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Not a “Slip of the Tongue”: Only “One Religion” Is Recognized as the Basis of the Turkish State

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently expressed allegiance to “one nation, one flag, one religion, one state”… Continue reading

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Will Erdogan be Elected President in 2012, Two Years Earlier than Anticipated?

Turkey may be headed toward an unexpected presidential election in August 2012, as the Constitutional Court is set to rule on the constitutionality of a temporary law… Continue reading

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Explaining Turkey’s Nuclear Policies

Despite its challenging neighborhood, Turkey has an exemplary nuclear nonproliferation record… Continue reading

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The General who Staged the 1980 Coup is Put on Trial, But His Legacy Reigns Supreme

The trial of the two surviving members of the junta that seized power on September 12, 1980, in a coup that altered Turkey’s course, is an historic event, but… Continue reading

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Remolding Compulsory Education, the AKP Erases a Secularist Legacy – and Seeks to Check the Gülen Brotherhood

The passage of the bill that remolds compulsory education in Turkey erases the legacy of the secularist military intervention fifteen years ago… Continue reading

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Reinventing a Broken Wheel: The AKP’s ‘New’ Kurdish Strategy

On 21 March 2012, Turkish government officials began briefing trusted journalists on what they described as the new strategy of the ruling AKP for solving the country’s long-running Kurdish problem… Continue reading

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The Syrian Uprising: Turkish-Syrian Relations Go Downhill

As Syria sinks deeper and deeper into the throes of civil war, the decade-long honeymoon between Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party and Bashar al-Assad’s regime has all but ended… Continue reading

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China-Turkey Summit: Economic Enticements Overshadow Differences

The decision of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to visit Turkey along with Ireland and the United States during his ten-day world tour before becoming president in about a year underscores the importance Turkey holds for China’s leaders… Continue reading

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No Escape from Authoritarianism? Turkey Suffers from the Lack of a Constituency for Liberal Change

Turkey’s old habits of state authoritarianism persist under the rule of the AKP… Continue reading

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The Snake that Doesn’t Touch Me: Turkey’s Special Authority Courts

In response to increasing international concern about controversial cases such as Ergenekon, Sledgehammer and KCK, the AKP has repeatedly insisted that the judicial system is independent and that there is nothing that it can do… Continue reading

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The Big Split: The Differences that led Erdoğan and the Gülenists to Part Ways

A power struggle between the AKP and the Gülen movement is unraveling… Continue reading

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Will Turkey Be Able to Join the West in Confronting Iran?

The international sanctions against Iran, and most recently the decision of the EU countries to stop importing oil from Iran, are ultimately going to have a major impact on Turkey… Continue reading

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A House Divided Against Itself: The Deteriorating State of Media Freedom in Turkey

Most international attention has focused on the more than 100 journalists who are now in jail in Turkey as a result of what they have written or said… Continue reading

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Kastelorizo – Mediterranean Flashpoint?

That Athens controls this wisp of land implies it could claim an exclusive economic zone in the Mediterranean Sea that reduces the Turkish EEZ to a fraction of what it would be were the island under Ankara’s control… 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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Turkish-US Relations in 2011 and Beyond: There May be Trouble Ahead

The year 2011 saw a “regression toward the mean” in Turkey’s relation with the United States… Continue reading

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Turkey’s 2012 Re-Adjustment to Post-“Zero Problems” in the Aftermath of the Arab Awakenings

Turkey’s emergence in the 21st century as a Middle Eastern power has been in the making for the last decade… Continue reading

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Tactical Allies and Strategic Rivals: Turkey’s Changing Relations with Iran

General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, declared that, if Iran came under attack from the U.S. or Israel… Continue reading

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Has Erdogan Reached His “Democratic Limits”?

Internal and external dynamics no longer compel Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to transcend his democratic limits… Continue reading

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Turkey: Ankara’s “Economic Miracle” Collapses

Turkey’s high-flying economy will crash-land in 2012… Continue reading

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What Drives Turkish Foreign Policy?

Turkey’s growing international profile has been controversial… Continue reading

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Turkey Falls Out with Russia: Another Sign of a Foreign Policy in Crisis

Wherever one looks, Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy is fading… Continue reading

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Turkey and Syria: from Friendship to War?

The inability of the Baath regime in Damascus to bring the situation in the country under control has compelled Turkey to… Continue reading

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Islam: What Does “Moderate” Islamist Mean?

Are Islamist parties portrayed as more moderate or pluralistic than they actually are… Continue reading

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Turkish Foreign Policy in Evolution

Turkish government representatives insist that they want to develop good ties in all directions… Continue reading