Insight Turkey / issues

Editor's Note | Summer 2019

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 15:26:00 GMT

This issue of Insight Turkey highlights some of the various regional developments around Turkey and discusses various movements of new actors and instruments, crises and progresses, from economy to culture, and how Turkey responds to these changing dilemmas.

The Crisis of the Liberal World Order and Turkey’s Resistance

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 10:04:00 GMT

With the retreat of liberalism in the Western world and the US withdrawing on many global issues, the international system is undergoing serious changes. Turkey, also caught within the throes of international disorder, has been facing a variety of pressing challenges. In response, Ankara has undertaken the dual task of providing its own security and mobilizing the international community to resolve the problems in the international system. In Turkey’s new presidential system, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s political and diplomatic skills play a key role in the formulation and implementation of Turkish foreign policy.

European Parliament Elections: A New Political Environment in Europe and Turkey

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 10:50:00 GMT

Citizens of the European Union (EU) voted to elect 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from May 23-26, 2019, making this the second largest democratic election in the world. Resulting with the traditional mainstream center parties weakened, while anti-establishment parties, including the Greens and the far-right populists, increasing their power. The two main political groups (the European People’s Party and Social Democrats), for the first time in history, had lost their combined majority in the European Parliament (EP). Despite all the discouraging signs, the new political environment in Europe can still provide opportunities to develop Turkey-EU relations.

Remarks on Turkey’s Judicial Reform Strategy Document

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 11:18:00 GMT

The Judicial Reform Strategy Document, which was announced to the public on May 30, 2019, is the third of Turkey’s reform documents aiming for structural transformation in judicial justice. This document perpetuates the political vision adopted by the previous reform documents of 2009 and 2015 to align with the EU acquis communautaire. The document, which was completed after almost a year of work by the Turkish Ministry of Justice with active participation of various stakeholders, structures the reform perspective on the enlargement of rights and freedoms, the European Union perspective, and the principle of trust in the judiciary. This paper discusses and evaluates the key elements of the reform strategy document.

Chasing the Dream: The Salman Doctrine and Saudi Arabia’s Bid for Regional Dominance

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 11:40:00 GMT

Saudi Arabia’s massive air campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen initiated a major shift from the Kingdom’s traditional policy of restraint, to a force-based foreign policy approach unofficially dubbed the “Salman Doctrine.” The doctrine aimed at repositioning the Kingdom as the Middle East’s preeminent power by rolling back its archrival Iran. This commentary argues that the Kingdom has made hardly any progress on the war and diplomatic fronts so far to achieve this objective, due mainly to a glaring mismatch between the doctrine’s ends and the means to achieve these ends.

Why the Neutrality of Azerbaijan Is Important for the European Union

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 11:40:00 GMT

Fragile stability in the South Caucasus is hugely dependent on the neutrality or so-called balanced foreign policy course of the Republic of Azerbaijan. To substantiate this argument, this paper explores the historical and geopolitical factors in the region that conditioned the neutrality course of Azerbaijan and the stability in the South Caucasus. It further evaluates recent developments around the region and the EU's interests, responses, and shortcomings to deal with them; and eventually concludes that preservation and further consolidation of this foreign policy course of Azerbaijan also serves the best interest of the EU. Not only is it far from clear who is to be made resilient against what where there is no more or less benign government but, where countries are only just coming out of war, their first priority is national survival and their demand is for security guarantees. Would sovereignty and equality not be a better leitmotiv for EU strategy in the neighborhood? Sven Biscop1

Four Migration Stories: Four Turkish Migrants, Four Sui Generis Portraits in Germany

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 10:16:00 GMT

This study attempts to analyze the peculiarity of the migration stories of the Muslims in Germany who have emigrated from Turkey. Each of the four interviewees is treated as a case to explore diversity and pluralism amongst the Turkish immigrants. The main questions addressed in the study are: (a) How does anthropological discourse study of the interviewees reflect the particularities of migrants termed as “individuation”? (b) How can each personality be viewed as a conglomeration of sociological concepts through a discourse analysis? (c) How does anthropological discourse analysis approach to Muslims living in Germany who have a relationship with Turkey reveal personal backgrounds as a predictor of migration experience? An interpretative approach is exerted throughout the study to reveal the self-constructed individual realities that each story entails.

