The role of the European Parliament in Turkey-EU relations: A troublemaker or a useful normative actor?

This article analyzes the role of the European Parliament (EP) in Turkey–EU relations. More specifically, it explores the reasons why in practice EP’s role in promoting fundamental values of the European Union (EU) in Turkey remained largely limited. Drawing on the broader socialization literature, it concludes that a combination of factors related to the socializer (EP) and to the socializee (Turkey) limits the EP’s effectiveness to emerge as a normative actor in its relations with Turkey. In particular, the study points to the mismatch of values promoted by the EP and those embraced by the Turkish political elite as the real obstacle that prevents any socialization mechanism from being triggered.     

De-Europeanisation through Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of AKP’s Election Speeches

Abstract

This article takes issue with the question of whether Turkey has been turning away from Europe in recent years, by adopting a critical constructivist lens to understand how, rather than why, Turkey’s presumed distance from the European Union (EU) is taking place. In doing that, it seeks to analyse the ways in which the political–societal transformation of the country as distanced from the EU is enabled by certain discursive practices which in turn contribute to the growing rift between Turkey and the EU. This is mainly conducted through a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of texts produced by former Prime Minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an on Europe and the EU during key election periods starting with the 12 June 2011 general election.     

Encounters with Europe in an Era of Domestic and International Turmoil: Is Turkey a De-Europeanising Candidate Country?

Abstract

This article provides a novel conceptual framework to understand the impact of the European Union on Turkish politics and policies in the aftermath of the opening of accession negotiations in 2005. It argues that the post-2005 developments in Turkey not only attest to lesser and more limited Europeanisation, but also entail a process that is increasingly gaining momentum in the country and which is referred to as ‘de-Europeanisation’.     

The latent politicization of Alevism: the affiliation between Alevis and leftist politics (1960–1980)

Abstract

Traditional Alevism, which was based on rural/isolated life started to dissolve as a result of urbanization in the 1960s and the 1970s. The social dynamics of Turkey associated the dissolution of archaic Alevism with political mobilization that Turkey experienced in the same period; therefore, the Alevis affiliated themselves with socialist movements in order to participate into political process more efficiently. This article analyses the affiliation between Alevis and socialist movements within the framework of the overlap between the socio-political culture of the Alevis and the political needs of the socialist movements in the 1960s and the 1970s. This affiliation might be followed in Alevi folk songs, squatter settlements, villages and the massacres that Alevis suffered in the late 1970s. Because the relation between the Alevis and socialist movements meant not the politicization of the Alevism as an independent politics of identity, but rather the politicization of Alevis through their affiliation with leftist politics, this article conceptualizes the politicization dynamism of the Alevism between 1960 and 1980 as latent politicization.     

The failure of immigration reform in Germany

After many years without substantial activity in immigration policy, the German Red–Green government which came to power in 1998 introduced an American-style Green Card and a new citizenship law. From these beginnings, the immigration reform campaign captured the public imagination, and for two years a broad spectrum of figures from German public life took part in a lively debate on the issue. A law was eventually adopted by parliament and promulgated in spring 2002, but – in the wake of a voting scandal in the Bundesrat – it was struck down by the Federal Constitutional Court weeks before its scheduled entry into force. This report recounts the story of the now defunct immigration law and seeks to shed valuable light on German politics by analysing what the key differences were that divided the main political parties.     

Youth welfare policy in Turkey in comparative perspective: a case of ‘Denied Youth Citizenship’

This article explores the main characteristics of social and economic policies for young people in Turkey. Inspired by Tom Chevalier’s typology of youth welfare citizenship designed for Western European countries, the article situates Turkey’s youth welfare citizenship model within a comparative perspective and contributes to the extension of Chevalier’s typology to a non-Western European country context. Relying upon the systematic analysis of findings of a nationwide survey on young people that was conducted in 2013, comparative youth statistics, official youth statistics, public expenditures data and existing policy frameworks, the article suggests that Turkey fits well with the denied youth citizenship type in Chevalier’s typology. Two conclusions are drawn with respect to Turkey’s youth welfare citizenship model. First, with respect to the social citizenship dimension, the article finds that social and youth policy structure in Turkey has a familialization effect on young people’s access to income. In terms of economic citizenship, the article suggests that Turkey implements a selective strategy that results in unequal distribution of labour market skills among young people.     

