Politics In Turkey Research Articles

Turkey's Political Economy in the Age of Financial Globalization: The Significance of the EU Anchor

The recent Turkish experience clearly illustrates how markets and politics can interact in producing significant economic transformation. Focusing on the new phase of neo-liberal restructuring in Turkey in the post-crisis era, we highlight the importance of the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) anchors and the specific domestic and external linkages through which these double external anchors have operated. We argue that the anchors played significant and complementary roles in the recent transformation process in Turkey. We also underline some of the tensions that are likely to arise in the new era of accession negotiations with the EU given the incomplete transformation accomplished so far.

The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World and Nostalgia for the Modern: State Secularism and Everyday Politics in Turkey

The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World. By Partha Chatterjee. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. 173p. 20.00 paper. Nostalgia for the Modern: State Secularism and Everyday Politics in Turkey. By Esra Özyürek. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006. 227p. 21.95 paper. Few leaders have been as lionized by their people decades after their deaths or have influenced their nation's political development as much as Turkey's Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In the wake of World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Atatürk (an honorary title meaning “father of the Turks”) led a war of national independence, established the Turkish Republic, and introduced a series of modernizing/westernizing reforms that included secularization of the state, relative emancipation of women, and westernization of the alphabet, dress, and the legal code.

Can Archaeology Build a Dam? Sites and Politics in Turkey's Southeast Anatolia Project

Since 1989, Turkey's Southeast Anatolia Project has constructed a dozen large dams on the Tigris and Euphrates, flooding hundreds of kilometers of river valley and inundating thousands of archaeological sites. Paradoxically, archaeology was used as an argument both for and against dam construction. Dam opponents insisted that sites would be destroyed, while proponents argued that dam construction provided funding for salvage archaeology. Non-archaeologists dominated the discussion, while archaeologists generally avoided political stances. In my examination of two case studies, I argue that each of these positions reflects a different conception of the social role of archaeology, identify which were the most politically effective, and explore the lessons of the GAP project for situations where archaeology is heavily politicized. Finally, I offer suggestions on how archaeologists can transform their ethical guidelines into decision-making tools.

Nostalgia for the Modern: State Secularism and Everyday Politics in Turkey: Esra Ozyureks

Nostalgia for the Modern: State Secularism and Everyday Politics in Turkey: Esra Ozyureks

Islam and politics in Turkey: the 2007 presidential elections and beyond

The changing role of Islam in the public life of Turkey is about to come under renewed scrutiny, the key issue being the potential candidates for the May 2007 presidential election. Erdogan, the Prime Minister and head of the first Islamist majority government in the republic's history, is likely to stand. Arguments already abound as to the legitimacy of such a move, with the opposition declaring that they will boycott the election if Erdogan becomes a candidate. Equally, Erdogan's own supporters are, in public, at least occasionally uncertain, conscious that when the late Ozal moved to become president, his party suffered. Secularists grimly wonder whether they will be able to survive such an overt transfer to an Islamist figure, one whom they fear would be a great contrast to the pro-Republican present incumbent, President Sezer. Yet, how should we face such a transition? What implications does it have for Turkey's politics, both internally in terms of the social life of the country, and in external affairs?

Can Archaeology Build a Dam? Sites and Politics in Turkey's Southeast Anatolia Project

Since 1989, Turkey's Southeast Anatolia Project has constructed a dozen large dams on the Tigris and Euphrates, flooding hundreds of kilometers of river valley and inundating thousands of archaeological sites. Paradoxically, archaeology was used as an argument both for and against dam construction. Dam opponents insisted that sites would be destroyed, while proponents argued that dam construction provided funding for salvage archaeology. Non-archaeologists dominated the discussion, while archaeologists generally avoided political stances. In my examination of two case studies, I argue that each of these positions reflects a different conception of the social role of archaeology, identify which were the most politically effective, and explore the lessons of the GAP project for situations where archaeology is heavily politicized. Finally, I offer suggestions on how archaeologists can transform their ethical guidelines into decision-making tools.

