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The contributors to this book assess how successful the policy of decentralization has been in Turkey and examine to what extent it has been achieved in the metropolitan municipalities. This book should be of interest to lecturers and students of international politics and local government. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Government Ministers of Turkey, Lists of Government Ministers of Turkey, Members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Ministers of Economic Affairs of Turkey, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Prime Ministers of Turkey, Speakers of the Parliament of Turkey, Ismet Inönü, Süleyman Demirel, Mesut Yılmaz, Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Cemal Gürsel, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Abdullah Gül, Adnan Menderes, Bülent Ecevit, Behiç Erkin, Halide Edip Adıvar, Kâzım Karabekir, Turgut Özal, List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, Necmettin Erbakan, Ismail Cem Ipekçi, Celâl Bayar, Tansu Çiller, Mehmet Ağar, Nihat Erim, Erdal Inönü, List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Hikmet Çetin, Yıldırım Aktuna, Ahmet Davutoğlu, List of Speakers of the Parliament of Turkey, Ali Fuat Cebesoy, Mukerrem Hic, Ali Babacan, Köksal Toptan, Şükrü Saracoğlu, Deniz Baykal, Fevzi Çakmak, List of Finance Ministers of Turkey, Mehmet Cavit Bey, Muammer Aksoy, Refik Saydam, Mehmet Ali Irtemçelik, Tevfik Rüştü Aras, Kâzım Orbay, Şemsettin Günaltay, Hüsamettin Cindoruk, Ferit Melen, Sadi Irmak, Naim Talu, Mehmet Ali Şahin, Yıldırım Akbulut, Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, Cemil Çiçek, Rauf Orbay, Refik Koraltan, Altan Öymen, Suat Hayri Ürgüplü, Mehmet Şimşek, Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Kasım Gülek, Bülent Arınç, Hasan Saka, Ali Fethi Okyar, Ali Talip Özdemir, Mehmet Altınsoy, Zeki Sezer, Nizamettin Erkmen, Nazım Ekren, Kazım Özalp, Tahsin Yazıcı, Necmettin Sadak, Recai Kutan, Mehmet Aydın, Safa Giray, Erkan Mumcu, Ali Çetinkaya, Tayyibe Gülek, Murat Karayalçın, Bülend Ulusu, Sebahat Tuncel, Ihsan Sabri Çağlayangil, Mustafa Abdülhalik Renda, Coşkun Kırca, Selma Aliye Kavaf, Binali Yıldırım, Şükrü Kaya, Ali Coşkun, Nimet Çubukçu, Şükrü Sina Gürel, Şükrü Âli Ögel, Hayati Yazıcı, Veysel Eroğlu, Mehmet Mehdi Eker, Ali Boz... ... Read more

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Chapters: President of Turkey, Deep State, Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Çankaya Köşkü, Cabinet of Turkey, Turkish Identification Number, Turkish Order of Precedence, Central Finance and Contracts Unit, Istanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters' Association, Independent Regulatory Agencies in Turkey, History of Turkish Presidential Elections, Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Global Security. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 68. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Deep state (Turkish: ) is alleged to be a group of influential anti-democratic coalitions within the Turkish political system, composed of high-level elements within the intelligence services (domestic and foreign), Turkish military, security, judiciary, and mafia. The notion of deep state is similar to that of a "state within the state". For those who believe in its existence, the political agenda of the deep state involves an allegiance to nationalism, corporatism, and state interests. Violence and other means of pressure have historically been employed in a largely covert manner to manipulate political and economic elites and ensure specific interests are met within the seemingly democratic framework of the political landscape. Former president Süleyman Demirel says that the outlook and behavior of the (predominantly military) elites who constitute the deep state, and work to uphold national interests, are shaped by an entrenched belief, dating to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, that the country is always "on the brink". The ideology of the deep state is seen by leftists as being anti-worker or ultra-nationalist; by Islamists as being anti-Islamic and secularist; and by ethnic Kurds as being anti-Kurdish. As pointed out by former prime minister Bülent Ecevit, the diversity of opinion reflects a disagreement over ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=7276176 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from APS Diplomat Recorder, published by Arab Press Service on April 10, 2010. The length of the article is 542 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: TURKEY - Mar 30 - Turkish Government Seeks Constitutional Reform.
Author: Unavailable
Publication: APS Diplomat Recorder (Newsletter)
Date: April 10, 2010
Publisher: Arab Press Service
Volume: 74Issue: 15