Turkifying Poverty,or: the Phantom Pain of Izmir’s Lost Christian Working Class, 1924–26

This article shows that ‘Turkification’, a term widely used by historians of modern Turkey to refer to the forced transfer of property from Christian into Muslim hands, ought to be conceptualized not only in the sense of ‘enrichment’ but also, with regard to the working classes, as a process in which Muslim people inherited the poverty of their Christian predecessors. Taking ?zmir as a case in point, the article first describes the plight of the overwhelmingly Christian working class prior to 1922. It then studies reports and editorials that discussed the economic and social situation in ?zmir in the years 1923 to 1926, after the Turkish victory and forced migration of her Christian population. Over the course of these years, ?zmir experienced a serious economic crisis, and bread prices reached levels that led to widespread undernourishment and hunger among the city?s poor. Agricultural production was lagging behind pre-war levels, and positive effects of ‘Turkification? policies were failing to materialize. By analyzing the contemporary journalists? attempts at explaining the crisis, but also pointing out national and transnational factors that they were probably unaware of, the article makes an original contribution to the economic and social history of early republican Turkey.     

Turkish foreign policy as an anomaly: revisionism and irredentism through diplomacy in the 1930s

This article discusses why Turkey persisted in diplomacy in the pursuit of a proactive foreign policy during the 1930s while use of force and unilateral action were the popular alternatives. Accordingly, first, the prevailing literature will be examined outlining five primary foreign policy practices of the time, namely, revisionism, irredentism, bandwagoning, appeasement and isolationism. The article will then discuss the foreign policy preference of Turkey which stands as an anomaly in comparison to its contemporaries, focusing on two main cases: Turkey’s reacquisition of the Straits and the accession of Alexandretta. After analysing the underlying factors behind Turkey’s persistent attachment to multilateral and bilateral diplomacy, the article will conclude by applying the term ‘Holder of Balance’ to Turkish foreign policy in the 1930s. Overall, it is argued that the Great Depression attributed a new role to Turkey, the holder of European balance, enabling partnership with both aggressors and appeasers and thus facilitating the settlement of disputes through diplomacy.     

‘Is the Turk a White Man?’ Towards a Theoretical Framework for Race in the Making of Turkishness

Drawing on critical whiteness studies, this article explores the role of race in the formation and maintenance of Turkish identity. The aim is to make connections across time (between contemporary Turkey and its past), space (placing the Turkish experience within a transnational context), and theoretical perspectives (investigating questions arising from the framework of whiteness within the context of Turkey). I argue that the literature of nationalism alone cannot illuminate the significance of racial vocabularies in early republican (1923–50) and contemporary Turkey. In criticizing current approaches that ignore the reality of race in Turkey, this article proposes a theoretical perspective in which race and whiteness emerge as a decisive component of Turkish modernity. Taking race seriously not only helps us to understand the Turkish experience of modernization but also extends theories of race. The article presents the manifestations of racial vocabularies in terms of immutability and chromatism as embedded in Turkish identity.     

Policy Transfer and Discursive De-Europeanisation: Higher Education from Bologna to Turkey

Abstract

This article analyses Turkey’s integration into the Bologna Process, concentrating on the questions of why and how Turkey is transferring norms in the area of higher education. As an example of policy transfer, the Bologna Process provides important insights into the question of why states choose to voluntarily adopt norms where there is no top-down pressure for change. Focusing on Turkey as a case study, the article identifies the narratives of the agents of change responsible for the reform process. The agents are the intermediaries in the Europeanisation process – they construct the discourses and they are the ones responsible for transmitting the process to the society at large. The article concludes that while institutional Europeanisation is taking place in the area of higher education, discursive Europeanisation is lacking.     

