The Gülen Model
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Turkey and the Failed Coup One Year Later | the Washington Institute
MENU Policy Analysis / PolicyWatch 2835 Turkey and the Failed Coup One Year Later by Omer Taspinar, Soner Cagaptay, James Jeffrey Jul 20, 2017 Also available in Arabic ABOUT THE AUTHORS Omer Taspinar Omer Taspinar is a professor of national security strategy at the National War College, focusing on the political economy of Europe, the Middle East, and Turkey. Soner Cagaptay Soner Cagaptay is the Beyer Family fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute. James Jeffrey Ambassador is a former U.S. special representative for Syria engagement and former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Iraq; from 2013-2018 he was the Philip Solondz Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute. He currently chairs the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program. Brief Analysis Watch three expert observers examine a divided Turkey one year after the failed military coup of 2016. On July 13, Omer Taspinar, Soner Cagaptay, and James F. Jeffrey addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Taspinar is a professor at the National War College and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Cagaptay is the Beyer Family Fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at the Institute. Jeffrey is the Institute's Philip Solondz Distinguished Fellow and a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey. The following is a rapporteur's summary of their remarks. OMER TASPINAR W hile the authoritarian trend in Turkish politics is well documented in Washington circles, Fethullah Gulen is still very enigmatic for most Americans (despite his longtime exile in Pennsylvania). Some background on the Gulen movement's marriage of convenience with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), therefore, provides important context. -
Turkey's Deep State
#1.12 PERSPECTIVES Political analysis and commentary from Turkey FEATURE ARTICLES TURKEY’S DEEP STATE CULTURE INTERNATIONAL POLITICS ECOLOGY AKP’s Cultural Policy: Syria: The Case of the Seasonal Agricultural Arts and Censorship “Arab Spring” Workers in Turkey Pelin Başaran Transforming into the Sidar Çınar Page 28 “Arab Revolution” Page 32 Cengiz Çandar Page 35 TURKEY REPRESENTATION Content Editor’s note 3 ■ Feature articles: Turkey’s Deep State Tracing the Deep State, Ayşegül Sabuktay 4 The Deep State: Forms of Domination, Informal Institutions and Democracy, Mehtap Söyler 8 Ergenekon as an Illusion of Democratization, Ahmet Şık 12 Democratization, revanchism, or..., Aydın Engin 16 The Near Future of Turkey on the Axis of the AKP-Gülen Movement, Ruşen Çakır 18 Counter-Guerilla Becoming the State, the State Becoming the Counter-Guerilla, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu 22 Is the Ergenekon Case an Opportunity or a Handicap? Ali Koç 25 The Dink Murder and State Lies, Nedim Şener 28 ■ Culture Freedom of Expression in the Arts and the Current State of Censorship in Turkey, Pelin Başaran 31 ■ Ecology Solar Energy in Turkey: Challenges and Expectations, Ateş Uğurel 33 A Brief Evaluation of Seasonal Agricultural Workers in Turkey, Sidar Çınar 35 ■ International Politics Syria: The Case of the “Arab Spring” Transforming into the “Arab Revolution”, Cengiz Çandar 38 Turkey/Iran: A Critical Move in the Historical Competition, Mete Çubukçu 41 ■ Democracy 4+4+4: Turning the Education System Upside Down, Aytuğ Şaşmaz 43 “Health Transformation Program” and the 2012 Turkey Health Panorama, Mustafa Sütlaş 46 How Multi-Faceted are the Problems of Freedom of Opinion and Expression in Turkey?, Şanar Yurdatapan 48 Crimes against Humanity and Persistent Resistance against Cruel Policies, Nimet Tanrıkulu 49 ■ News from hbs 53 Heinrich Böll Stiftung – Turkey Representation The Heinrich Böll Stiftung, associated with the German Green Party, is a legally autonomous and intellectually open political foundation. -
Turkey | Freedom House Page 1 of 8
Turkey | Freedom House Page 1 of 8 Turkey freedomhouse.org Turkey received a downward trend arrow due to more pronounced political interference in anticorruption mechanisms and judicial processes, and greater tensions between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Alevis. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) secured two electoral victories in 2014. In March, it prevailed in local elections with more than 40 percent of the vote, and in August the party’s leader, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was elected president in the first direct elections for that post in Turkey’s history. The AKP won despite a corruption scandal implicating government ministers as well as Erdoğan and his family, which emerged in December 2013 and cast a shadow over Turkish politics throughout 2014. Erdoğan dismissed the evidence of corruption, including audio recordings, as fabrications by elements of a “parallel state” composed of followers of Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic scholar who had backed the AKP but was now accused of plotting to bring down the government. More than 45,000 police officers and 2,500 judges and prosecutors were reassigned to new jobs, a move the government said was necessary to punish and weaken rogue officials; critics claimed it was designed to stop anticorruption investigations and undermine judicial independence. Erdoğan and AKP officials spoke out against other so-called traitors, including critical journalists and business leaders as well as members of the Alevi religious minority. Media outlets bearing unfavorable coverage of the government have been closed or placed under investigation. In December, more than 30 people linked to Gülen, including newspaper editors and television scriptwriters, were arrested on charges of establishing a terrorist group; this sparked widespread protests. -