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

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Turkey's involvement in the Gulf War in 1991 paved the way for the country's acceptance into the European Union. This book traces that process and looks at Turkey's foreign policy in the 1990s, considering the repercussions of the fall of communism. It focuses on Turkey's strategic importance that resulted from the waning of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the skillful way in which Turkey avoided becoming embroiled in the ethnic upheavals in Central Asia, the Balkans and the Middle East, and the development of a continued policy of closer integration into the European and western worlds.
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The Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) is examined here in this text on Kurdish nationalism. Incorporating recent field-based research results and newly translated material on Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK's long-time leader; it explores the nature and the organizational working of the party, from its growth in the late 1970s to its recent shrinkage. A variety of issues are addressed including:

* the views and philosophy of Abdullah Ocalan
* the successes and failures of the PKK in bringing about the Kurdish opposition in Turkey
* the role of PKK's philosophy of recruitment, organizational diligence, use of arms and other contextual factors in Kurdish resistance
* factors involved in the development of the nationalism of the Kurds in Turkey.

The text also reappraises the Kurdish movement in Turkey and presents insights into the nature of Kurdish social structure, thinking, and the particularities of the Kurdish ethnic distinctness.

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Contemporary Turkey often appears to be juggling a plethora of agenda issues (radical Islam, terrorism, separatism, enemies without, enemies within, corruption, inflation, mafia-government links and natural disasters) with military interventions of varying degrees and short-lived, wobbly coalition governments.The contributors to Turkey Since 1970 offer clear and accessible background information to events that have aided and hindered the country's development. ... Read more

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Islamic but secular, ambivalent about its Ottoman past, and anxious for membership in the European Union, Turkey seems to be easily cast—in terms of its geographical and cultural situatedness—as a bridge between the East and the West. However, Relocating the Fault Lines asserts that contemporary Turkey can no longer be defined by such a simple framework.

In recent decades, Turkish economy, society, and culture have undergone intense changes affected by influences other than Western modernity. Issues of national identity are being transformed by such phenomena as the rise of political Islam, integration into a global economy, ethnic conflict, and women’s struggles for autonomy. This special issue of SAQ explores how these redefinitions are occurring in the areas of art, literature, and popular culture as well as economy and politics. The essays examine the preoccupation of modern Turkish literature and popular culture with notions of imitation and authenticity, as well as the ways in which the country’s secularization serves to promote an "official Islam"

Contributors. Hülya Adak, Meltem Ahiska, Ayse Gül Altinay, Tanil Bora, Ayse Bugra, Ümit Cizre, Menderes Çinar, Andrew Davison, Tuna Erdem, Suna Ertugrul, Kathy Ewing, Erdag Göknar, Nurdan Gülalp, Sibel Irzik, Orhan Koçak, Bruce Kuniholm, Jale Parla, Nükhet Sirman, Levent Soysal, Necmi Zeka
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The first in a series of volumes that examine pivotal states in the Muslim world, this timely work explores how, after a long period of isolation, Turkey is becoming a major player in Middle Eastern politics once again. In fact, by acting independently and attempting to reconcile its constitutionally secular form of governance and vibrant traditional culture, it is now for the first time becoming positively viewed by others in the Muslim world as a state worth watching - and maybe even emulating. As a result, Turkey's dynamic political scene and new search for independence in its foreign policy, however complicating or irritating for the United States today, will nonetheless ultimately serve the best interests of Turkey, the Middle East, and even the West. Drawing heavily on a range of Turkish and Western sources, this multidimensional, lively, and nuanced volume provides an excellent introduction to one of the region's most fascinating and complex countries and makes a highly valuable contribution to the current debate about Turkey and its place in the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Highly recommend
Comprehensive, yet concise. Away from political bias that exists in various forms in other similar works on the topic.
A successful and impartial piece to grasp the dynamics and gradual transformation process of contemporary Turkey.

