Turkish politics roundup (1): Referendum and judiciary

ŞAHİN ALPAY – Referendum to further consolidate democracy

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (front C) attends a meeting with his party officials at his ruling Justice and Development Party headquarters in Ankara July 16, 2010.? Read more » REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Can pro-status quo group defeat the public?

Are you a supporter of Sept. 12 military coup?

FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK – Naysayers? opposition hard to understand

EMRE USLU – Basics of the Turkish political system: identity

From the very beginning until today Turkey has been experiencing an identity crisis. The question of ?Who are we?? has never been properly addressed by intellectuals or accepted by society.

EMRE USLU – Basics of the Turkish political system: society

With so many foreigners now paying more attention to Turkey but getting lost in the nonsensical political tug of war between the forces, I decided to write a series of articles in an attempt to explain the basics of the Turkish political system and to show the root causes of the divisions. As part of the series, I first examined the foundation of the state in the last article. Today I would like to examine the society. I do not want to repeat information that can be found on Wikipedia here. Instead, I will try to highlight the points that cause confrontation and turmoil in politics.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the audience as he stands in front of portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, himself and the Turkish flag during a meeting with his party officials at his ruling Justice and Development Party headquarters in Ankara July 16, 2010.? Read more » REUTERS/Umit Bektas

EMRE USLU – Basics of the Turkish political system: politics

One interesting childhood memory I have is my father?s passion for listening to news. My father, a farmer in a remote corner of the country who never went to school, took me with him when he needed to water our orchards.

EMRE USLU – Basics of the Turkish political system

An American friend of mine who is interested in learning a lot about Turkey recently asked me a question. The more he learns, the more he gets confused.

Pro-secular Turks hold a national flag with a poster of modern Turkey’s founder Kemal Ataturk as they demonstrate in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday, July 10, 2010, two days after Turkey’s highest court had given the go-ahead for a September referendum on a series of government-backed constitutional reforms. Turkey’s pro-secular opposition vowed to campaign for a ‘no’ vote in a September referendum on constitutional reforms that it fears will increase the Islamic-oriented government’s power over the judiciary.? Read more » (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

KLAUS JURGENS – Turkey?s Constitutional Court: heeding Bismarck or Galbraith?

John Kenneth Galbraith, a leading economist who passed away in 2006, famously said that ?politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.?

AK Party?s strength stems from its services

Do you remember the figures Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan mentioned during a meeting of his party?s provincial chairmen last week regarding the accomplishments of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) over its seven-and-a-half-year-long term?

Why Turkey?s government will lose at the next election

It is now a year at most until Turkey must go to the polls in a general election. Contrary to the fears of those who believe the current AKP government is engineering an era of undemocratic hegemony, there is every likelihood that the next election will see the party?s grip on power weakened, if not broken, by a return to coalition government. If that is what transpires, it will be a valuable demonstration that the country?s democratic levers still function. But it will come at a price. We should not take for granted the benefits that have flowed from the relative stability of Turkey?s government and economy over the past decade.

FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK – Turkey eyes referendum to deal a blow to coup Constitution