Insight Turkey / issues

Editor's Note | Summer 2018

Mon, 23 Jul 2018 11:51:00 GMT

The European Union is a success story. It brought enemy countries together, combined their powers, fostered economic and social development, successfully competed with the American market and also resisted against the Soviet expansionism. As the most developed supranational international organization in modern history, the EU maintained Europe at the center of world politics. With the end of the Cold War, the member states attempted to transform the organization from an economic institution into a political and military structure having the ultimate goal to create a federal state-like institution. However, after unexpected changes in the global system and the emergence of new political actors, the EU began to experience many difficulties.

Germany and the European Union: Post-Brexit Hegemon

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 12:07:00 GMT

In late-March 2019 the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union. Will Brexit lead to Germany becoming the EU’s hegemon? The commentary explores the likely impact of Brexit on policy areas and intergovernmental politics in the EU. It focuses on the sources of German hegemony: structural, ideational and diplomatic power as well as the need for Germany’s role to be legitimate amongst partner states and to have domestic support. Two scenarios are suggested: the Franco-German partnership’s revival or a form of German hegemony.

Virtual Neighbors: Russia and the EU in Cyberspace

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 15:04:00 GMT

The last decade has witnessed the consolidation of the European Union as a cybersecurity actor. Many of these developments have, directly or indirectly, been a response to Russia’s activities in cyberspace. This commentary will explore and analyze the development of the EU’s cyber actorness and assess whether it can effectively deal with Moscow’s aggressive stance in this field.

Turkey-EU Customs Union: Its Modernization and Potential for Turkey-EU Relations

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 15:41:00 GMT

The customs union is still one of the most concrete outcomes of Turkey’s gradual integration to the EU. However, due to changes in world trade, EU trade policy and Turkey-EU relations, the customs union is in need of a comprehensive revision and update. This commentary aims to analyze the current working and need for upgrading of the customs union within the overall scope of Turkey and EU relations. It is argued that the customs union is not only about the bilateral trade relationship, and its modernization could bring a breath of fresh air to Turkey-EU relations and reignite the process of Turkey’s gradual integration into the EU.

The European Union and the Mainstreaming of the Radical Right

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 16:17:00 GMT

Radical right wing parties have been increasingly effective in challenging and eroding this consensus, using a redemptive sovereigntist platform to ‘take back control’ from the EU in a number of important policy areas. Their electoral gains, but more importantly their growing agenda-setting momentum, have combined with an alarming hardening of attitudes in large sectors of the political and social mainstream in the same sovereigntist direction. Unless the EU shifts the discussion effectively and convincingly, addressing the causes of citizen resentment without adopting the language and logic of the right wing populists, its future as a united, politically relevant block looks uncertain.

Transatlantic Relations in the Age of Donald Trump

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 16:43:00 GMT

While the future of the transatlantic relations has been a serious question of concern since the end of the Cold War, the institutionalized security partnerships, complex economic relations, and common threat perceptions in the U.S. and the EU helped these international actors work together and continue the working relationship that they had established decades earlier. However, in recent years, the relationship has been exposed to serious difficulties and challenges. Trump’s critical rhetoric and statements about various European countries have been an irritant in transatlantic relations, and unpredictability is now considered the defining characteristic of the U.S. attitude toward Europe.

Laying the Cornerstone for a New Turkey: The June 24 Elections

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 17:01:00 GMT

On June 24, 2018, with a participation rate of more than 85 percent, Turkey elected its President and parliamentarians. While determining Turkey’s political fate, the elections were also of significant importance as they allowed for the final step of the transition to the new presidential governance system that was accepted with the April 16, 2017 referendum. This commentary aims to provide an analysis of the period from the referendum to the June 24, 2018 elections. After providing the main reasons that led to snap elections, the commentary analyses the electoral campaign strategies and the election results.

Imposing Particular Identities: The Balkans as a Meeting Place of Ethnicities and Religions

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 18:31:00 GMT

Since Balkan ethnicities are primarily organized along locally-practiced religious lines, regional monotheistic religions are seen as the source of the conflicts there. However, even a brief historical examination shows different patterns, where the people of the region lived in long periods of peace and solidarity while practicing their separate religious traditions. Significantly, the conflicts occurred when the Balkan people followed non-religious political processes and ideas which originated outside of the region. Hence, this paper attempts to observe the extant representations of the Balkans, examine the brief history of the region to reveal patterns of amity and enmity, and bring forth a different historical –and possible future– reality.