Turkey's attempt towards Islamic Renaissance
It seems Mr. Fuller's recommendations to the US government with regard to its Turkish policy have already been taken into serious consideration at Washington. In fact, his first and foremost action item (of supporting Turkish government and military in their fight with PKK) had already been adopted. U.S officials do seem to not only recognize, but at times, encourage independent Turkish foreign policies, and it will not be long before both parties, and the notoriously active Middle East region in general, will benefit from it. As Mr. Fuller intentionally overstates in his book by connecting solid fundamentals and indisputable logic, the current Turkish experiment, if successful as defined in the book, will result in prospering communications across all major religious and political ideologies for the first time in the last 20 centuries. Why would not any government listen with such stakes in place?

I would highly recommend it.

Review on Current Events in Turkey.
This is a great book about the recent political changes in modern Turkey. In the last 5 years, Turkey underwent crucial events including the emergence of a new modern-islamic party and disapperance of so-called the owners of Turkey. Military and other powerful elites of Turkey were not happy for these changes. Mr. Fuller nicely explains the old and new Turkey in the light of these new political changes. He gives emphasis on the new leader of Turkey, and his party, AKP. It is a wonderful book for those who are curious of these important historical changes in Turkey. I highly recommend it without reservation.

An In-Depth Yet Plain Analysis on Modern Turkey in 21st Century
According to my grading scheme this book deserves 5 stars, no less. It is written in simple language and a level most people would comprehend. History, current events, regions, diplomatic tactics, economic actions, political figures, and the general chronological order have been laid out very clearly and unambiguously.

The book starts with history of Turkey dating back to late Ottoman era. The cause and effect relationships for the decline and eventual dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of the new Turkish state are presented very well. The similarities and crucial political differences between the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic are addressed very successfully. The initial chapters build a solid foundation for those who are not familiar with the Turkish history and the evolution of the Turkish Republic.

The main focus of the book is on last two decades of Turkey, its internal and external problems, relations with neighbors, economic transition, democratization and accession to becoming a member of the EU. Among these issues are military coup d'etats and their social, economic and political consequences and repercussions; political parties and major figures behind and in charge of these movements, the rigid and stern structure of Turkish government and its political ideals stemming from 1930's and attempts to modify and modernize these principles addressing the needs of today's society etc. To be more explicit, the inflexible and irreconcilable principles of Today's CHP and its more popular rival AKP (JDP), neo-Islamic movements based on interfaith dialog and education, the evolution of the Kurdish problem, and the demands and expectations of the vast majority of the population.

Turkey's relations with other nations and geographic regions are expressed very clearly. Since Turkey is located in an area where various ethnic, religious, political and economic rivalries are very commonplace, it is essential to understand each component individually to be able to grasp a general picture. This book accomplishes this task very articulately and unexpectedly well from a foreigner's point of view. In many respects, it can be said that the discussions are presented very objectively (Of course, there is no absolute objectivity or neutrality in politics, but he does a fair job to mention the views of all sides and avoids definite judgments).

Another achievement of this book is that it addresses the major topics including many controversial issues debated in Turkish society in the past 5 years and puts in them in plain language.

This book is recommended to those who would like to gain wholesome information about Turkey and understand the achievements (and possibly failures) of the Turkish model and its reverberations in the surrounding regions.