Strategic Culture of the OSCE and Its Reflection in the Effort to De-escalate and Resolve the Conflict in Ukraine

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 11:01:00 GMT

The OSCE has until now been the only security organization which directly participated in the effort to de-escalate the war in Eastern Ukraine. As cultural approaches to strategic studies can be also applied to international organizations, this study argues that the OSCE was involved in the attempt to stabilize and resolve the situation partly due to its specific strategic culture. We identify the specific features of the strategic culture of the OSCE as an example of regional security governance between ‘non-allies’ based on the discoursive analysis of OSCE documents and demonstrate how these identified features were reflected in the activities of the OSCE in the conflict in Ukraine.

TİKA’s Soft Power: Nation Branding in Turkish Foreign Policy

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 13:23:00 GMT

Over the past fifteen years, nation branding has become a popular subject of study, and a formative enterprise in the creation of national character. The aim of nation branding is to create positive feelings in people’s minds toward the economic, political, social and geographical conditions of a nation. The aim of this paper is to examine the role of TİKA in the context of Turkey’s nation branding in general, with special attention to the Syrian refugee crisis. Further, this paper aims to explain the effects of the Turkish humanitarian assistance process on the Syrian people who live in Turkey as refugees, and to bring a nation branding perspective to how and why nations pay attention to public diplomacy in their attempts to keep their national image strong.

Managing Democratization: Achievements and Limitations in AK Party Era

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 14:11:00 GMT

During its first two terms (2002-2012), AK Party adopted a range of constitutional democratization reforms connected with the EU accession process covering issues such as: freedom of thought, faith, expression and assembly, the legal and practical improvements regarding the Kurdish issue, opening process on the Alevite question, a new libertarian stress and vision on minority rights, and diminishing, even eliminating, the prerogatives of the military. Nevertheless, since 2013 there have been big challenges triggered both by internal and external developments, which have caused a rippled path for democratization. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive documentation on the question of democratization on the one hand and a holistic assessment and perspective of the current situation, on the other.

Ottoman Cash Waqfs: An Alternative Financial System

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 15:47:00 GMT

The institutions of “waqfs,” that is foundations, stand before us as an intermediate option between collectivist and individualistic societies. These foundations provide for societal and individual needs in many areas including religion, education, finance, health, and infrastructure. One of the most important forms is the cash waqf, which acts as both a charity and financial intermediary and has evolved to become an option to today’s conventional lending mechanism. Waqfs have historically solved the most important financial needs of the period by considering the sensitivities of the society. This study will discuss the potential solutions that the cash waqfs can bring to the problems that modern-day societies are currently experiencing in finance.

Persuading through Culture, Values, and Ideas: The Case of Turkey’s Cultural Diplomacy

Mon, 06 May 2019 15:00:00 GMT

Cultural diplomacy always links to and often overlaps with soft power and public diplomacy. Thus, the three notions have entered the lexicon of International Relations, and have become standard terms in foreign policy thinking. Drawing on the conceptualization of cultural diplomacy, this article examines the features, structure, actors, and possibilities of Turkey’s foreign cultural strategy. Specifically, it focuses on an analysis of the double dimension of Turkish cultural diplomacy, the high-culture, and the pop-culture, asserting that the success of the latter has allowed Turkey to limit the damage to its soft power caused by domestic political turmoil. Furthermore, the research aims to highlight how Turkey has used culture as a resource for its diplomacy –useful for strengthening relations with other countries, enhancing cooperation, and promoting Turkish interests abroad.