The European Union Dilemma of the Kurds: High Support for Membership despite Lack of Sufficient Trust

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 22:58:00 GMT

How people in member and candidate states are oriented toward the European Union –meaning, how well they know and how they evaluate the EU– is significant with regard to the sustainability of the EU. Because of the critical place of the Kurdish issue on the agenda of Turkey’s accession process to the EU, the orientation of the Kurds toward the union has been of particular importance. This article, therefore, analyzes the Kurdish orientation toward the EU on the basis of comprehensive fieldwork conducted in the southeast of Turkey, where the majority of the country’s Kurdish population is located.

Missile Defense in Europe: Against Whom?

Mon, 04 Jun 2018 14:59:00 GMT

ABSTRACT This article debates the evolution, main purpose and real target of the missile defense system of NATO, entitled the EPAA, focusing on principal aspects of the project as well as political debate in and outside of the U.S. It argues that the EPAA, provided to NATO by the U.S., is one of the key regional missile defense projects of the global U.S. national missile defense system, which claims to protect Europe from the Iranian ballistic missile threat but actually is designed to protect the American homeland, and targets Russian Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles with nuclear warheads. It also asserts that the EPAA would result in a new and important arms race between NATO and Russia that will include offensive strategic and nuclear weapons.

Engineering a European Islam: An Analysis of Attempts to Domesticate European Muslims in Austria, France, and Germany

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 14:48:00 GMT

Today, a number of European states’ policies on religion aim at creating a nationalized Islam. In many Western European countries, the Ministries of the Interior have institutionalized ‘dialogue platforms’ to discuss issues of Islam, society, inclusion and extremism with Muslim actors. This reveals the implicit assumptions of these governments when talking to Muslims. The underlying message is that Muslims pose a security threat to the state and society, a perception that is manifested in many countries, and that Muslims are seen simultaneously as a threat and an ally. This article analyzes the Ministry of Interior’s attempts to institutionalize Islam in the cases of Austria, Germany, and France and it compares these states in order to investigate different modes of operation, similarities and differences.

The Secular Foreign Fighters of the West in Syria

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 15:51:00 GMT

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) operates under the names of the Democratic Union Party and the People’s Protection Units in Syria. The PKK is registered as a terrorist group by most western governments, the European Union and Turkey, where it originated as a separatist organization. Nonetheless, the YPG has been the partner of the United States-led coalition in Syria against the ISIS. The strengthening of the YPG/PKK and its political messaging has brought in a flow of western foreign fighters. Some of these fighters are now returning to their homelands with indications that they are bringing security problems with them.

Re-narrating Europe in the Face of Populism: An Analysis of the Anti-immigration Discourse of Populist Party Leaders

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 16:50:00 GMT

Populist discourse is gaining more and more ground in Europe. As evidenced by the growing success of radical right wing parties, a ubiquitous right wing populism is haunting Europe. This populist discourse is a counter to the long-standing narratives of Europe. Clearly, with the alarming growth rate of the politics of fear and hatred, Europe is in contradiction with its own core values. It is the consistent and mainstream positioning of populist discourse, establishing itself in the name of protecting European identity. This argument is tested upon a case study of right wing populist party leaders’ anti-immigration discourse from the Netherlands, Finland, Italy and Hungary; these narratives, which were once perceived as marginal, are currently occupying and dominating the national and European discourse.

How Do Muslims Respond to Far Right Political Mobilization in Their European State?

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 17:25:00 GMT

This paper evaluates qualitative and quantitative evidence of Muslims’ European identification in France, Austria and the Netherlands while the far right mobilizes to exclude them from the national culture. In all these states, radical right parties stoked anti-Muslim sentiment during the run-up to the 2016-2017 national elections. The center ostensibly prevailed in each case, but these campaigns further legitimized exclusionary policies toward the religious minority. We assess the difficult political terrain faced by Muslims in Europe, their sense of discrimination, their attitude toward state institutions and their electoral participation. Political parties positioned against multiculturalism and immigration, state-level retrenchment of multicultural policies, and the regularity of terrorist attacks in Europe represent and exacerbate obstacles faced by Muslims in pursuing social, educational and economic progress for themselves and their families.