Devlet Bahçeli and ‘far right’ politics in Turkey, 1999–2002

In several Western European democracies one of the significant political developments of the post-1980 period was the emergence of a far right characterized by ethno-nationalism, racism, xenophobia...

Pathways Through Financial Crisis: Turkey

Turkey's deep financial crisis in 2000-2001 implicated the International Monetary Fund program, adopted in 1999, while the IMF was associated with the successful 2001 recovery program. This article, through studying three critical interventions, finds that the IMF's impact on the policy choices available to Turkey's policymakers varied according to the history of the IMF's engagement with Turkey, the interests of major shareholders in the IMF, and the credibility of Turkey's leaders in the eyes of the IMF. The IMF's engagement substantially affected domestic politics in Turkey by strengthening the voice of economic technocrats within the government. The IMF thus became a contested actor in domestic politics. The crisis had very significant negative economic and social effects, which contributed to a deep political change in 2002. KEYWORDS: Turkish economy, financial crisis, International Monetary Fund. ********** Turkey's long-standing relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) intensified at the end of the 1990s. The Turkish general election of 18 April 1999 ushered into power a new coalition government that, eight months later, sought US$4 billion assistance from the IMF and committed itself to an IMF-approved program of economic reform. Within a year, an economic crisis peaked--in November 2000 and February 2001--and the Turkish economy experienced a real terms contraction of 3.5 percent, with official unemployment doubling to 11.8 percent. (1) From January 2001 to April 2002, borrowing from the IMF increased by $23 billion. In the general election of 3 November 2002, none of the parties (government or opposition) elected in 1999 were returned. Turkey raises two questions about the IMF's interaction with the governments of emerging markets facing financial crises. First, how does IMF participation affect the policy choices available to domestic policymakers? Second, what impact does the IMF's intervention have on domestic politics in the crisis country: which actors are empowered or enfeebled, and what are the lasting consequences for domestic politics? In this study, I focus on Turkey's engagement with the IMF from November 1999 to October 2001, a period that includes three interventions by the IMF. I analyze key decisions associated with these interventions from the perspectives of the Turkish authorities and the IMF, setting out which alternatives were considered and rejected, and why. Through this analysis, I draw more general conclusions about the relationship between the IMF and Turkey. The study is based on primary materials, in the form of published communications between the IMF and Turkey, and on interviews with key decisionmakers and policymakers in Turkey, the IMF, and the G7. (2) Turkey's Engagement with the IMF Turkey's wave of economic liberalization began under the stewardship of economy (then prime) minister Turgut Ozal during 1980-1989. This period displayed twin tendencies: liberalizing reforms (including within IMF programs; see Table 1), combined with increasingly clientelistic distribution of the spoils. The decision to liberalize the capital account in 1989 was particularly significant for Turkey's fiscal position. A new source of capital allowed governments to put off unpleasant choices and delay reform. (3) A further consequence was the rapid expansion of the banking sector. In the second half of 1997, a number of officials in the Turkish economy ministries became alarmed at the direction of Turkey's underlying economic aggregates. Inflation looked set to reach 100 percent by December. At the officials' request, the IMF initiated a Staff-Monitored Program, which was announced in June 1998. The Turkish authorities were keen to move to a full program, but there was no appetite from the IMF's side, given the repeated failure to meet fiscal and structural targets set in the Staff-Monitored Program. In 1998, the poor underlying structure of the economy was further impacted by two negative shocks. …

Activists in office: Pro-Kurdish contentious politics in Turkey

This paper contends that in some semi-democratic regimes the participation in electoral politics of ethnopolitical activists does not end overt conflict between the state and challengers. Instead, this activity, here called ‘representative contention’, in some cases constitutes an important form of social movement activism and can help explain how movements in semi-democratic regimes survive, consolidate and advance their agendas. As an example, the paper argues that pro-Kurdish participation in national and local politics between 1990 and 2005 provided the movement with a new institutional basis for public gathering, legal protection from prosecution, new access to domestic and international audiences, and new symbolic resources. Cumulatively, this consolidated the movement in relatively stable arenas and helped sustain it when the movement's armed flank was weak.

Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy: Islamist Women in Turkish Politics

Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy: Islamist Women in Turkish Politics. By Yesim Arat. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. 150p. $55.00.Since the advent of competitive politics in Turkey in 1946, Islamist parties have assumed increasing importance. During the 1970s, the National Salvation Party, headed by Necmettin Erbakan, was a participant in a series of coalition governments. The Welfare Party, also led by Erbakan, came in first (barely) in the 1995 election, catapulting its temperamental leader into the position of prime minister. In 2002, the Justice and Development Party (JDP) won an overwhelming electoral victory, capturing two-thirds of the parliamentary seats. Although the JDP denies that it is an Islamist party, its leader, the current prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been a leading Islamist politician, including especially his stormy career as mayor of Istanbul, and both its supporters and opponents regard it as such today. The result of this dramatic rise of Islamist political forces in the formally and solidly secular Republic of Turkey has aroused a great deal of controversy. Not least of the questions raised is the popular conundrum of the compatibility of Islam and democracy.

Rethinking Islam and liberal democracy: Islamist women in Turkish politics

Yesim Arat’s work, Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy: Islamist Women in Turkish Politics, is a welcome addition to the remarkably rich academic discourse on Islam in contemporary Turkey. Several excellent social scientists both in Turkey and abroad have contributed to elevating the discussion on Islam in modern Turkey to a complex and sophisticated level. For example, Jenny White’s award-winning work, Islamist Mobilization in Turkey: A Study in Vernacular Politics (2002), is an ethnography of Istanbul which maps the origins and continuing appeal of Islamic politics in Turkish society. Esra Ozyurek’s notable work, Nostalgia for the Modern: State Secularism and Everyday Politics in Turkey (2006), demonstrates how power struggles between secular and Islamist political movements are reconfi guring popular notions of citizenship and the sacred in Turkey. Th e work under review not only engages the available scholarship, it adds a new dimension to the discussion. Based on a study of women activists of the Islamist Refah (Welfare) Party in Turkey, Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy examines the relationship between secularism and Islam in a liberal democracy. Th e author attempts to understand the women activists of the Refah Party using qualitative methods via in-depth interviews. She argues that, although the Refah Party women’s organizations only came into being in 1989 and were shut down in 1998 along with the party by a constitutional court decision, they played an important role in bringing their party to power and engaging a large female constituency in politics (1). Arat’s work is particularly valuable because, in tracing the “cross-fertilization” between Islamists and their secular adversaries, she provides an im-

Women's Solidarity as a Resistance Strategy Against Liberal Identity Politics in Turkey

started marching towards each other. We started walking to each other . . . . Once upon a time we were there, on the roads that you'll take, in the places you will pass today. On the road you will take are our voices, our stories and our traces. You wouldn't have heard us before because we were silenced, we were scared. Now we are walking with you so that we can overcome our fears. Let's hold each others' hands and shout and let our screams merge into each other. Let's raise each others' voices. So that no one will suppress our voices against violence any more. This was the letter by Hay Gin Armenian Women's Platform to the organizers of Women are Marching Towards Each Other campaign that took place in 6-11th July 2002. The idea of the campaign was that messengers from various cities would go through the cities, towns and villages on their roads, collecting letters from women about their problems and demands; arrive at Konya, the geographical center of the country, to hold a conference where they would read their reports and letters and discuss the problems and possible solutions. I will tell about this campaign in details in the following lines. Departing from the question How will we live together with our differences? that we, as activist women, have been dealing with in various women's organizations in Turkey within the last decade, in this paper I will try to discuss how the dialogue between women of different identities that come together to create networks of solidarity for struggling against violence and talking about peace could be considered as a powerful challenge to the newly emerging discourse of liberal identity/cultural politics and the destructive effects of the neoliberal policies in Turkey.

