The Turkey Analyst

Vol. 2 no. 21, 23 November 2009

ANALYSIS

The AKP, Seeking to Reinvent Turkey, is Forced to Tread Carefully
M. K. Kaya
With its Kurdish opening, the Turkish government has set out to reinvent Turkey, in order to secure the integrity of the state and consolidate society. The AKP is succeeding in reaching out to the Kurds. However, the opening is being met with stiff opposition from Turkish nationalists, and the AKP will ignore that opposition at its own peril. The Kurdish imperative also plays an important if hidden role behind some of Turkey’s recent, controversial foreign policy initiatives.

Defense against Documents: The Turkish Military's Rearguard Action
Gareth Jenkins
The publication in the Turkish media of another slew of documents allegedly containing plans by elements in the Turkish General Staff (TGS) to stage a series of violent attacks and destabilize the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has once again raised tensions between the military and the civilian authorities. The authenticity of the documents has been hotly disputed. But what it is clear is that – regardless of whether or not they are genuine – the frequency with which such documents are now appearing in certain sections of the Turkish media is forcing the Turkish military onto the defensive and reducing its ability to exercise political influence.

What the Columnists Say
Turkey’s political atmosphere remains highly tense. The government’s “Kurdish opening”, which was debated in the parliament, (and which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan re-baptized “an opening for national unity”) continues to be assailed by the nationalist opposition parties.  A landmark statement by Onur Öymen, the deputy chairman of the Republican people’s party (CHP), in defense of the crushing of the rebellion of Alevi Kurds in the Dersim region in 1937 (where tens of thousands of civilians perished at the hands of the military), set the tone of the parliamentary debate and was widely commented. Moreover, media reports that the government has ordered the conversations of several senior magistrates suspected of being involved in coup schemes tapped – an allegation that was vehemently denied by the Prime Minister – served as a new reminder of the power struggle that rages within the state establishment. The publication by the daily Taraf of yet another alleged blueprint for a coup, this one allegedly prepared at the headquarters of the Navy. It contained detailed accounts of planned terror schemes among other to assassinate non-Muslims in order to blame the crimes on Islamists with the intention of undermining the AKP government. The publication led liberal commentators to conclude that powerful forces within the military are still resisting its relegation from the pinnacle of state power. 

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NEW Silk Road Paper published

Between Fact and Fantasy: Turkey's Ergenekon Investigation, by Gareth H. Jenkins, August 2009.


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.

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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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