Wrestling With Identity, Religion, and Values in a Changing Turkey
Vol. 16 No. 4 - Winter 2018

From the Desk of the EditorWednesday, March 21, 2018
Since the founding of the Turkish Republic, competing conceptions of Turkish identity have existed. Among many examples, the role of Islam has been contested, Kurdish and Turkish nationalisms have clashed, and various identity-based movements have...

• Süreya Martha Köprülü

The Syrian Conflict and The Crisis of Islamist Nationalism in TurkeyWednesday, March 21, 2018
The 79th anniversary of Atatürk’s passing on 10 November 2017 meant more than a routine official commemoration of the founder of the Republic, once Recep Tayyip Erdoğan praised Atatürk with the following words the same day: Our...

• Cenk Saraçoğlu

The Revival of Ottomanism in Turkish Foreign Policy: “The World is Greater than Five” Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Turkey is a country which has undertaken revolutionary political experiments. Under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), the new Republic aimed towards civilizational change, as the country endeavored to join the Western club of nations by...

• Umut Uzer

Educating Turkey’s Students For Their Future, Not Our PastWednesday, March 21, 2018
The priority of the wider international community is to reconcile the needs and interests of individuals, communitie,s and nations within an equitable framework based on open borders, free markets and sustainability. But where disruption brings a...

• Andreas Schleicher

Headed East: Turkey’s Education SystemWednesday, March 21, 2018
In February 2012, then Prime Minister Erdoğan embarked on a wholesale reform of Turkey’s education system, and uttered the now famous statement that his government was aiming at “raising pious generations.”[1] The government hastily...

• Svante E. Cornell

Secularism and Atheism in the Turkish Public SphereWednesday, March 21, 2018
“Invisibility” was what political scientist Binnaz Toprak and her research group emphasized in their report about “neighborhood pressure” on secular groups in selected Anatolian cities. After conducting face-to-face interviews...

• Umut Azak

Dutch-Turkish Identity: A Very Dutch AffairWednesday, March 21, 2018
One of the largest Turkish diaspora groups in Europe and the largest ethnic minority group in the Netherlands, Dutch Turks and their identity have been increasingly problematized against a rightward shift in the Dutch integration debate over the last...

• Yörük Bahçeli

Shaping Peace Processes: A Comparison Between Turkey and ColombiaWednesday, March 21, 2018
From Africa to Asia and the Middle East to Latin America, the world has experienced many peace attempts. Each peace process has its own roots, problems, and dimensions. However, while some processes end up terminating the conflict, other processes...

• Mehmet Özkan

Gender Politics and GONGOs in TurkeyWednesday, March 21, 2018
The leaders of the Turkish state have always had a specific image for the ideal Turkish woman, who is in essence a mother and a wife. This image is embraced by all segments of Turkish society. Groups that would be expected to have different values,...

• Çağla Diner

How Can Akşener’s İyİ Partİ Contribute to Turkey’s Democracy?Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Despite Turkey’s experience with a multi-party system since the 1950s, the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) excessive electoral gains since 2002 together with the most recent failed coup in July 2016, the subsequent state of...

• Ödül Celep

Social Repression in a Democracy: The Case of TunisiaWednesday, March 21, 2018
As the birthplace of the Arab Spring, Tunisia underwent an impressive democratization process after the Jasmine Revolution and the overthrow of President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. A Constituent Assembly was formed in October of the...

• Guillaume Allusson