Turkey’s Relations and Energy Cooperation with the BSEC

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 12:08:00 GMT

Turkey is conducting an increasingly active energy diplomacy and in order to understand the role and strategies of Ankara in energy geopolitics, it is important to apprehend Turkey’s behaviors at international level. In this respect, Turkey’s energy ties with international (energy) organizations have key importance. Hence, this paper seeks to analyze the energy relationship between Ankara and the BSEC. Turkey attends activities of the organization in order to increase its visibility at international level, become a leader in the Black Sea region, and boost its political and economic ties with member states. However, due to the limited effectiveness of the organization in general and in the field of energy in particular, its contribution to the Turkish energy sector has remained modest.

Economic Power and International Security

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 19:10:00 GMT

International security theories generally identify economic power as the key determinant of military power, and thereby of security, but there is usually not much explanation about the determinants of economic power. In this article, a comprehensive model of economic power is introduced and integrated with an international security model. The integrated security model explicitly identifies how the determinants of economic power affect international security. The integrated model yields policy implications for security and also suggests economic policies for enhancing the international security of a regional or of a major power.

From Ballots to Bullets: Arab Uprising and the Reoccurrence of Authoritarian Politics

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 12:49:00 GMT

Since the end of the Cold War, much of the turmoil in the Middle East has been caused by the religiopolitical identity of different countries of the region. Since Islam is the dominant religion of the region, almost all of the scholarly work produced about its politics revolves around the theme of political Islam.

Turkey’s July 15th Coup: What Happened and Why

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 12:54:00 GMT

Evaluating an edited book written by twelve authors with significantly different points of view on one of the most critical events of recent Turkish political history in a brief book review, is a daunting task if not an impossible mission.

Trials of Europeanization: Turkish Political Culture and the European Union

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 13:02:00 GMT

Turkey’s modernization and Westernization process, which started with ‘Tanzimat’ in 1839 with an overt ambition during the Ottoman period, cultivated an awareness of political liberalism in Turkish political culture. The central assertion in the book is that Turkey-EU relations have significantly affected progress toward the liberalization of Turkish political culture.

Syria Burning: A Short History of a Catastrophe

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 13:13:00 GMT

Since the commencement of the Syrian uprising in March 2011, which would thereafter change the existent regional order in the Middle East, many have endeavored to understand the nature of this conflict. There is a debate whether it is a promising revolution or a devastating civil war.

The Taliban Reader: War, Islam and Politics

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 13:21:00 GMT

The Taliban Reader represents a collection of diversified primary sources associated with the Taliban movement that renders a comprehensive frame on the origin, scope, goals, beliefs, and worldview of this Sunni Islamic traditionalist organization originating from the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan, which strives for the creation of a sociopolitical reality grounded on the principles of the Qur’an and Sharia law.

The Lost Spring: U.S. Policy in the Middle East and Catastrophes to Avoid

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 13:36:00 GMT

The book under review is a work by American-Lebanese scholar Walid Phares, who specializes in Middle East politics. He has worked in different advisory positions in the U.S., most notably, within the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Congress.

The Fracking Debate: The Risks, Benefits and Uncertainties of the Shale Revolution

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 13:44:00 GMT

For decades, energy, especially oil, has been the weak spot of the United States. This indispensable economic resource has directly guided the state’s policies for a long time. Correspondingly, by the beginning of the 2000s, the energy renaissance of the U.S. was launched.

Strategic Failure: How President Obama’s Drone Warfare, Defense Cuts, and Military Amateurism Have Imperiled America

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 13:50:00 GMT

Grand strategy is a blueprint that sets the path to foreign policy; more specifically, it reveals which foreign policy decisions should be taken and which tools can be used to protect national interest and security. Among many states, which produce and follow a grand strategy, the United States is the most remarkable example.

Questioning Modernity in Indonesia and Malaysia

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 13:59:00 GMT

Modernity, as it stands in the book, refers to a theoretical set of facile tools which improve an individual’s socio-political and rational life by placing importance upon his/her secular and material attributes. Questioning Modernity addresses the concept in the sense of a process and system of the social world speaking for such universalistic claims as rationality, modernization, secularization, capitalism, bureaucratization of the socio-political lifeworld, and the increasing materialism of human values.