ამ პრობლემებს განვიხილავთ ქვემორე სტატიაში და ვფიქრობთ, რომ ჩვენი ქვეყნის საგარეო პოლიტიკური უსაფრთხოებისთვის მნიშვნელოვანია აღნიშნული საკითხების შესწავლა. ჩემი პოზიციის უტყუარობას ადასტურებს ლორდი პალმერსტონის სიტყვები: „ინგლის არ ჰყავს მუდმივი მტრები ან მეგობრები, ინგლის აქვს მუდმივი სახელმწიფო ინტერესები“. თუკი ამ პრინციპს თურქეთს მოვარგებთ ყველაფერი ნათელი გახდება.

Tradition and modernity. Religion and secularism. Unwritten conventions and defiance. Change and continuity. Trends and anti-trends. Headscarves and mini-skirts. Competing identities that seemingly exclude themselves. Briefly, Turkey is a land of contrasts and these are reflected in almost every aspect of life, from politics to one’s spiritual and religious choices, including apparently neutral fields such as fashion. “Clothes do not make the man” is a generally accepted truth, yet in Turkey clothing can provide information not only about social status, but also about the religious thinking and political orientation of a person. Fashion, especially women’s clothing, plays a central role in Turkish politics. From Atatürk’s dress code, which encouraged Turks to adopt European clothing instead of the Ottoman fez and the Islamic veil—a measure supported by the state owned clothing industry—to the headscarf “revolution” and the controversial veil ban. From the emergence of Western-inspired shopping malls overloaded with European-style clothes to the opening of their Islamic counterparts that promote modern, fashionable ways of covering up—the so-called türban, available in many colors and various forms (unlike the traditional başörtüsü worn in rural areas or the black çarşaf worn by older women), as well as the recent lifting of the veil ban and the political debates focusing on the headscarf, we can notice that both politics and religion have exerted influence on Turkish fashion trends, challenging Turkish identity and belonging.

- by Iulia-Alexandra Oprea
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- Fashion History, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Turkey, Islamic Studies

Political culture research focuses on the relationship between individual-level orientations and system-level institutions. Three approaches within this line of research suggest different sets of orientations that are understood to support democracy. Yet, very little is known about what underlines these pro-democratic orientations. Focusing on two potential bases, generation and social class, the present research asks: ‘What are the generational and class bases of pro-democratic culture in Turkey?’ The research tests the theoretical predictions of both Karl Mannheim’s theory of generations and Seymour Martin Lipset’s working class authoritarianism thesis to examine whether there are differences in pro-democratic culture across generational and class categories. The findings do not lend complete support to either theory. The analysis reveals that Turkish respondent`s pro-democratic attitudes do not follow generational lines. However, an indirect effect of generation is revealed when social class is included in the analysis. The findings show that for those generations which have come of age under authoritarian politico-juridical orders, social classes are homogenized with respect to their pro-democratic attitudes. On the other hand, for those generations socialized under non-authoritarian governments, the findings lend support to the modernization theory’s classification of the social classes challenging that of Lipset’s theory. Three types of regression techniques are applied to cross-sectional data from the 1990, 1996, 2001, 2007 and 2011 waves of the World Values Survey (WVS) for Turkey. The overall thesis is composed of eight chapters. The first chapter introduces the main arguments and hypotheses. The second chapter gives a brief overview of the recent history of Turkey to provide the necessary background for making sense of the
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analysis. The third chapter outlines the theoretical framework of the research. The fourth chapter introduces the data and the methodology used for the analysis. The following three chapters present the empirical findings of the research. Finally, the eighth chapter provides a brief summary of the findings and discusses their wider implications.

- by Murat İNAN
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- Political Participation, Turkısh Politics, World Values Survey, democracy preference

TÜSTAV/Akademi'de 6 Ekim 2018 Cumantesi günü Türkiye Komünist Partisi'nin kuruluş dinamikleri üzerine yapılan konuşmanın deşifre metni