Democracy In Turkey Research Articles

Review of the Opportunities and Challenges of the Transition to Democracy in Turkey from the 1980s onwards,from the Perspective of Constructivism Theory

Review of the Opportunities and Challenges of the Transition to Democracy in Turkey from the 1980s onwards,from the Perspective of Constructivism Theory

Funding Democracy, Funding Social Services? The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights in the Context of Competing Narratives in Turkey

Within the process of Turkey's European Union (EU) accession, the EU aims to strengthen Turkey's democratization through various programmes focusing on the role of civil society. By funding non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the EU intends to empower NGOs to take on a self-responsible role in Turkey's democratization process. In this article, I argue that the EU indeed aims to support a liberal narrative through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) yet by the means of neo-liberal governmental power. Through this it renders the NGOs rather technical instead of political and thus misses the chance of strengthening a liberal narrative that could pose an alternative to the reoccurring hegemonic struggle between a Kemalist and a pro-Islam narrative in Turkey.

Testing an EU-Candidate's Place on the Maps of Global Economic, Political and Social Values: The Case of Turkey

Following the attempt by Alesina and Guiliano (2013) to measure global culture and to project these measurements onto real choropleth geographical world maps, we utilize the data from the World Values Survey (WVS) to arrive at robust measurement scales of global economic, political and social values and to assess Turkey's place on them. Our study, which is based on 92,289 representative individuals with complete data in 68 countries, representing 56.89% of the global population, looks at hard-core economic values in the countries. From our new nine dimensions for the determination of the geography of human values, based on a promax factor analysis of the available data, we use six factor analytical scores to calculate a new Global Value Development Index, which combines: avoiding economic permissiveness; avoiding racism; avoiding distrust of the army and the press; avoiding the authoritarian character; tolerance and respect; and avoiding the rejection of the market economy and democracy. Our results show that the five best ranked countries are all western democracies. Our global value development index ranks Morocco twelfth – just behind the USA. Turkey is ranked 25, ahead of several EU member countries. But there are still considerable deficits concerning the liberal values components, which are very important for effective democracy, and there are very large regional differences, confirming the dictum by Huntington (1996) about Turkey as a torn country. The deficits suggest that the Turkish state, Turkish civil society and European decision makers would be well advised to continue to support civil society and secular democracy in Turkey.

Atatürk and After: Three Perspectives on Political Change in Turkey

The retaking of Gezi Park by the Turkish police began on June 11, 2013. The government's aim was to “clear banners from the Atatürk Cultural Centre and the statue of Atatürk.” The center, built in Istanbul's Taksim square in the 1960s, in order to advertise the Western identity of the new Republic, after a military coup, is eventually to be replaced as part of urban redevelopment schemes. Whether Atatürk's general legacy is secure in contemporary Turkey is open to debate. The electoral victory of the AKP party in 2002 had weakened the ability of the secular elite to prevent change. Many Gezi Park protestors saw the AKP's legislation as a growing threat to their lifestyles. Yet the AKP's victory was also seen as a vindication of democracy, and it look little time before a “Turkish model” began to be promoted for the Middle East. The Gezi Park protests raise the question of what really has changed since 2002. This article discusses three books. The first studies Atatürk's ideas. The second, focused more on popular culture, traces changes in identities. The third discusses change in the state-society relationship. The concluding section relates them to the question of democracy in Turkey.

Religion, Political Actors, and Democratization: The Turkish Case

AbstractThis article is part of a special issue on the five Muslim democracies. It aims at understanding the role played by religion, and particularly by religiously oriented actors, in Turkey's democratization processes. The first section analyzes the different theoretical approaches to the role of religion in democratization. The second section analyzes the different phases of Turkey's political history since the 1980 coup, taking into account both democratization processes and the role played by religious actors in the political system, and trying to understand the possible relations between the two phenomena.

Impact of the ECtHR Rulings on Turkey's Democratization: An Evaluation

Turkey has long retained the record of individual applications before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). On the other hand, the ECtHR has been playing a crucial role in the democratization of this country, as most of its rulings were followed by substantial reforms. This, however, cannot conceal a dichotomy: although the reforms reflect the political will of the government, the decisions rendered by national courts often indicate the opposite, hampering the democratization process and leaving the country with a judiciary impasse. The reasons and consequences of this phenomenon are analyzed in this essay.

Two steps forward, one step back, or vice versa: the new legal framework of collective labour relations in Turkey1

Due to the late start of industrialization and development of a working class and democratization in Turkey, all the labour and democratic rights gained through class struggle elsewhere in Europe were introduced in Turkey by the state. This saw the detailed framework of Turkish industrial relations being defined by law, with trade unions not challenging the limits to enhance their rights. Previous collective labour acts had been criticized for decades as a heritage of the 1980 military coup. Following amendments to the 1982 Constitution in 2010, a new collective labour act, the Trade Union and Collective Agreement Act (TUCAA), was adopted in 2012. In this article, the Trade Union and Collective Agreement Act will be examined from the perspective of the triad of the right to organize, the right to bargain collectively, and the right to strike, with the main changes also being reviewed in a general comparison with the previous acts.