Undergraduate Overview, Superb Price, a Real Value
I might have made this a four star since it is missing a couple of big pieces, but the overall book is so well presented in summary form, and the publisher has made it so reasonably priced, this would appear to be exactly the kind of book that is ideal for both the undergraduate and the graduate whom might be beginning a more intensive look at Turkey in its new "360 degrees" or Ankara-centric re-emergence as both a regional power and a continental power.

No Turks in, of, and for Turkey are on the credits, which confirms my first impression that this is a superb primer of, by, and for American students, but the US Institute of Peace is the publisher, so I get over it.Still, the book does not address the Muslim world outside the immediate region, and I am immediately irritated by the early depiction of Paul Wolfowitz as a proponent of democracy in Iraq--Wolfowitz lied to Congress and the public, and is no more a proponent of democracy anywhere than I am in favor of making Islam the ruling religion in America.

Having said that, the author's commitment and knowledge cannot be denied,and I found this book totally worthy of my time.I learned from it.

+ Turkey *is* a part of the Middle East, but ignored it up through the 1990's and did not settle its border with Syria until 2004.

+ Turkey, not Saudi Arabia or any other pretender, has been the center of the Muslim world (the Caliphate) for six centuries, and as the center of the Ottoman empire was the protector of the Holy Places.

+ The author asserts that Turkey is the most advanced secular and democratic state in the Muslim world.Huh?Coming out of an era of military dictatorships, and never mind Malaysia, Indonesia, or India (second largest Muslim population after Indonesia)?Not so fast!

+While the author sets forth a key question, will Muslims embrace democracy, I point the reader to Who Speaks For Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think and the finding in that book that most Muslims consider democracy to be a FOREIGN concept.

+The author shocks early on in pointing out that Turks consider the USA to be the TOP THREAT to Turkey.I begin to realize the author has delicately folded major truths in, with a minimalist pandering to thejerks that are still in power (or seeking power one last time before they run out of Depends diapers for adults).

+ No one in the White House or anywhere else in the USG is likely to read this book (less well-intentioned Foreign Area Officers on their way there) so I regard the book as a useful cautionary tale for all of us.The neoconservatives took Turkey for granted, offended Turkey, and are so visibly amoral and inept as to inspire contempt from Turkey, a contempt I certainly share.As the author puts it, we are "treading water" with Turkey (as a time when they should be one of our "top ten" for deep engagement).

+ The author tells us that Turkey abolished the Caliphate in 1924, and that this was a body blow to Islam.In a brilliant analogy, he says that this would be the equivalent of an Italian Prime Minister abolishing the Papacy without consulting Catholics worldwide, and doing so as a snap decision.

+ The author illuminated the Turkish intellectual vision of state, faith, and modernity being compatible, and provides two very valuable pages on t he Abant Forum for intellectual tolerance and inquiry.

+ A great deal of the book is undergraduate level brevity (e.g. the Iran-Iraq war gets one paragraph at a time when Turkey was a major adjacent party).

+ Among the prices of the Cold War (see my review of The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World was the disconnection of Turkey from the Middle East and the Arabs, making is a client state of the USA in unwelcome and ultimately unwise ways.

+ The author teaches me that the Kurdish revolutionaries and separatists, the PKK (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan, or Kurdish Workers Party) are a problem in Syria and Iran as well as Iraq and Turkey.I gain the impression that Turkey will do just about anything to prevent a free Kurdistan, but I also wonder in Kurdistan and Palestine are two areas that could be turned into zones of peace and development.

+ On that note, I learn that Palestine was part of the Ottoman empire, and that the Sultan was the Protector of Holy Places.

+ I am deeply engaged by the author's discussion of Islamic banking, and Turkish concerns that the Saudi regime is using increased focus on this as a means of reinforcing Islamic forces within Turkey.

+ I learn that Turkey is pursuing a regional strategy of "no enemies" and has a foreign policy strategy of "proactive peace."Wow.This is seriously good stuff, and it shames me that America cannot rise to this level of sophistication and future-focus.

