The Turkey Analyst

Vol. 4 no. 15, 15 August 2011

ANALYSIS

Turkey and Syria: A Parting of Ways
Richard Weitz
The turmoil in Syria threatens to deprive Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of one of its most significant foreign policy achievements. Since coming to power in 2002, the AKP has achieved a remarkable improvement in relations with Syria as part of its general goal of “zero problems with neighbors” that underpins its foreign policy. Now the upheaval in Syria is straining ties not only between Ankara and Damascus but also between Turkey and Iran. In addition, Turkey could suffer massive economic loses, increased threats to its border and internal security, and a more complicated regional Kurdish problem.

Beyond Memory and Imagination: Civil-Military Relations and Turkey's New Authoritarianism
Gareth H. Jenkins
The resignations on July 29, 2011, of the Turkish chief of staff and all three force commanders are without precedent in modern Turkish history. They were portrayed in the most of the international media as the military’s final admission of defeat in a long-running political power struggle with the civilian government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). In reality, any contest for power had long since been decided in favour of the AKP.  The resignations were a product of the period that followed – not preceded or accompanied – the AKP’s assertion of supremacy; namely, a protest against what the military regarded as the AKP’s abuse of its monopoly of political power to persecute and imprison hundreds of members of the officer corps.

What the Columnists Say
The specter of a possible Turkish involvement in neighboring Syria haunts many of the recent commentaries in the Turkish press. Generally, the Turkish commentators tend to look very unfavorably at the prospect of Turkey getting militarily involved in Syria. With a few exceptions, conservative columnists close to the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), as well as most others, express great reluctance, indeed opposition. The conservatives are confident that the government will not embark on a policy that they hold would ruin Turkey’s standing in the region. The second major topic that dominates the political agenda is the escalating Kurdish issue. A noticeable shift has taken place after the recent attacks of the Kurdish guerillas, with liberal, democratic Turkish intellectuals increasingly turning against the Kurdish movement which they accuse of replicating the authoritarian modes of Kemalism.

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 write to info@silkroadstudies.org with an email containing "subscribe Turkey Analyst" in the subject line.