The Lost Lullaby and Other Stories about Being an Armenian in Turkey

Nınçir mangig im sirasun, Oror yem asum, Baydzar lusinn e meğm hayum, Ko ororotsum.By analyzing the transmission of Armenian lullabies within the changing contexts of identity and cultural politics in Turkey, this paper addresses displacement and loss as two interrelated experiences shaping the sense of being an Armenian in Turkey. I criticize the liberal multiculturalist perspective that represents cultures in a way that cuts the link between the past and the present, by dissociating different cultures from the history of their presence in Anatolia and the destruction of that presence. I argue that in such a context where cultures are detached from lived experiences and memory, it becomes impossible to share the stories of violence and pain in the public sphere; hence, the loss itself becomes the experience of being Armenian. Finally, I try to explain how today young generations of Armenians in İstanbul, in their search for an Armenian identity, have developed a certain way of belonging to the space and culture, a way of belonging that is very much shaped by the experience of loss.

The EU factor in Turkey's politics

On 3 October 2005, Turkey formally opened accession negotiations with the EU. But the protracted wrangling that preceded the EU’s decision further fuelled suspicions in Turkey that the EU will ever accept Turkey as a full member, opting instead to allow negotiations to drag on indefinitely. In recent years Turkish domestic politics have been carefully indexed to obtaining a date from the EU for the beginning of accession negotiations, allowing the ruling Justice and Development Party to postpone confronting a number of highly sensitive issues. These will now present themselves more prominently and urgently.

