How to successfully convert your democratic country into a dictatorship
Do you suffer from terrible headaches caused by your democracy? Are you tired of different people speaking their minds openly and shamelessly and making you look bad?
Tagged Turkey
The Eastern Mediterranean arc of fire and Europe*
Geography and history, modern and older, internal fault lines as well as external interventions, have given rise to a perfect storm in the Eastern Mediterranean. In an arc of fire that stretches from Libya to Syria and can be extrapolated further North, all the way to Russia and Ukraine, a series of conflicts have made this an area of particular instability, for the world as a whole and more immediately for nearby Europe…
Turkey: A case of Stockholm Syndrome
By Deniz Torcu
On November 1st, Turkey voted for the second time in five months. The Islamist right-wing AKP managed to increase its votes by a margin of nearly 10% and, thus, secured nearly 50% of the votes, whilst the…
Deadly blasts hit Turkey
Ankara, the capital of Turkey, was hit on Saturday, 10 October by two deadly blasts leaving 95 people dead and 245 injured. A pro-Kurdish political party, whose members were among those killed in the blasts, puts the death toll at 128, 120 of whom allegedly have already been identified.
The never-ending struggle of Syrian refugees
By Deniz Torcu
When I was working for a UNESCO Commission in Turkey a couple of years ago, we had started receiving dozens of phone calls from the Southern Turkish border with Syria, from refugees desperately trying to get in touch with some authority that could help them get settled in a camp or help them get to the EU
What is going on in Turkey?
By Deniz Torcu
Hosting nearly 2 million Syrian refugees and serving as the crossing point into the European Union for many other hundreds of thousands, with unfortunate tragedies occurring on a daily basis, Turkey’s domestic unrest has been out of the spotlight for the past few weeks. Recently, the conflict with the PKK has brought Turkey’s domestic situation back to the spotlight, namely in the city of Cizre in recent days. As strategically important as ever, the current disarray in the country is even more relevant to the rest of the European Union. In the general elections earlier this June, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was dealt some harsh blows. Having lost the absolute…
Turkey goes on the offensive against ISIS
On 5 August, Turkey formally announced its readiness to step up attacks against the Islamic State during a meeting of the Turkish Foreign Minister with his US counterpart. The move came against the backdrop of escalating tensions on the Turkish side of the Syrian border.
Sultan no more
With 99 per cent of the Turkish election results out, it is clear that President Erdoğan’s AKP party has failed to secure the necessary parliamentary seats to singlehandedly change the constitution, initiate a referendum, or even form the next government. Mr. Erdoğan’s plans for amending the constitution and turning Turkey into a presidential republic with him at the help seem to have suffered a fatal blow. More than a defeat for Mr. Erdoğan, though, this is a victory for democracy in Turkey.
Turkey’s AKP party loses majority in surprise result
It was surely a night to remember for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AKP party. The ruling party is set to lose its majority in the Turkish Parliament. Ever since he took office in 2014, and even as Prime Minister before, President Erdoğan has been looking to boost his powers, hoping to turn Turkey into a presidential republic. The results of the 7 June vote sink Erdoğan’s ambitions, as he suffers probably the biggest setback in 13 years of high-level politics. His power-hungry move, reinforced Islamization and eagerness to expand his reach appear to have alienated many voters who perceive Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a threat to a secular and democratic state
Parliamentary elections in Turkey: The end of the beginning or the beginning of the end
By Yanni Gigourtsis
A few hours separate us from perhaps the most critical elections in Turkey since the establishment of the multiparty parliamentary system in the late 1940s. Once again, as in the last 15 years, the protagonist in this year’s election–as it should not, at first reading – is the country’s President and, for many years, Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In the 7 June elections, however, the stakes are higher for the political future of the Turkish President. It is the future of the country and the course it will take in the coming decades that will be decided. Let me explain.