Discourse on Democracy in the July 22, 2011 General Election Political Campaign in Turkey: The Case of Tayyip Erdoğan’s Political Rally Speeches

This study is an examination of the discourse concerning democracy in Turkey by the Turkish ruling party’s political leader, Tayyip Erdoğan.It is an approach to political campaign analysis by focusing on political campaign techniques and their relationship with democratic culture. This is an attempt to investigate democratic discourse concerning political campaigns because I assume that leaders share their ideas concerning politics and democracy extensively during campaigns. If we define liberal democracy as a process of representation, then political campaigns are very important in the overall democratic structure. However, liberal democracy cannot be viewed as elections only. There are three important normative principles in liberal democracy:limited state, rule of law, and accountability. I analyse these three principles in the political rally speeches of Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2011 general elections in Turkey for the month before the elections by employing discourse analysis. As a result, we can see that the rights of the citizens are seen only as voting and the duty of the state is defined as protecting and shaping them in the speeches. Hence, we can say that the democratic discourse of Tayyip Erdoğan is not sufficiently suitable for the normative principles of liberal democracy. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n9p13

The ‘civil society policy’ of the European Union for promoting democracy in Turkey: golden goose or dead duck?

‘Golden goose’ of European integration for some time now, EU’s civil society policy displays a vivid example during Turkey’s accession. This article queries the impact of this policy in the Turkish context, ultimately showing its limited extent on Turkish civil society organizations (CSOs) and illuminating its real constraints in the Turkish context. Drawing on interviews with CSOs, this article argues that the EU could not accomplish its expected objectives set within its civil society policy in Turkey due to its neo-Tocquevillian conceptualization that overlooks at the constraints on civil society actors and disregards civil society’s political nature and its CSOs’ autonomous character.

Hegemonizing Conservative Democracy and the Problems of Democratization in Turkey: Conservatism Without Democrats?

This article examines the intellectual efforts in Turkey aiming at hegemonizing conservative democracy by diversifying and deepening its equivocal content vis-à-vis challenging alternatives. While globally acclaimed as an evidence of the compatibility of Islam and democracy, this article will try to show that, the real test is whether the Muslim circles will be able to overcome the limits of conservative democracy for a full-fledged democratization. Only then it is possible to build new discourses internalizing the diversity and hybridity of Turkey that is a sine qua non for the consolidation of democracy.

Remembering violence: the role of apology and dialogue in Turkey's democratization process

In this article I ask the question: how do citizens use memories of violence in dialogue with a democratizing Turkish state? To address this, I unpack how memories of violence influence solidarity communities in addition to those who are direct descendents of survivors. I also examine how these solidarity communities are widening political space for contemporary dialogue about the Armenian Catastrophe. To demonstrate the connection between memory and political participation, I identify three discursive moments where Turkish and Armenian citizens invoke memory in dialogue with one other and with the state. I use the 2009 online campaign for a Turkish apology to address the Armenian Catastrophe, the aftermath of the murder of Hrant Dink in 2007, and a controversial 2005 academic conference on the events of 1915 as focal points to discuss how memory impacts the way people behave as citizens. My argument is twofold: first, elite-led solidarity networks play an integral role in shaping the discursive space between citizens, the state, and the international community; and second, dialogue about memory can grow space for citizen participation in Turkey.

Reclaiming the right to the city: Reflections on the urban uprisings in Turkey

The spark that drew Istanbul into a fire of protest and uprising was initially set off by a modest ‘occupy style’ peaceful resistance, staged against the destruction of an historically public park, an urban commons, in order to make way for yet another shopping mall in Istanbul. Following explicit police violence against the protestors, who were openly discredited by the government for being a few looters, the urban centers of Turkey saw a full-fledged uprising, gathering considerable international steam as well. Analyzing the path of this social mobilization flowing from Gezi Park to larger geographical scales of the urban, the national, and beyond, this article situates the urban uprisings in Turkey in the conceptual background of the right to the city, coined by Henri Lefebvre at the time of Parisian uprisings in 1968. The article further argues in the end that, if this revolutionary energy is to be channeled into a lasting social transformation, the Kurdish movement and the labor movement—historically, the two main motors of Turkey's democratization—should catch up with the protestors on the ground.

Dissident Voices: Women, Minority Status, and Criticism of the Nationalist Turkish State

This paper analyses the ways in which women's various minority positions serve as critical standpoints for deconstructing exclusionary nationalisms in Turkey, and offers some alternatives. After a brief analysis of categories of Turkish nationalism, an analysis of field data is presented, which discusses examples of how women critically engage with nationalism. Interviews with 45 women from different social locations stress the richness and intersectionality of identity. Presenting women's powerful dissenting voices can contribute to the literature that seeks to create alternatives to exclusionary nationalisms. The paper argues that women's vocal dissent serves as a necessary participatory aspect of democratization in Turkey.