The Turkish State and Alevis: Changing Parameters of an Uneasy Relationship

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes David Zeidan, ‘The Alevi of Anatolia’, http://www.anelfire.com/az/rescon/alevi.html, p.1. R. Çamuroğlu ‘Alevi Revivalism in Turkey’ in T.Olsson, E.Özdalga and C. Raudvere (eds.), Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute, 1998), p.84, Ayşe Ayata ‘The Emergence of Identity Politics in Turkey’, New Perspectives on Turkey, No.17, 1997, p.30; T. Erman and E.Göker, ‘Alevi Politics in Contemporary Turkey’, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.36, No.4. Oct. 2000, p.99. T. Erman and E. Göker, ‘Alevi Politics in Contemporary Turkey’, p.99. Karin Vorhoff, ‘Academic and Journalistic Publications on the Alevi and Bektaşi of Turkey’ in T. Olsson, E. Özdalga and C. Raudvere (eds.), Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute, 1998), pp.23–50. M.H.Yavuz, ‘Alevilerin Türkiye'deki Medya Kimlikleri: “Ortaya Çıkış”ın Serüveni’, in Türkiye'de Aleviler Bektaşiler Nusayriler (Tartışmalı İlmi Toplantılar Dizisi: 28, Ensar Neşriyat, İstanbul, 1999), p.70. Following as T. Erman and E. Göker explained, I have chosen to use Turkish term Alevilik instead of Aleviniss and Alevism because it covers both its ideological construction as a social movement and its social identity aspect. For an introductory discussion, see F. Bilici ‘The Function of Alevi–Bektaşi Theology in Modern Turkey, in T. Olsson, E. Özdalga and C. Raudvere (eds). Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute, 1998), pp 51–63. That should not be understood for all Alevi. No doubt many Alevi are also very conservative in many aspects. I. Melikoff, ‘Bektaşi/ Kızılbaş: Historical Bipartition and its Consequences’ in T. Olsson, E. Özdalga and C. Raudvere (eds.), Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute, 1998), p.7. F.Bilici, ‘The Function of Alevi-Bektaşi Theology in Modern Turkey’, in T. Olsson, E. Özdalga and C. Raudvere (eds.), Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute, 1998), p.52. D. Shankland, ‘Anthropology and Ethnicity: The Place of Ethnography in New Alevi Movement’ in T. Olsson, E. Özdalga and C. Raudvere (eds.), Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute, 1998), pp.21–2. D.Shankland, Islam and Society in Turkey (The Eothen Press, 1999), pp.132–68; The Alevis in Turkey: The Emerge of Secular Islamic Tradition (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003), pp.154–72. A. Yalçınkaya, Alevilikte Toplumsal Kurumlar (Ankara: Mülkiyeliler Birliği Yayını, 1996), pp.199. D. Shankland, The Alevis in Turkey: The Emerge of Secular Islamic Tradition, p.173. Ibid., pp.174–82. R. Çamuroğlu, ‘Alevi Revivalism in Turkey’, p.79. D. Shankland, The Alevis in Turkey: The Emerge of Secular Islamic Tradition, p.169. R. Çamuroğlu, ‘Alevi Revivalism in Turkey’, p.79. Ibid., p.80. T. Erman and E. Göker, ‘Alevi Politics in Contemporary Turkey’, p.100. M. Aringberg-Laanatza, ‘Alevis in Turkey Alawites in Syria: Similarities and Differences’ in T. Olsson, E. Özdalga and C. Raudvere (eds.). Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute, 1998), p.155. This case is known as the ‘Sivas Massacre’. In July 1993, 36 mostly Alevi artists attending a cultural festival in the central Anatolian city of Sivas died when an angry mob of radical Sunni Muslims and right wing militants set fire to their hotel. Local authorities and police did nothing to prevent the tragedy. R.Çamuroğlu, ‘Alevi Revivalism in Turkey’, p.80. Ibid; T. Erman and E.Göker, ‘Alevi Politics in Contemporary Turkey’, p.100. D.Shankland, The Alevis in Turkey: The Emerge of Secular Islamic Tradition, p.156. D. Shankland, ‘Islam and Society in Turkey’, pp.170–1. D.Shankland, The Alevis in Turkey: The Emerge of Secular Islamic Tradition, p.159. According to the Alevi Dernekleri Federasyonu. < http://www.hbektas.gazi.edu.tr/05turkkulturuve.htm > , TBMM Tutanak Dergisi, Dönem 21, Cilt 4, Yasama Yılı 1. 25. Birleşim, 28.06.1999. Bu merkez tarafından çekilen ‘Hoca Ahmet Yesevi'den Hacı Bektaş Veli'ye 13. Yüzyılda Anadolu'da Türk Hümanızmasının Kaynakları,’ adlı 13 bölümlük belgesel TRT'de Ekim 2000'de yayınlanmaya başlamıştır. TBMM Tutanak Dergisi, Dönem 20, Cilt 39, Yasama Yılı 3. 28. Birleşim 16.12.1997. TBMM Tutanak Dergisi, Dönem 21, Cilt 1, Yasama Yılı 1.11.Birleşim,04.06.1999. TBMM Tutanak Dergisi, Dönem 21, Cilt 4, Yasama Yılı 1, 23. Birleşim, 26. 06.1999, TBMM Tutanak Dergisi, Dönem 21, Cilt 21, Yasama Yılı 2, 38. Birleşim, 20.12.1999. D. Shankland, ‘Anthropology and Ethnicity: The Place of Ethnography in New Alevi Movement’, p.22.

