TURKISH STUDIES

Theodora Papatheodorou
(RIEAS Research Associate)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication Date: 28 March 2015

Introduction

In November 2002 and July 2007 the Turkish electorate voted for the Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AK Parti) demonstrating a great risk for broad political change. There was some doubt whether a modern democratic party with deep roots in political Islam was in the position to expand liberties and preserve the democratic system. The AKP had been described as an "Islamist or Islamic party", "fundamentalist party", "party with Islamic roots" or, as the economist called it "Mildly Islamist". Nowadays, several authors use the phrase "democratura" in order to explain the new model of the Justice and Development Party and its political choices and tactics...Read more

Ariel González Levaggi
( Ph.D. student at Koç University in Istanbul. Turkey)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication Date: 1 March 2015

The international system is in the middle of a transitional age. The non-Western world is rising and there are plenty of examples about the rise of a novel geopolitical axis. Unipolarism, beyond the role of US as the main great power, does not mirror the real condition of the World Order On the contrary, there is a rising multipolarism exemplified in the alteration of the sources of power from the traditional Western nations to emerging powers, from the "developed" North to Global South and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. China as the second military – based on annual military expenditure - and economic - GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) power, is the best example of the geopolitical axis alteration. In this context, Turkey and Latin America are not secondary players in this game and both have strong bets to promote their normative values, gain more strategic autonomy and achieve a more prominent role in the concert of nations. The recent visit of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Colombia, Cuba and Mexico is an important indicator of the growing ties... Read more

Markos Troulis
(PhD Candidate, University of Piraeus (Greece)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) – Publication date: 6 January 2015.

On the 28th of August, Ahmet Davutoğlu became the new Prime Minister of Turkey succeeding Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and giving his position at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. Erdoğan's Turkey emerged as a new challenger for regional hegemony and the new heads of Turkey's foreign policy are undoubtedly working toward this goal. Davutoğlu's promotion to prime minister seems to come as a reward for his foreign policy initiatives up to now, while Çavuşoğlu's move from the Ministry of EU Affairs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reflects AKP leadership's satisfaction for his stance on the issue of Turkey's EU candidacy....Read more

Nickolaos Mavromates
(Security Analyst- Historian)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) (Publication Date: 17 June 2014).

The Turkish consulate seizure in Mosul by men of the (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) ISIL terrorist movement has unleashed a discussion inside and outside Turkey about the role of Ankara's failed strategy in the region of the Levant and Iraq. A role that was mainly based in aiding terrorist organizations like Al Nusra and ISIL for its own grand designs. Initially meant in overthrowing Bassar al Assad regime and simultaneously curtailing any Syrian Kurdish PYD (Democratic Union Party) independence ambitions in the area. By mainly denying the capability of the Syrian aspirations uniting with their KRG brothers authority of Northern Iraq or by becoming a strategic reserve of PKK in the area of Turkish Kurdistan..... Read more

Nickolaos Mavromates
(Security Analyst- Historian)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) based in Athens, Greece. (Publication date: 30 March 2014)

As the geopolitical field in Ukraine is unavailing with uncertainty between the competition of Ukraine's Pro-western elite and Moscow's security concerns, Turkey a nearby neighbor is  confronting also its own political anxiety and Geo-strategically designs that are currently shaping its own destiny.

Despite the recent bashing that Premier Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received from the EU and the US for his autarchic handling of the Gezi Park protests and the bribery scandals that included AKP party and family members, his political power tarnished he has still remained relatively unscathed. Not only did the EU request Turkish security forces to participate in a Peace keeping mission in the civil war torn Central African Republic, but also all the latest Turkish exit polls show Erdogan’s political power holding at 40 to 45 percent.... Read more