The social relevance of knowledge: Science and the formation of modern Iran, 1910s–40s

Turkish area studies in the US developed in parallel with the diplomatic rapprochement between Turkey and the US after the Second World War. This article scrutinizes the relation between Turkish studies and American public diplomacy in Turkey with special emphasis on the latter. Unlike cultural programmes in Europe, which focused on satisfying intellectuals' taste for high culture, in Turkey the concentration of the cultural activities was on bureaucrats, educators and technical personnel. The article argues that this was because of a modernization approach and the priority given to the needs of US aid programmes. Following the revolutions in Asia, the programme was further oriented to strengthen the collaboration between Americans and the technocratic elites of Turkey.     

Turkey's Hydropolitics: Building Order in the Middle East

Water resources have evolved into a major tool for expanding a country's regional influence. The dynamic interactions of hydraulics strategies have thus been regarded as critical factors in Middle Eastern politics. As Turkey controls upstream water resources in the region, this study attempts to answer this question: What goals does Turkey pursue with its water-control policy? The article demonstrates that Turkey is seeking to become the dominant power in the Middle East by regulating hydropolitics.     

Citizenship Rights of Gypsies in Turkey: Roma and Dom Communities

This article compares two different Gypsy communities, the Roma community in Edirne and the Dom community in Diyarbak?r, in terms of their access to citizenship rights (civil, social, political and cultural). The main argument is that in Turkey the Roma community has more access to citizenship rights than the Dom community due to the fact that the Roma community lives with Turks, the ethnic majority in Turkey, whereas the Dom community lives with Kurds, who are the majority in Diyarbak?r but a minority group in Turkey. Further, the Roma community has closer connections with state and transnational space. The article explains how for both communities ethnicity is a common barrier to benefiting from full citizenship rights and why the equality principle of citizenship is ruptured for both communities.     

From military tutelage to civilian control: an analysis of the evolution of Turkish civil–military relations

ABSTRACT

The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) have been the main discussion topic in the political arena over the last decade in Turkey, with a focus on curtailing military supervision over political life. This article investigates the evolution of civil–military relations (CMR) in Turkey. Thus, the aim of this study is to explore the factors and dynamics that have led to the development and realignment of CMR in Turkey. The focus will be on how military tutelage in Turkey has been ended, what factors have caused this and finally whether Turkish CMR have been normalized.     

From Mosaic to Ebru: Conviviality in Multi-ethnic,Multi-faith Burgazadası, Istanbul

This paper provides an understanding of changing diversity in Burgazadas? within the post-Ottoman, homogenising context of Turkey. It critiques conceptualisations of ‘culture as difference’ within the multiculturalism discourse in Europe and of coexistence as the reduction of differences and identities to pre-existing categories of the Ottoman millet system. Instead, it presents post-Ottoman conviviality as a lived practice and grassroots representation of recognised and unrecognised diversities by contextualising the production of differences and changing discourses of pluralism. The article demonstrates that individuals belonging to different groups can come to share similar values based on longstanding attachment to place and everyday practices, thereby representing themselves, in this case, as ‘Burgazl?’.     

Northern Iraq

This article is about Western perceptions of Turkey at different periods. Following the “Young Turks” Revolution in 1908, British-Ottoman relations came under increasing strain as the logic of the Triple Entente played through. It also set British/German rivalry in a new context, captured by John Buchan in his celebrated novel “Greenmantle”. Present day Turkey is changing fast, developing socially and economically, while internationally it has become a regional player and a sort of ideological beacon for emerging Arab democracies. Yet, internally, some fear growing authoritarianism, while the situation in Syria means that any choices that Turkey makes will have consequences and costs. But the choices will be made by Turkey, not by outsiders. That is the measure of the progress already achieved.     

