The Turkey Analyst

Vol. 4 no. 21, 7 November 2011

ANALYSIS

The Latest KCK Arrests: One Step Closer To Breaking Point
Gareth H. Jenkins
On November 1, 2011, a court in Istanbul formally charged 23 suspects with membership of the Union of Communities of Kurdistan (KCK), an umbrella organization controlled by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and ordered that they be imprisoned pending trial. The suspects included Professor Büşra Ersanlı, a respected academic from Istanbul’s Marmara University, and Ragıp Zarakolu, a prominent publisher and human rights activist. The decision to arrest Ersanlı and Zarakolu is another blow to already fading hopes that the AKP government’s new appetite for confrontation will be replaced by a desire to solve the Kurdish problem through dialogue and conciliation.

Turkish Foreign Policy in Evolution
Richard Weitz
Turkish government representatives insist that they want to develop good ties in all directions, and consider these relations non-exclusive. Turkish officials describe their country as a bridge among these neighboring blocs and civilizations. They emphasize their newfound commitment to convey Western liberal democratic values to the newly emerging democracies that are slowly displacing the traditionally authoritarian countries of the Middle East. Turks would ideally like their country to become a diplomatic and energy bridge that connects Europe to the Middle East, Iran to the West, and the Black Sea to the Mediterranean in ways that would enhance Ankara’s leverage by making Turkey a pivotal state and an indispensable partner to its neighbors.

What the Columnists Say
The recent imprisonment of prominent leftist intellectuals, among them Professor Büşra Ersanlı, a constitutional expert who is a member of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), accused of aiding the terrorist activities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has sent shockwaves through Turkey’s liberal intelligentsia. Liberal commentators, who have been strongly supportive of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), have found the arrests inexplicable and chocking. Meanwhile, leading conservative commentators remarked that the liberals and the conservatives are now parting ways; the conservatives claim that the liberals fail to understand that the state has a legitimate right to combat terrorism. Liberals in turn retort that “terrorism” is once again serving as a pretext for circumscribing the freedom of expression and they warn that the old, authoritarian habits of the Turkish state are being revived.

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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.

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