The Turkey Analyst

Vol. 1 no. 4, 9 April 2008

ANALYSIS

What Animates Turkey's secular Opposition?
As the confrontation in Turkey over secularism deepens, the psychology and dynamics of the secular opposition need to be better understood. The seculars are animated by the perceived need to defend an identity, which lends the stand-off an intractable character. Democracy risks being imperiled if the  moderate Islamist AKP government abstains from taking decisive steps to allay what amounts to existential fears – be they exaggerated or not – of the seculars.


Turkey and the EU: Beyond the Cyprus Imbroglio
In December 2006, citing Turkey’s refusal to extend its customs union to Cyprus, EU Foreign Ministers suspended talks on eight of the thirty-five negotiation chapters in Turkey’s accession negotiations. But the importance of Cyprus has been overblown: Cyprus was only the superficial reason for the ‘slowdown’ decision. Both parties to the accession talks in fact needed to gain time and tend to internal matters. What does the current Turkish turmoil imply for the Cyprus issue and the broader future of Turkey’s EU accession negotiations?


NEWS DIGEST: THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

I. Domestic Politics
Summary: The reverberations of the court case to close down the ruling AKP dominated Turkish domestic news. The AKP at first reacted vehemently, only to gradually tone down its rhetoric. Meanwhile, foreign press and politicians’ reactions to the case, overwhelmingly negative in nature, received widespread coverage.  Click here for full digest.

II. Foreign Relations
Summary: The EU’s reaction to Turkey’s turmoil was a leading issue, with EU ambassadors seeking to calm down the AKP and make it adopt a less unilateralist approach to governance. The European Court of Justice’s decision to strike down the EU inclusion of the PKK on its list of terrorist groups also was widely reported.Click here for full 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, created in 2005, is the product of 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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