Toward a “Privileged Partnership”: The EU, Turkey and the Upgrade of the Customs Union

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 18:16:00 GMT

Over the past few years, Turkey’s EU membership prospects have further deteriorated amid intensive political crisis between Brussels and Ankara. The Turkish government and the European Commission have agreed to upgrade the two-decade-old Customs Union between Turkey and the EU, with negotiations likely to begin in 2018. This paper explores the European Commission’s CU upgrade scenarios in tandem with European proposals to form a “Privileged Partnership” between the two parties as an alternative to Turkey’s membership in the Union. An upgraded agreement would be a significant step toward Privileged Partnership, maximizing Europeans’ political and economic benefits from Turkey and eroding any remaining motives for the EU to welcome Turkey as a full member.

Islam in the Balkans: Globalization, Europeanization, Localization

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 9:44:00 GMT

The study of European Islam is now experiencing an unprecedented revival. While most of its attention is dedicated to Islam as a minority in ‘Christian’ Europe, countries such as Bosnia and Albania have not lost their importance in Westerner’s eyes, much of it due to the region’s political upheavals, fueled by the ever-lurking danger of terrorism, both in the Balkans and by people of the Balkans abroad. Three of the four books reviewed here discuss Southeastern Europe, and the fourth one is a collection of papers covering the entire spectrum of European Islam.

The Nationalities of Europe: The Growth of National Ideologies

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 10:28:00 GMT

In The Nationalities of Europe, first published in 1945, Munro Chadwick investigates the issue of nationality and opens a discussion about the growth of national ideologies in Europe, with an exclusive concern for language and linguistics. At the very beginning of the book, he clearly states that “he is not concerned either to defend nationalism or to condemn it” and he presents his main purpose as “calling attention to the need for more knowledge, not only of national movements –their characteristics and causes, and the ideologies associated with them– but also, and more especially, for more knowledge of the nationalities themselves” (p. vii).

Turkey and the West: Fault Lines in a Troubled Alliance

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 10:38:00 GMT

Turkish-American relations are currently witnessing their deepest crisis. Even in 1975 when the U.S. put an arms embargo on Turkey, Ankara had some supporters in Washington. Then President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger opposed the embargo and did their best to convince the Senate and Congress to change the decision. Four decades later, in 2015, relations were tested by a new crisis, but this time Ankara had no friend in Washington. Starting in 2013, the current crisis has not only lasted comparatively long, but has gradually worsened into a possible breakup. What makes this crisis so deep, durable, and progressive in its worsening? Such a puzzle deserves meticulous study. Kemal Kirişci’s book is a timely and highly contribution whose purpose is to explain the recent crisis between Turkey and the U.S.-led order.

Solidarity in the European Union

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 10:43:00 GMT

This volume originates from a conference on ‘Solidarity and its Crisis in the European Union’ that was held at the University of Hamburg from June 2-3, 2016, and aims to discuss how solidarity is applied in practice among the Member States of the Union. It is a vital contribution for understanding the solidarity of the European Union (EU). The two main parts of this volume deal with (i) the concept of solidarity and its theoretical and practical meaning, and (ii) how the crisis of solidarity has become a crucial test for the integration project of the Union. This volume brings a multidisciplinary perspective to its analysis of the crisis of solidarity in the EU. The volume stands for the idea that the good intentions of European solidarity are not enough unless the solidarity turns into practice.

The Politics of Fear: What Right-Wing Populist Discourses Mean

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 10:48:00 GMT

The European political landscape has been changing gradually from left to right wing since the end of the Cold War. Particularly in the last decades, the people have turned towards right wing populist parties (RWPPs, henceforth), which have diminished the votes of mainstream political parties almost all over the continent. The electoral breakthrough of RWPPs across Europe was made possible by the casting of at least 30 million votes according to some calculations, in a trend that has gained great momentum over the past five years.Right wing parties have gained enough leverage to be pivotal in some countries. The steady surging of RWPPs and the transformation they are causing has drawn the attention of many academics from different disciplines and has greatly increased the number of studies on this matter.