The Future of Energy Security for Europe: Turkey's Role as an Energy Corridor

The question of energy security is one of the main concerns for the future of Europe because of the growing dependency of the European countries on third parties, namely Russia, for natural gas. The future of European energy security will be shaped by the EU's dependence on Russia and its ability to find alternative sources of energy as well as multiple routes of transport. Turkey's location between the major energy producers in the Caspian and the major energy consumers in Europe has increased Turkey's potential role as the transit country. The article addresses the Turkish role in the transport of resources from the Caspian region to the European territory. As the Caspian region's resources provide a viable alternative for the EU to diversify its energy suppliers, Turkey emerges as a major hub for energy transport and assumes a greater role in the future of energy security. This article investigates the future challenges to the transport of natural gas into Europe and the role that Turkey will acquire as a transit country, largely replacing Ukraine. The article addresses the following questions: (i) what is Turkey's potential role for energy security in Europe? (ii) what kind of challenges emerge with the increased role for Turkey in European energy routes? (iii) what are the main sources of tension over energy security? The main proposition of the article is that Turkey plays a critical role for the EU's energy security, decreasing its reliance on Russia specifically for the transport of natural gas.     

Proliferation of neopatrimonial domination in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Literature on Turkey’s post-2011 authoritarian turn – especially after the eruption of the 2013 nationwide Gezi Protests – adopts modern concepts such as ‘dictatorship’, ‘authoritarianism’, ‘totalitarianism’, ‘one-party government’, ‘party-state fusion’, and even ‘fascism’ mainly in order to pin down the nature of the Justice and Development Party (AKP, Turkish acronym) or depict the current character of Turkey’s regime. Through engaging the pre-modern concept of neopatrimonialism, which is derived from Max Weber’s concept of patrimonialism, this paper argues that Turkey’s encounter with authoritarianism is deeply associated with the proliferation of neopatrimonial domination, into which the legacy of patronage politics, fracture of security power, and the metastasis of crony capitalism have been conflated. This article argues that neopatrimonial features have always, to a degree, marked state-society relations in Turkey. Furthermore, this article suggests neopatrimonial characteristics started to dominate Turkey’s modern legal structure under the AKP, which led to a state crisis culminating in the 2016 attempted coup. However, despite the fact that neopatrimonialism cannot be argued as a pathological deviation from modern-legal domination, this paper concludes that tension exists between the crony capitalism-based economic model of neopatrimonalism and Turkey’s decades-long market-based capitalism.     

Unexpected Persistence Amidst Enlargement Stasis: Usages of Europe in Turkey’s Nuclear Energy Debate

Recent studies on European Union (EU) Enlargement have emphasised the importance of usages of ‘Europe’ by domestic actors as a necessary condition for the EU to have an impact on domestic politics. We study the usages of Europe in the critical case of Turkey’s nuclear energy policy. We analyse the narratives and actions of domestic actors in Turkey to identify if they use ‘Europe’ (the EU and the idea of Europe). We reach the counter-intuitive finding of usages by both state and non-state actors, which illustrates that usages of Europe can persist despite enlargement stasis in candidate states.     

A New Kind of Mission: The Volunteer Graduate Scheme and the Cultural History of International Development

This article contributes to the cultural history of humanitarianism and international development by tracing the origins of development volunteering programs, which are a key point of public interaction with foreign aid and international development. Australia's Voluntary Graduate Scheme was established in 1951. This article traces the program's first decade, tracing its interactions with postcolonial politics, international development policy, and colonial discourses and missionary Christianity, and situating it within the geopolitical contexts of Australian‐Indonesian relations, Asian decolonisation and the Cold War. It concludes by tracing VGS's influence on subsequent programs including Britain's VSO and the United States Peace Corps, revealing the significance of the Volunteer Graduate Scheme to the history of humanitarianism and international development.