+ I learn that four of the five Central Asian states are Turkic, and that after the USA and Russia, China is Turkey's major concern, in part because the Uyghurs are Turkic.Has the USA ever had a Turkic strategy or a Caliphate strategy?Highly doubtful.

+ The author states that the Turks are suspicious of Saudi international policies, and I wonder why there is no deeper discussion, especially since it is now widely known that the Saudi dictatorship has been funding Bin Laden, rote-learning madrasses, and total hate crimes against Shi'ites (15%, with Iran as the only state).

+ He says that Turkey has a strong commitment to Afghanistan, but here I have a note, "too much avoidance."This is an excellent book and easily understandable by an undergrad, but it needs a couple more chapters (one on Saudis as enemies of Muslim stability world-wide, another on Turkey and the non-Arab Muslim states), and a decent bibliography with a 360 view of competing authorities.

+ He tells us the Kurds have entered mainstream Turkish politics, including election to their Parliament, but I am skeptical and wondering if there is not a really big deal to be cut that runs from Turkey to Kurdistan and Lebanon to Palestine--the three trillion we have wasted in Iraq could have resurrected America AND paid for a massive Marshall Plan for the region.

+ The US chapter is vital.It will never be read by those that make their own idiotic reality, but for the rest of us, it is a fine tale of friction, opportunity lost, a lack of sufficient respect, and more.This is a really good and really important chapter.

The book concludes that Turkey has three choices: continue to be US centric, become Europe centric and join the European Union, or return to Ankara centric, with360 interests and responsibilities in all directions.I am truly inspired by this book, and in the future will factor Turkey in as co-equal to Brazil, China, Indonesia, India, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela.

Bottom line: this book was a real pleasure to read as an adult hooked on respecting reality, and I strongly recommend it for both teaching at any level, and for anyone interested in what is clearly a major player in the 21st Century.On balance, this book respects Turkey in a very sincere and useful way, while delicately calling out the USA (under all recent Administrations of either party) for being distant, dumb, inattentive, and generally stupid.I am reminded of Daniel Elsberg lecturing Kissinger on how one becomes like a moron the higher up the secret classification scale you go, thinking you know more secret, and becoming unwilling to listen to those with their feet on the ground and decades ofeyes and ears on and in place.See my review of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.

Other recommended books:
The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)
Web of Deceit: The History of Western complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
Islamic Leviathan: Islam and the Making of State Power (Religion and Global Politics)
Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror ... Read more

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" In this volume, leading scholars on the history of the Kurds lay out the case that the Kurdish Question looms as one of the largest threats to peace and stability in the Middle East. With the majority of Kurds living within its borders, no country faces this threat more squarely than Turkey, whose concept of a unified, cohesive nation -- in which the existence of ethnic minorities is not acknowledged -- makes the powder keg more difficult to manage than elsewhere. Separate sections examine the development of the movement and explore its influence on Turkey's foreign, domestic, and human rights policies, in the end questioning the viability of the Turkish state as presently constituted.

Customer Reviews (3)

Good Book
Great book shows the development of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey and the rest of the middle east. Also shows the terrible repression and the genocide that Turkey is perpetrating against the Kurds.Lastly shows that Kemalism and the Turkish policy of not even letting the Kurds "exist" in linguistic or cultural terms must end.

THE BEST BOOK I EVER READ ABOUT KURDS IN ENGLISH!
Great book and very informative. I hope the author will write more books about the world's biggest stateless nation also in the future.

Kemalism, not the Kurds, needs resolving
Perhaps the most valuable lesson that can be gleamed from this collection of essays is that the resolution of the Kurdish problem will come only with Turkey's realization that it must reform the fundamental characteristic of its particular political basis - Kemalism.As Mark Muller writes, only by abandoning ethno-nationalism for nationalism, which strikes at the heart of Turkey's entire existence since 1920, can Turkey deal successfully with the Kurds.Discovering such a lesson is well worth reading this book.END ... Read more

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