Gaza: A History

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 10:54:00 GMT

Gaza, the world’s largest open air prison, could be viewed broadly through the lenses of history, argues Jean Pierre Filiu, in his book Gaza: A History, in order to make sense of the current situation in which the strip is surrounded by disorientation, horror and hatred. In his attempt to discover the circumstances which produced the current phenomenon of Gaza, where deprivation and dissatisfaction characterize life, Filiu offers a re-examination of Gaza’s history. Aside from being a large volume, his perspective marks a high-quality contribution to the literature.

Counter-Radicalisation: Critical Perspectives

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 11:03:00 GMT

The sophisticated terror attacks that followed 9/11, the Madrid train station bombing in 2004, the murder of Dutch filmmaker Teo Van Gogh in Amsterdam, and the 7/7 attacks on the London transport system in 2005 have demonstrated the urgency of changing perceptions and policies on the new agenda in terrorism and counter-terrorism studies. Following these dramatic events, the literature of terrorism and counter-terrorism boomed and expanded. However, most of the new publications have analyzed the phenomenon of ‘home-grown radicalization,’ which leads to terrorism. Home-grown radicalization refers to the self-starting cell(s) and individual(s) mobilized against their host countries with little or no material support from foreign sources. The onslaught of home-grown radicalization has forged a whole new field of empirical study on radicalization, counter-radicalization, deradicalization, and how to counter violent extremism.

Work: The Last 1,000 Years

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 11:10:00 GMT

The rather pristine title of this book suggests a study on topics like the shift from face-to-face interaction to virtual teams; how employees find meaning in their work; or the challenges of unemployment. But, as the subtitle indicates, the scope of this book is much more ambitious: an in-depth theoretical analysis of the concept of work/labor, followed by a bird’s eye view of different kinds of work relations from the 13th century until today. The theoretical framework follows the Modern World-System approach. The volume is a translation of the German-language version published in 2014

America in the World: A History in Documents from the War with Spain to the War on Terror

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 11:17:00 GMT

America in the World is an impressive collection of documents related to United States foreign policy from the country’s earliest expansionist dreams to its present-day difficulty grappling with terrorism. The book contains chapters on different eras of United States foreign policy, including Vietnam, Korea, and World War II. There are also significant portions of the text that explore less familiar areas of United States diplomatic history, including early expansion, imperialism, and the time after the Cold War began to deescalate.

Neslishah: The Last Ottoman Princess

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 11:21:00 GMT

Throughout the history of the Turkish Republic, Republican historians regarded the abolition of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate as a just act, in keeping with Republican ideology. In the last 20 years, opinions and emotions differing from this ideology have surfaced. Neslishah: The Last Ottoman Princess is one of the works exploring the situation of the dynasty’s members after the demise of the Empire and Caliphate. This is the story and biography of Neslishah Sultan. It is also the narrative of the decadence of the two influential dynasties. The book describes the eventful life of the last Ottoman Princess and goes into detail about Neslishah’s turbulent early life, from her first banishment, through her marriage to the Egyptian Prince Abdel Moneim and her second exile, to her demise at the age of ninety-one in 2012.

The Rise of a New Superpower: Turkey’s Key Role in the World Economy and Energy Market

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 11:26:00 GMT

During the radical economic transformation taking place over the last decades, which is characterized by the decline of the West, Turkey has emerged as one of the strongest countries to sustain economic progress. This steady economic growth has brought Turkey to the threshold of becoming a high-income country. Turkey has also progressed by accomplishing almost all of the conditions necessary to achieving EU membership, although, according to EU member states, Turkey still has work to do to fulfill the standards. Angelo Arcuri, lecturer at the European School of Economics and Head of the International Business Department at Confindustria Firenze, the Employers’ Association of Florence, describes Turkey’s economic situation in his academic book, The Rise of a New Superpower: Turkey’s Key Role in the World Economy and Energy Market.