The Turkey Analyst

22 February 2008

Editorial: Launching the Turkey Analyst
The CACI & SRSP Joint Center is pleased to launch the Turkey Analyst, a biweekly publication devoted to Turkey's domestic and foreign policies. It is launched at a time of increased tension in and around Turkey, with the purpose to provide western policy-makers with improved analysis and news reporting on developments in Turkey.

Turkey in 2007: Key Developments
In 2007, Turkey experienced many significant political, economic and social devlopments. Many of the troubles making headlines in 2008 build on political controversies in 2007. Click here for a recapitulation of the past year's events in Turkey, focusing on the growing controversies over the election of a president, the early elections helad this summer, and U.S.-Turkish relations over the Northern Iraq issue and the PKK.

Can Turkey's Regime Crisis be Defused?
The Turkish Parliament’s landmark decision to change the constitution and lift the ban on Islamic headscarves in the universities represents a symbolic watershed in the history of the Turkish republic. It has polarized Turkey as perhaps never before and plunged the country into a crisis from which it will be extremely difficult to extricate without deep convulsions.

News Digest
Excerpt of headlines:

- Operation Against Ultra-Nationalists
- PM Erdogan Said The Headscarf Is Not Exploitation; It Is A Right
- Kurdist Deputy Offered Confederation In Meeting In Diyarbakir
- University Rectors Oppose Headscarf While The Amendment Is Processing
- Increase In Turkey’s Exports
- Constitutional Changes On The Agenda Of The World Press
- Erdogan And Armenian Foreign Minister Okasyan Debate In Munich Security Conference
- Erdogan Criticized Eu Of Insincerity In Struggle Against Pkk
- All Eyes On President Gul For Islamic Headscarf Freedom At Universities
- Erdogan Slams Newspapers For Publishing Pictures Of “Naked Women”
- Erdogan Turns His Fire On Secularist Newspapers
- US General Discusses Pkk Terrorism
President Gul Calls On All To Revive Eu Reform Process
- US Vice President To Visit Turkey In March
- Demonstration In Hakkari
- Palestinian Foreign Minister In Ankara
- Everyone Waits For Gul’s Decision On Headscarf
- Baykal: Turkey Is Turning Into A Middle Eastern Country
- Joint Plan For The Return Of The Pkk Militants
- Palestinian Foreign Minister Held Discussions In Ankara
- Erdogan Thanks Putin For Northern Cyprus Statement
- Azerbaijani Press: Pkk Is Settling In Karabakh
- Military Brings Islamic Headscarf Issue To The Agenda Of National Security Council.

Click here to view entire news digest

The Turkey Analyst
The Turkey Analyst is a publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Joint Center, designed to bring authoritative analysis and news on the rapidly developing domestic and foreign policy issues in Turkey. It is published weekly, and includes a topical analysis, as well as translations and summaries of selected Turkish news reports. It is edited and compiled under the supervision of Svante E. Cornell, Halil M. Karaveli, and M. K. Kaya.

The analyses appearing in the Turkey Analyst are unsigned, being the consensus view of the three Editors. The Turkey Analyst occasionally publishes signed guest analyses, which are normally solicited.

The Joint Center
The Joint Center was created in 2005 through the merger of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, and the Silk Road Studies Program, at the Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development Policy.

The Turkey Initiative
The Joint Center launched a Turkey Initiative in 2006 in order to improve understand of Turkish domestic and foreign affairs in Europe and the United States.

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