The Plot Against the Generals
THE PLOT AGAINST THE GENERALS Dani Rodrik* June 2014 On a drizzly winter day four-and-a-half years ago, my wife and I woke up at our home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to sensational news from our native Turkey. Splashed on the first page of Taraf, a paper followed closely by the country’s intelligentsia and well-known for its anti-military stance, were plans for a military coup as detailed as they were gory, including the bombing of an Istanbul mosque, the false- flag downing of a Turkish military jet, and lists of politicians and journalists to be detained. The paper said it had obtained documents from 2003 which showed a group within the Turkish military had plotted to overthrow the then-newly elected Islamist government. The putative mastermind behind the coup plot was pictured prominently on the front page: General Çetin Doğan, my father-in-law (see picture). General Doğan and hundreds of his alleged collaborators would be subsequently demonized in the media, jailed, tried, and convicted in a landmark trial that captivated the nation and allowed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to consolidate his power over the secular establishment. In a judgment issued in October 2013, Turkey’s court of appeals would ratify the lower court’s decision and the decades-long prison sentences it had meted out. Today it is widely recognized that the coup plans were in fact forgeries. Forensic experts have determined that the plans published by Taraf and forming the backbone of the prosecution were produced on backdated computers and Cover of Taraf on the alleged coup attempt made to look as if they were prepared in 2003. -
The Decline of the Military's Political Influence in Turkey
The decline of the military’s political influence in Turkey By Anwaar Mohammed A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of Master of Philosophy Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham August 2014 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT The political role of Turkey’s military has been declining with the strengthening of the civilian institutions and the introduction of new political factors. Turkey’s political atmosphere has changed towards civilian control of the military. The research focuses on analysing the various political factors and their impact on the political role of the military. The military’s loss of political influence in handling political challenges will be assessed against the effectiveness of the military’s political ideology. The shift in civil-military relations will be detected through the AKP’s successful political economy and popular mandate. The EU as an external factor in dismantling the military’s political prerogatives will be assessed. Greece’s route toward democratization of its civil-military relations compared to Turkey. -
Illiberal Media and Popular Constitution-Making in Turkey
University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Communication Department Faculty Publication Series Communication 2020 Illiberal Media and Popular Constitution-Making in Turkey Burcu Baykurt Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/communication_faculty_pubs 1 Illiberal Media and Popular Constitution Making in Turkey 1. Introduction Popular constitution making, a process that allows for public participation as opposed to a handful of elites writing a fundamental social contract behind closed doors and imposing it on the rest of society, is tricky. It sounds like a noble idea in theory, but it is difficult to execute effectively, efficiently, and, most importantly, democratically. Even trickier are the roles of publicity and media in popular constitution making. What are the consequences of reporting during the drafting of a new constitution? In what ways could the media lend legitimacy to the process by informing the public and incorporating public opinion into the drafting of a constitution? Coupled with the rise of new media technologies, an ideal of participatory constitution making (and an active role for the media) may seem desirable, not to mention attainable, but there are myriad ways to participate, and basing a constitution on popular opinion could easily devolve into a majority of 50 percent plus one that imposes its will on the rest. The bare minimum, ideally, is to expect journalists to report on facts without bowing to political or economic pressures, but even that is easier said than done. For which audiences are these journalistic facts intended? For those leaders drafting the new constitution or the public at large? These are not easy questions to answer empirically, not only because media and communications are often neglected in studies of constitution making, but also because the relationship between the two is hard to ascertain precisely. -
