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Erdogan’s Volatile Authoritarianism: Tactical Ploy or Strategic Vision?

In recent months, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made a string of highly controversial public statements which appear indicative of an authoritarian mindset… Continue reading

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What the Sledgehammer Sentence Mean

The sentences in the Sledgehammer trial demonstrate the subjugation of the military to civilian, democratic, legal authority… Continue reading

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The Changing Objects of Fear: The Arrest of Ilker Basbug

In the early hours of January 6, General İlker Başbuğ, chief of the Turkish General Staff from 2008 to 2010, was arrested and imprisoned on allegations of “founding or directing an armed terrorist organization, inciting the overthrow of the government of the Turkish Republic or the prevention of it fulfilling its duties”… Continue reading

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Beyond Memory and Imagination: Civil-Military Relations and Turkey’s New Authoritarianism

The resignations on July 29, 2011, of the Turkish chief of staff and all three force commanders are without precedent in… Continue reading

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Turkish Military High Command, Armed Forces Takes A Step Toward Islamism

Compare the election results from voters in the Turkish army general staff to that of the overall population… Continue reading

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Whither Turkey-U.S. Arms Sales?

Turkey’s recent decision to spend billions of dollars buying U.S.-made helicopters underscores the continuing significance of… Continue reading

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Is the AKP that “Vanquished” the Military Caught in the Trap of Militarism?

There is a grim irony to the fact that while the AKP’s 2007 victory represented a defeat for the military, victory four years later requires… Continue reading

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Will the Arab Uprisings Result in the Emergence of a Sunni Bloc Dominated by Turkey?

Against the background of the fall of the autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, the massive demonstrations in Yemen, Syria and Bahrain… Continue reading

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Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu: “We Need to Hinder the Despotic Ambitions of AKP”

In this exclusive interview for Turkish Policy Quarterly, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu outlines his views and his Party’s position on the pressing foreign policy choices Turkey faces… Continue reading

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Turkey Remains an “Angry Nation” but could still serve as a Democratic Inspiration

Turkey remains an “Angry nation”, tormented by the many ghosts of its history, some of which still lurk in the shadows. Its political system… Continue reading

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Squaring the Circle: The PKK Return to Violence and Turkey’s Intractable Kurdish Problem

On February 28, 2011, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced that it was abrogating its unilateral ceasefire first declared on… Continue reading

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Turkey’s Polarized Climate Complicates Efforts to Deal with Past and Present Authoritarianism

In the deeply polarized climate that pervades Turkish society, it has become near-impossible to stake out an ideological terrain that… Continue reading

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WikiLeaks: Kurdish Leader Discusses 2009 Turkish Local Elections

In an April 22 roundtable at Chatham House on Turkey’s recent elections, Kurdish political leader Ahmet Türk gave prepared remarks and took… Continue reading

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WikiLeaks: Turkey Used as Base to Transport Terrorism Suspects

Turkey allowed the US to use its airbase at Incirlik in southern Turkey as part of the “extraordinary rendition” programme to take suspected terrorists to Guantánamo Bay… Continue reading

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The Devil in the Detail: Turkey’s Ergenekon Investigation Enters a Fourth Year

July 10, 2010 marks the second anniversary of the publication of the first indictment in what has become known as the Ergenekon case. A total of over 600 suspects have been detained… Continue reading

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Turkey’s Regime Marches Toward Islamism

More evidence piles up every day that the Turkish government is moving toward radical Islamism yet Western policymakers pretend it merely combines a nice flavor of moderate Islam combined with democracy… Continue reading