The Turkey Analyst

Vol. 4 no. 4, 21 February 2011

ANALYSIS

Turkey’s Polarized Climate Complicates Efforts to Deal with Past and Present Authoritarianism
Halil M. Karaveli
In the deeply polarized climate that pervades Turkish society, it has become near-impossible to stake out an ideological terrain that would enable the country to come to terms with an authoritarianism that is in fact a generalized phenomenon haunting the country. There is a compulsion to take sides either for the AKP or for the generals, who are convicted or acquitted depending on political preferences. Liberal values, on the other hand, risk being sacrificed as Turkey neglects to take a comprehensive look at its authoritarian past and present.

Would Appointing a Turkish Diplomat to Head the OSCE Secretariat Help Anchor Turkey in the West?
Richard Weitz
Several developments are making Turkey’s role in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) increasingly prominent. The Turkish government is strongly backing a Turkish national for the position of OSCE Secretary-General, the organization’s most important currently vacant position. In addition, Turkey’s compliance with the OSCE’s so-called human dimension has come under attack, especially due to the government’s restrictions on media freedoms. Furthermore, Turkey is playing a prominent role in several OSCE security issues, including efforts to revive the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty as well as resolve the protracted conflicts in the former Soviet republics, including in several countries near Turkey.

What the Columnists Say
The imprisonment of one hundred and sixty three military officers, among whom thirty active duty generals and admirals accused of having plotted to overthrow the AKP government, and the subsequent arrests of three anti-AKP journalists has once again revealed the fractures of Turkish society. Most commentators tend to interpret the recent developments in accordance with their political preferences and prejudices; they either take it for granted that the generals and other anti-government figures who are being brought before justice  are guilty as charged, or alternately that the allegations against them are altogether unfounded and fabricated. Meanwhile, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s statement that he wants to join Ergenekon, the alleged “deep state” organization that has purportedly sought to subvert the AKP government, has been widely commented. Liberal commentators worry that the CHP is offering the AKP a free ride as the party that protects democracy when it rallies to the cause of military authoritarianism which repels a vast majority of the population.

RECENT ISSUES: CLICK HERE FOR ARCHIVES

NEW Silk Road Paper published

Reconciling Statism with Freedom: Turkey's Kurdish Opening
by Halil M. Karaveli, October 2010.



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 by Halil M. Karaveli.

The Turkey Analyst welcomes article submissions.

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.

To Subscribe:
To subscribe to the Turkey Analyst email announcements, please contact Martina Klimesova with an email containing "subscribe Turkey Analyst" in the subject line.