Lignite-fired thermal power plants and SO 2 pollution in Turkey

About 80% of the electric energy production in Turkey is provided by thermal power plants which use fossil fuels. Lignite, the most abundant domestic energy source, is consumed in most of these plants. Turkey has approximately 0.85% of the world's lignite reserves; however, the Turkish lignites have low calorific value and contain relatively higher amounts of ash, moisture, and sulfur. Nearly 80% of the lignite mined in Turkey is consumed in the thermal power plants since it is not appropriate for use in other types of industry and heating. In Turkey, 13 large-scale lignite-fired thermal power plants are responsible for a considerable amount of air pollution. Therefore, it is crucial to decide on the optimal place and technology for the future thermal power plants, and to equip the currently operating plants with newer technologies that will reduce amount of contaminants released into the air. In this study, the effects of the lignite-fired thermal power plants which have an important place in the energy politics in Turkey on the air pollution are investigated. We focused on SO 2 pollution and the regions in which the SO 2 emissions were concentrated and diffused. The pollutant diffusion areas were projected and mapped based on parameters such as wind data, isotherm curves, population density, and topographic features by using Geographical Information System (GIS) software, ArcView. The contribution of the thermal power plants to SO 2 pollution was also examined.

Turkey's Political Reforms and the Impact of the European Union

The European Union has played the most important role in stimulating political change in post-World War II Europe. Turkey had to become more democratic in order to attain candidacy for EU membership in the second half of the 1990s, and when it became a candidate, it had to adopt sweeping political reforms in order to fulfil the EU's accession criteria so that accession negotiations could begin. Thus, this article proposes that Turkey's EU candidacy since 1999 has stimulated Turkish political and legal reforms and intensified the Europeanization process in Turkey. The article analyzes the political reforms in Turkey in the light of EU membership and argues that Turkey's Europeanization is greatly motivated by the EU.

Turgut Özal and his Economic Legacy: Turkish Neo-Liberalism in Critical Perspective

Turgut Ozal was a critical figure in Turkey's transition to a neo-liberal development model in the 1980s. Arguably, he was also the most influential political leader in Turkey since the time of Kem...

The Turkish Pendulum between Globalization and Security: From the Late Ottoman Era to the 1930s

The primary goal of this article is to understand the historical dynamics which led in Turkey to the emergence of a pendulum between liberalization/ globalization at the time perceived as integration with the modern and popular west, in particular, Europe and national security, seen as the preservation of the Ottoman lands against both external (ironically the large European powers and Russia) and internal enemies (internal in the sense of those nations and ethnic groups which aspired to be independent of Ottoman rule and which were, again ironically, open therefore to the manipulation of the external enemies). To understand these dynamics requires two main missions. First, by looking into the political liberalization initiatives of the late Ottoman era (seen in the most general sense as those attempts to share political power with the Sultan) and their relation with the tremendous public concern over the empire's security, the article explores the genealogy and formation as well as the overwhelmingly shared perception of a dichotomous relationship between security and liberalization.' Second, by carrying out a detailed analysis of the two attempts to introduce multi-party politics during the republican era, I try to show how the previously identified dichotomy between liberalization and security developed into a 'national security syndrome', through which the democratic liberalization process would be systematically administered, managed and, ultimately, contained. It can be argued that the Ottoman state was, by and large, a garrison state, in which the waging of war was one of the main factors behind its construction and resulting structure.2 At a time in history when the rule of the day was conquest, power, alliances and geopolitics, the Ottoman state was a true example of a geopolitical state/empire. This primacy of geopolitics made the Ottoman state a largely centralized and highly hierarchical power apparatus at the hands of the sultans, and for the most part, security issues were able to be handled quite efficiently.

Centre-right politics in Turkey after the November 2002 general election: neo-liberalism with a Muslim face

This article analyses the implications for centre-right politics and democracy in Turkey of the rise to power of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) in the November 2002 general election. It is argued that the AKP has both similarities with and differences from the centre-right political parties that have dominated Turkish politics in the aftermath of the 1980 coup d’état. It is possible to find continuity in the conciliatory and synthesizing stance of the AKP, as well as in its rather conservative stance. The AKP’s disposition vis-à-vis state-centred politics is considered, as is its standpoint with regard to pluralism and democracy.