Turkey's Engagement with Its Neighborhood: A “Synthetic” and Multidimensional Look at Turkey's Foreign Policy Transformation

This article argues that a synthetic look at different dimensions of Turkey's engagement of its neighborhood, be it movement of people, civil society interactions and economic exchanges, offers a better understanding of both the broader context within which Turkey's foreign policy is changing and the precise modalities through which this transformation is taking place. This engagement offers a range of opportunities from assisting neighboring countries, including the Arab world, to reform and modernize economically as well as politically to nudging the neighborhood to seek greater interdependence, dialog and cooperation. This would be promising in terms of “win-win” outcomes for Turkey, the European Union (EU) and the region. Such an interdependent and integrated neighborhood around Turkey could unleash economic, social and political processes that may eventually lead to a “democratic peace” in the region even if it might be in the very distant future. However, a number of tough challenges from reinvigorating democratization in Turkey and revitalizing EU–Turkish relations to stubborn regional conflicts would have to be addressed. Governments as well as civil society, academia and the think-tank world ought to start to think about what to do with these challenges.

The Kurdish Issue in June 2011 Elections: Continuity or Change in Turkey's Democratization?

This article analyzes the Kurdish issue in various aspects before the June 2011 elections. The main research questions include what constitutes the major grievances of the Kurds; how the ongoing conflict is framed as “Kurdish issue” versus a “terrorism problem” and how major political parties in Turkey approach the issue and its solution in their 2011 election manifestos and rallies. This article contributes the literature on the Kurdish issue in particular and Turkey's democratic consolidation in general by identifying the problems and political views of all relevant sides. Finally, based on both a historical and empirical analysis, the article reflects on the reasons why the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi and Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi have become the major players in addressing the Kurdish issue after the 2011 election. The findings are relevant for Turkish democratic consolidation in particular and the democratization literature in general.

No Longer the Gold Standard

No Longer the Gold Standard

Surreptitious Lifelines: A Structural Analysis of the FARC and the PKK

The Armed Revolutionary Forces of Columbia (FARC) and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have both demonstrated an uncanny ability to transform themselves and adapt to changing environmental conditions. Integral to the groups are webbed criminal enterprises, cross-border sanctuaries, and internationally-oriented advocacy networks. Both organizations avoided catastrophic breakdowns through a combination of organic survival mechanisms and precise organizational restructuring. Since 2008, the FARC moved away from a centralized wheel structure model toward a system of multiple decision-making nodes. Guerrilla units now operate in an atomized manner since they are often disconnected from the central leadership. This encouraged a growing number of FARC commanders to focus on narco-profits rather than the organization's ideological goals. Meanwhile, the PKK functions in an octopus-like manner, extending its tentacles into neighboring countries and Europe. However, the process of democratization in Turkey and improved international law enforcement collaboration increased internal as well as external pressure on the PKK to restructure. As a result the PKK is struggling to keep its far-reaching tentacles coordinated. The PKK misjudged its ability to manage political groups which weakened its ideological grip, yet the organization's control over criminal and guerrilla branches continues to be as fierce as ever. The FARC's and the PKK's organizational changes suggest that security agencies in Colombia and Turkey need to adapt their counterterrorism strategies also.

Is Turkey democratizing with EU reforms?: an assessment of human rights, corruption and socio-economic conditions

This study draws attention to corruption, human rights violations and economic instability as impeding factors of democratization in Turkey until the late 1990s. It is investigated if these conditions have been changing with reforms during Turkey’s candidacy to the European Union since 1999. The analysis indicates that the level of politicians’ accountability is still low and corruption still continues to be a significant problem. Regarding human rights, whereas physical integrity rights such as protection from torture and political imprisonment have been slightly progressing, political, civil and social rights, such as freedom of expression and association, seem unchanged from the pre-candidacy period. However, economic reforms appear to be effective as income levels have been improving.

The Paradox of Modernity in Turkey

The central argument of this article is that the strong state-centred tradition of Turkey has recently gone out of fashion. The breakdown of authoritarianism and state-centred approach and moving into a successful democratic consolidation and society-centred approach in Turkey requires choices to be made and alliances to be formed among intellectual-bureaucratic elite, the military, political parties, trade unions, other interest groups and various types of societal organisations. One of the most important difficulties for consolidating democracy in Turkey has been the complexity of creating stable, viable, accountable, responsive, predictable, representative, transparent, efficient and problem-solving oriented legitimate institutions where all citizens, regardless of ethnic origin or religious orientation, have a voice and enabling representation in such bureaucratic organs that altogether make-up the institution of state. This article will assert that the forces of democratic transition from a state-centred approach to a society-centred approach in Turkey are based on resolving the two main potentially difficult problems that are related with constant questioning of the legitimacy and democratic consolidation of the state apparatus: ethnic and religious paradoxes.

Youth, ICT, and Democracy in Turkey

Youth, ICT, and Democracy in Turkey