ERGENEKON, SLEDGEHAMMER, and the POLITICS of TURKISH JUSTICE: CONSPIRACIES and COINCIDENCES August 29, 2011 Gloria-Center.Org
http://www.gloria-center.org/2011/08/ergenekon-sledgehammer-and-the-politics-of-turkish-justice-conspiracies-and-coincidences/ ERGENEKON, SLEDGEHAMMER, AND THE POLITICS OF TURKISH JUSTICE: CONSPIRACIES AND COINCIDENCES August 29, 2011 gloria-center.org Since it was launched in June 2007, the Ergenekon investigation has become the largest and most controversial case in recent Turkish history, resulting in over 300 people being charged with a membership of what is described as a clandestine terrorist organization seeking to destabilize the country’s Islamist government. In the parallel Sledgehammer investigation, 195 members of the fiercely secularist Turkish military stand accused of plotting a coup in 2003. Yet not only is the evidence in both cases deeply flawed, there are also increasing indications that much of it has been fabricated. On June 12, 2007, acting on an anonymous tip-off, the Turkish police discovered a crate of grenades in a shantytown in the Istanbul suburb of Umraniye in the beginning of what later became known as the Ergenekon investigation. By May 2011, a motley collection of over 300 people had been formally charged with membership of what public prosecutors described as the “Ergenekon terrorist organization,” which was allegedly plotting to use violence to try to destabilize the government of the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (JDP). In January 2010, prosecutors launched a parallel investigation into claims that members of the Turkish military had plotted to stage a coup against the JDP in early 2003. By May 2011, 195 serving and retired members of the Turkish military had been formally charged with involvement in the alleged plot. -
Interim Trial Observation Report
INTERIM TRIAL OBSERVATION REPORT Hearing of “Taraf” journalists Istanbul High Criminal Court October 2016 Written by Gráinne Mellon Bar Human Rights Committee 1 Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales Doughty Street Chambers 53-54 Doughty Street London WC1N 2LS England 2 Produced by BHRC Copyright 2016 © Contents About the Bar Human Rights Committee ...................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 6 Background ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Arrest and investigation ..................................................................................................................... 9 The hearing ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Events following the hearing .......................................................................................................... 13 Concerns ................................................................................................................................................. 14 The right of a Defendant to know the case against them................................................................ -
Fetullah Gülen and Fetö
History, organizational structure and deeds of a clandestine crime syndicate FETULLAH GÜLEN AND FETÖ 0 FETULLAH GÜLEN AND FETÖ 1. Brief history of FETÖ The foundations of FETÖ were laid by Fetullah Gülen, in Izmir in 1966. In the early 1970s Fetullah Gülen and an inner circle of friends established the core cadre for the organization. They exploited religious themes and concentrated their activities particularly on students and other youth groups aged 13-18 years. Fetullah Gülen communicated his views through sermons and speeches recorded and distributed on audiocassettes and videotapes. Communal gatherings and particularly summer camps were other methods used to disseminate Gülen’s views on religion to a larger group of followers. By the end of 1970’s, Gülen had already become a leader of a distinct, cultish religious group. The organization fed on perceptions of exclusion among Turkish society’s conservative, pious section. The perception was that the traditionally secular state had excluded religious people from politics and state institutions. The regime had to be more Islamic, but in the way Fetullah Gülen understood it. Solution for success advocated by Gülen was to be patient, to portray the movement as a benevolent civil society organization and gradually infiltrate key state institutions.1 1 Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gptKWc089A: “You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers… until the conditions are ripe, they [the followers] must continue like this… You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it… You must wait until such time as you have gotten all the state power, until you have brought to your side all the power of the constitutional institutions in Turkey… Until that time, any step taken would be too early - like breaking an egg without waiting the full 40 days for it to hatch. -
EU-Turkey Relations and the Stagnation of Turkish Democracy
