The approaches and policies toward Turkey of international and regional players cannot alone be e... more The approaches and policies toward Turkey of international and regional players cannot alone be expected to fundamentally alter the political Zeitgeist and operational principles of its political system. In fact the opposite is true: underlying Turkey's foreign policy formulations and recalibrations is a domestic power struggle to redefine the real parameters of Turkish politics. The primary focus of this struggle in the last two years has centred on the still ongoing historic court case known as Ergenekon that is altering the status quo framework and understanding of Turkish politics. 1 Engaged in this struggle are, on the one hand, the secular establishment, led by the military 2 and, on the other, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), a pragmatic conservative offspring of the banned Islamist party. 3 The first part of this article examines the need for the West to refocus its understanding of Turkey on the correct variables of domestic politics so as to recalibrate its policies towards the new Turkey that is emerging. The second part elaborates on the significance of the recent Ergenekon affair to understand more thoroughly the relevance of the ''military factor'' in Turkish politics.
... Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan based his referendum rhetoric on ending judicial immunity... more ... Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan based his referendum rhetoric on ending judicial immunity for those who instigated the 1980 military coup. ... by the police, “Action Plan to Combat Islamic Reactionaries,” prepared by senior active-duty staff officer Colonel Dursun Cicek. ...
In the light of the pre-eminent role of the military in Turkish public affairs, this article seek... more In the light of the pre-eminent role of the military in Turkish public affairs, this article seeks to assess critically the suitability of the entry criteria that Turkey must fulfil if it is to accede into the European fold. With that in mind, the article takes the idea of the 'democratic control of the armed forces' (Decaf), as conceived of by Western agencies such as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) and the EU (European Union), and unravels its relevance and implications for the Turkish case. The key features of Central and Eastern European systems of civil-military relations, which are targeted by the Decaf measures are contrasted with the Turkish case in order to show that a single-model approach to Decaf is untenable. It is then argued that the way that the strategy that has been used for implementing Decaf is impoverished because it fails to capture the 'real politics' in which militaries are embedded. Based on that, the article reaches the conclusion that one of the central factors preventing Turkey's potential accession into the European fold is the prevailing civil-military relationship. However, the approach being employed by Western agencies fails to adequately recognize and respond to the nature of that relationship.
In the s, Turkish politics witnessed the fragmentation of the political center and the rise o... more In the s, Turkish politics witnessed the fragmentation of the political center and the rise of the Islamist Welfare Party (Refah Partisi, or RP) from fringe party to a major partner in the coalition government, Refahyol, it formed with the center-right True Path Party (Doğru Yol Partisi, or DYP) in June . With the benefit of hindsight, one might suggest that the Turkish military took the accession of the RP into government as confirmation of its belief that Islamist reactionism, irtica in Turkish, had become a substantial threat to the secular character of the republic. Consequently, on February , , the military-dominated National Security Council (NSC) issued the Refahyol coalition government with a list of measures designed to nullify the supposed Islamization of Turkey and fortify the secular system. Subsequent pressure from the NSC, in tandem with the civilian component of the secular establishment, led to the collapse of the coalition government in June . The ousting of the Refahyol government signaled the start of the military's plan to refashion Turkey's political landscape along Kemalist lines
... 2007, access to around 6,000 internet sites, including Youtube and numerous pro-Kurdish and p... more ... 2007, access to around 6,000 internet sites, including Youtube and numerous pro-Kurdish and pro ... regularly expound on the situation in Turkey instead of the positive democratic initiatives, which hardly ... In making a difference in the ways in which Turkey's major fault lines are ...
radical Islam, like that elsewhere in the Middle East, has asserted itself effectively in all asp... more radical Islam, like that elsewhere in the Middle East, has asserted itself effectively in all aspects and at all levels of society, making a stark contrast between the sixty years of the republic and the period since 1980. It is not surprising, therefore, that the causes for the emergence of Islamic political radicalism, its nature, and its possible effects on the system have aroused scholarly interest. The fundamental contentions of this article are twofold. First and foremost, it is the Turkish state, not the initiative and self-sustenance of grassroots Islam, that has been the most important determinant of the political role of Islam and its relevance in politics throughout the republic. Without necessarily subscribing to an elitist position that would deny the capacity of the masses to stage an Islamic uprising against state authority, it is nonetheless reasonable to assert that the state elite has been in a singular position to influence and structure the political course and d...
... being said, Turkish security concerns in the 1990's also included external threats: some... more ... being said, Turkish security concerns in the 1990's also included external threats: some countries such as Syria, Iran, Iraq, Armenia, and to a ... Reflecting the more liberal outlook of the post-coup Constitution of 1961, the number of the MGK's civilian members exceeded those of ...
