INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE WHERE IS TURKEY HEADING ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE MILLENNIUM? Wednesday, May 4, 2011 Venue: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Loretánské nám. 5, Prague, Mirror Hall CONFERENCE SYNOPSIS PANEL I: WHERE IS TURKEY HEADING? At the beginning of the millennium, Turkey’s economy was considerably weak and its political environment, with its short-lived coalitions, was unstable. Ten years later Turkey is a member of the G20 and the domestic political situation has become more stable. The respect for human rights has been strengthened and the key historical and nationalist taboos have been partly broken. However, the society and politics in Turkey remain internally deeply divided on key issues such as laicism, minority rights, freedom of the press, and the democratization of the political system. The process of political reforms seems to have lost momentum and the EU accession negotiations are confronted with severe obstacles for both internal and external reasons. At the beginning of the new decade and before the next parliamentary elections in June 2011, Turkey experiences again a fierce debate on many issues lying at the heart of Turkey’s approach towards democracy. Could Turkey be a “role model” for the democratization and reform in the Middle East, as some observers and politicians present it? PANEL II: TURKEY – A RISING POWER? Ankara’s influence in the region of the Middle East is rising under the leadership of Prime Minister Erdoğan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Davutoğlu. Taking advantage of its economic strength and historical and cultural links with the Muslim world, Turkey’s relations with its neighbors have improved. In general, Ankara’s foreign policy is becoming more assertive. Turkey is taking advantage of its geopolitical position and wants to become a regional power with global influence. Today, Turkey matters more than many would have predicted ten years ago. Yet, the dynamism of Turkey’s foreign policy raises some questions and concerns. Irena Kalhousová Erik Siegl Chief Analyst Program Coordinator Prague Security Studies Institute Heinrich Böll Stiftung CONFERENCE PROGRAM 8.45 REGISTRATION 9.15 OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE 9.30–11.15 PANEL I: WHERE IS TURKEY HEADING? • What are the main accomplishments and deficits after eight years of AKP’s rule? • How democratic are the main political actors in Turkey – the AKP and CHP? Who are the proponents and opponents of democratic changes? • Are there any serious initiatives to overcome the deep controversy regarding laicism, rights of religious minorities and the Kurdish issue? • What are the main issues and who are the main actors as Turkey moves toward the parliamentary elections in 2011? What policy options do they offer? • To what extend is the EU still important for the country’s democratisation process? Could Turkey be a “role model” for the democratization and reform in the Middle East? Key note speech: Joost Lagendijk, Politician and Analyst, Former Chairman of the Turkey-EU Parliamentarians Delegation, Istanbul Policy Center, Sabanci University Panelists: Nurcan Baysal, Researcher, Diyarbakır Institute for Political and Social Research (DİSA), Turkey Murat Belge, Civil Right Activist, Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey Gareth Jenkins, Writer and Analyst, Turkey Initiative, Johns Hopkins University, USA Chair: Ulrike Dufner, Head of Heinrich Böll Foundation in Istanbul, Turkey 11.15–11.30 COFFEE BREAK 11.30–13.15 PANEL II: TURKEY – A RISING POWER? • Is Turkey’s political system rooted in an identity-based foreign policy? Is Ankara leaning East-ward and risking the deterioration of relations with the EU and USA? • Should Turkey play a stronger role as a part of the foreign and security pillar of the EU? What would be the prerequisites? How do we evaluate Turkey’s recent foreign policy in this regard? • Are the Turkey-US relations under Obama undergoing a considerable change? What are the determinants of Turkey-US relations? • How will the relations between Turkey and its Eastern neighbors, including Iran, affect the relations between Turkey and the US/EU? • What are the short- and midterm consequences of Turkish-Israeli tension? What should be done in order to restore the good relations between both countries? • To what extent are Turkey’s foreign policy and its economic and energy relations affecting Turkey’s possible role as the “energy hub” for Europe? Panelists: Anat Lapidot-Firilla, Researcher, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Israel William M. Drozdiak, President of the American Council on Germany, USA Soli Özel, Senior Analyst, German Marshall Fund in Istanbul, Turkey Abbas Djavadi, Associate Director of Broadcasting at Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic Chair: Irena Kalhousová, Chief Analyst, Prague Security Studies Institute, Czech Republic 13.15–13.30 CONCLUDING REMARKS 13.30–14.30 LUNCH SPEAKERS PANEL I: WHERE IS TURKEY HEADING? Joost Lagendijk Joost Lagendijk graduated as a historian from Utrecht University. He was a publisher