EU-Turkey Relations and the Stagnation of Turkish Democracy Senem Aydın-Düzgit and E. Fuat Keyman Istanbul Bilgi University and Sabanci University WORKING PAPER 02 EU-Turkey Relations and the Stagnation of Turkish Democracy Senem Aydın-Düzgit and E. Fuat Keyman* Turkey EU Accession Process Democracy Deficit Abstract Introduction The current stagnation of Turkish democracy goes hand in hand with the current impasse in EU-Turkey relations. A combination of domestic Back in August 2004, we published a working paper on the role of factors with a loss of credibility of EU conditionality led to a situation Turkey’s relations with the EU in transforming Turkish democracy in which political reform is substantially stalled and in cases where it as part of a larger project on EU-Turkey relations conducted by the is realised, it is mostly conducted to serve the interests of the ruling Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and the Economics and political elite and with no real reference to the EU. The virtuous cycle of Foreign Policy Forum (Aydın and Keyman 2004). The central argument reform that characterised the 1999-2005 period has been replaced by of the paper was that the strengthening credibility of EU conditionality a vicious cycle in which lack of effective conditionality feeds into po- towards Turkey, coupled with favourable domestic and international litical stagnation which in turn moves Turkey and the EU further away dynamics resulted in substantial reforms towards the consolidation from one another. of Turkish democracy. The paper, written prior to the EU’s decision to open accession negotiations with Turkey, concluded that the opening of accession talks with the country on the basis of a fair decision that rests on Turkey’s achievements in its modernity and democracy would constitute a crucial step in remedying the remaining problematic aspects of Turkish democracy. -
Grapes of Wrath
#6.13 PERSPECTIVES Political analysis and commentary from Turkey THE TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AREAS IN TURKEY GRAPES OF WRATH DEMOCRACY FOREIGN POLICY HUMAN LANDSCAPES The Gezi Park Resistance Objective versus Process in Turkey’s Memet Aksoy: and the Peace Process EU Membership Bid This is What Being an Artist is: Nazan Üstündağ Erhan İçener Taking Sides Page 54 Page 62 Ayşegül Oğuz Page 66 TURKEY REPRESENTATION Contents From the editor 3 ■ Cover story: The transformation of agriculture and rural areas in Turkey The dynamics of agricultural and rural transformation in post-1980 Turkey Murat Öztürk 4 Europe’s rural policies a la carte: The right choice for Turkey? Gökhan Günaydın 11 The liberalization of Turkish agriculture and the dissolution of small peasantry Abdullah Aysu 14 Agriculture: Strategic documents and reality Ali Ekber Yıldırım 22 Land grabbing Sibel Çaşkurlu 26 A real life “Grapes of Wrath” Metin Özuğurlu 31 ■ Ecology Save the spirit of Belgrade Forest! Ünal Akkemik 35 Child poverty in Turkey: Access to education among children of seasonal workers Ayşe Gündüz Hoşgör 38 Urban contexts of the june days Şerafettin Can Atalay 42 ■ Democracy Is the Ergenekon case a step towards democracy? Orhan Gazi Ertekin 44 Participative democracy and active citizenship Ayhan Bilgen 48 Forcing the doors of perception open Melda Onur 51 The Gezi Park Resistance and the peace process Nazan Üstündağ 54 Marching like Zapatistas Sebahat Tuncel 58 ■ Foreign Policy Objective versus process: Dichotomy in Turkey’s EU membership bid Erhan İcener 62 ■ Culture Rural life in Turkish cinema: A location for innocence Ferit Karahan 64 ■ Human Landscapes from Turkey This is what being an artist is: Taking Sides Memet Aksoy 66 ■ News from HBSD 69 Heinrich Böll Stiftung - Turkey Represantation The Heinrich Böll Stiftung, associated with the German Green Party, is a legally autonomous and intellectually open political foundation. -
Captured News Media: the Case of Turkey
Captured News Media The Case of Turkey BY ANDREW FINKEL October 2015 Captured News Media The Case of Turkey OCTOBER 2015 ABOUT CIMA The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), at the National Endowment for Democracy, works to strengthen the support, raise the visibility, and improve the effectiveness of independent Contents media development throughout the world. The center provides information, builds networks, Foreword . 1 conducts research, and highlights the indispensable role independent media play in the creation and Introduction . 3 development of sustainable democracies. An Capture and its Applicability to Turkish Media . 4 important aspect of CIMA’s work is to research ways to attract additional U.S. private sector interest in Media, State, and Economy . 8 and support for international media development. Historical Background: CIMA convenes working groups, discussions, and panels on a variety of topics in the field of media A Media on the Offensive Is Itself Captured . 11 development and assistance. The center also issues reports and recommendations based on working The Implications of Capture group discussions and other investigations. These for Democracy Promotion . 20 reports aim to provide policymakers, as well as donors and practitioners, with ideas for bolstering Endnotes . 24 the effectiveness of media assistance. Center for International Media Assistance National Endowment for Democracy 1025 F STREET, N.W., 8TH FLOOR WASHINGTON, DC 20004 ABOUT THE AUTHOR PHONE: (202) 378-9700 FAX: (202) 378-9407 Andrew Finkel is a British-educated journalist EMAIL: [email protected] who has been based in Turkey since 1989, and has URL: http://cima.ned.org corresponded for a variety of print and broadcast media outlets, including The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Mark Nelson The Economist, TIME, and CNN.