The approaches and policies toward Turkey of international and regional players cannot alone be e... more The approaches and policies toward Turkey of international and regional players cannot alone be expected to fundamentally alter the political Zeitgeist and operational principles of its political system. In fact the opposite is true: underlying Turkey's foreign policy formulations and recalibrations is a domestic power struggle to redefine the real parameters of Turkish politics. The primary focus of this struggle in the last two years has centred on the still ongoing historic court case known as Ergenekon that is altering the status quo framework and understanding of Turkish politics. 1 Engaged in this struggle are, on the one hand, the secular establishment, led by the military 2 and, on the other, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), a pragmatic conservative offspring of the banned Islamist party. 3 The first part of this article examines the need for the West to refocus its understanding of Turkey on the correct variables of domestic politics so as to recalibrate its policies towards the new Turkey that is emerging. The second part elaborates on the significance of the recent Ergenekon affair to understand more thoroughly the relevance of the ''military factor'' in Turkish politics.
... Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan based his referendum rhetoric on ending judicial immunity... more ... Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan based his referendum rhetoric on ending judicial immunity for those who instigated the 1980 military coup. ... by the police, “Action Plan to Combat Islamic Reactionaries,” prepared by senior active-duty staff officer Colonel Dursun Cicek. ...
In the light of the pre-eminent role of the military in Turkish public affairs, this article seek... more In the light of the pre-eminent role of the military in Turkish public affairs, this article seeks to assess critically the suitability of the entry criteria that Turkey must fulfil if it is to accede into the European fold. With that in mind, the article takes the idea of the 'democratic control of the armed forces' (Decaf), as conceived of by Western agencies such as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) and the EU (European Union), and unravels its relevance and implications for the Turkish case. The key features of Central and Eastern European systems of civil-military relations, which are targeted by the Decaf measures are contrasted with the Turkish case in order to show that a single-model approach to Decaf is untenable. It is then argued that the way that the strategy that has been used for implementing Decaf is impoverished because it fails to capture the 'real politics' in which militaries are embedded. Based on that, the article reaches the conclusion that one of the central factors preventing Turkey's potential accession into the European fold is the prevailing civil-military relationship. However, the approach being employed by Western agencies fails to adequately recognize and respond to the nature of that relationship.
In the s, Turkish politics witnessed the fragmentation of the political center and the rise o... more In the s, Turkish politics witnessed the fragmentation of the political center and the rise of the Islamist Welfare Party (Refah Partisi, or RP) from fringe party to a major partner in the coalition government, Refahyol, it formed with the center-right True Path Party (Doğru Yol Partisi, or DYP) in June . With the benefit of hindsight, one might suggest that the Turkish military took the accession of the RP into government as confirmation of its belief that Islamist reactionism, irtica in Turkish, had become a substantial threat to the secular character of the republic. Consequently, on February , , the military-dominated National Security Council (NSC) issued the Refahyol coalition government with a list of measures designed to nullify the supposed Islamization of Turkey and fortify the secular system. Subsequent pressure from the NSC, in tandem with the civilian component of the secular establishment, led to the collapse of the coalition government in June . The ousting of the Refahyol government signaled the start of the military's plan to refashion Turkey's political landscape along Kemalist lines
... 2007, access to around 6,000 internet sites, including Youtube and numerous pro-Kurdish and p... more ... 2007, access to around 6,000 internet sites, including Youtube and numerous pro-Kurdish and pro ... regularly expound on the situation in Turkey instead of the positive democratic initiatives, which hardly ... In making a difference in the ways in which Turkey's major fault lines are ...
radical Islam, like that elsewhere in the Middle East, has asserted itself effectively in all asp... more radical Islam, like that elsewhere in the Middle East, has asserted itself effectively in all aspects and at all levels of society, making a stark contrast between the sixty years of the republic and the period since 1980. It is not surprising, therefore, that the causes for the emergence of Islamic political radicalism, its nature, and its possible effects on the system have aroused scholarly interest. The fundamental contentions of this article are twofold. First and foremost, it is the Turkish state, not the initiative and self-sustenance of grassroots Islam, that has been the most important determinant of the political role of Islam and its relevance in politics throughout the republic. Without necessarily subscribing to an elitist position that would deny the capacity of the masses to stage an Islamic uprising against state authority, it is nonetheless reasonable to assert that the state elite has been in a singular position to influence and structure the political course and d...
... being said, Turkish security concerns in the 1990's also included external threats: some... more ... being said, Turkish security concerns in the 1990's also included external threats: some countries such as Syria, Iran, Iraq, Armenia, and to a ... Reflecting the more liberal outlook of the post-coup Constitution of 1961, the number of the MGK's civilian members exceeded those of ...
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