of magazines and non-fiction books for ten years. From 1998 till 2009 Lagendijk was a Member of the European Parliament for the Dutch Green Left Party. In the parliament he specialized in foreign affairs and security and defence issues. For many years he was the chairman of the Turkey Delegation of the European Parliament and the rapporteur for the Parliament on Kosovo. Together with his colleague from the European Parliament Jan Marinus Wiersma, Lagendijk wrote three books: on the borders of Europe, on the foreign policy strategies of the US and the EU and on the European policy towards its Muslim neighbours. Since July 1, 2009, Lagendijk is a senior adviser at the Istanbul Policy Center, the think tank of Sabanci University in Istanbul. He is a columnist for the Turkish dailies Zaman and Today’s Zaman. Nurcan Baysal Nurcan Baysal is a founder of DISA (Diyarbakir Political and Social Research Institute), the first Kurdish think-tank in Turkey and a founder of Development Centre Association in Diyarbakir. From 1997 to 2007, she was the Coordinator of UNDP in the Southeast Anatolia of Turkey. She put major effort in developing women’s non-governmental organizations in the Southeastern Turkey. Baysal serves as an advisor to or a board member on many non-profit organizations like Global Fund for Women, Open Society, Women Labour and Employment Platform, Urgent Action Fund, Dicle University Women Centre, etc. She wrote many articles on development, forced migration and Kurdish issue. She was awarded the WWSF (World Women Summit Foundation) prize for women in 2010. She has been also working in Ozyegin Foundation since February 2008. Murat Belge Murat Belge holds his degree from the Department of English Language and Literature, İstanbul Bilgi Unversity. As a founder and a head of the Department of Comparative Literature at this university, he taught courses on Western and Turkish culture and civilization as well as on militaristic pathways into nation-statehood. Author of dozens of books about literature, he is also a translator of the classics of Anglo-American literature such as Charles Dickens, William Faulkner or James Joyce. Belge has been a regular contributor to many daily columns, most currently to Radikal. Gareth Jenkins Gareth Jenkins is a writer and analyst based in Istanbul, Turkey, where he has been resident since 1989. During his first ten years in Turkey, he worked as a journalist for international wire services, newspapers and periodicals, covering a broad range of political, economic and social issues related to Turkey and the surrounding region. In recent years Jenkins has focused primarily on analysis, contributing numerous articles, reviews and commentaries to scholarly journals and edited volumes and delivering presentations at seminars and conferences. His special fields of interest are civil-military relations, terrorism and security issues and political Islam. He is currently a nonresident Senior Fellow with the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, a joint initiative by the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University (US) and the Institute for Security and Development Policy (Sweden). Ulrike Dufner Ulrike Dufner has been the Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Office in Turkey since January 2004. She is an expert on foreign policy and international relations, conflict resolution and management as well as on Turkey, Near and Middle East. Dufner previously served for two years in the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany at the Turkey and South-Caucasus desks. During the years 1996–2002, she served as an advisor on international politics, conflict management and resolution, international human rights issues with special emphasis on the Near and Middle East as well as Maghreb countries at the Parliamentary group of Alliance 90/The Greens in the German Bundestag. Dufner, who took an active role in feminist and peace movements in Germany, conducted a research in Egypt and Turkey. In 1996 she acquired her PhD in Political Science, Turkology and Modern History. PANEL II: TURKEY – A RISING POWER? Abbas Djavadi Abbas Djavadi is associate director of broadcasting at RFE/RL, overseeing programs in Persian (Radio Farda), Dari and Pashto (Radio Free Afghanistan), Arabic (Radio Free Iraq), Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, and Kazakh. He joined RFE/RL in 1985 as an editor of the Azeri Service and later served as a supervising analyst of the Central Asian programs and Director of RFE/RL’s Tajik Service. He set up RFE/RL’s first broadcasts to Iran (Radio Azadi) in 1998 and Radio Free Afghanistan in 2002. After serving for more than three years as Director of RFE/ RL’s Azeri Service, Abbas was promoted to Associate Director of Broadcasting. Before joining RFE/RL, Abbas worked as a lecturer at the University of Cologne, Germany, and contributed to a dozens of newspapers, magazines, and broadcast services in Germany, Great Britain, Turkey, Iran, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan. He has written two books and numerous articles on Persian and Azeri languages, socio-linguistics, politics, and history.