openDemocracy writers measure the benefits, costs, and consequences of Turkey's path to European Union membership.

Turkey, the end of Islamism with a human face

Kerem Oktem 20 December 2012

Turkey's AKP government has over a decade promised a new model of governance: progressive and reformist, Islamist and democratic. But a series of developments, including the expanding power of prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is now exposing the party and its policies to ever-deeper scrutiny, says Kerem Oktem.

Turkey’s Kurdish policy: sleepwalking to crisis

Bill Park 31 October 2012

 A mix of inheritance, repression and strategic vacuity is pulling Turkey's leadership into a long-term Kurdish quagmire, says Bill Park.

Turkey, Kurds, Iraq, Syria: a new regional dynamic

Bill Park 30 August 2012

The middle-east’s power-balance is in flux amid state tensions and political conflicts. In a two-part article, Bill Park - who was recently in Ankara and Erbil - examines the impact of these changes on Turkey and its neighbours, especially the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of northern Iraq. In part one, he looks at the Iraqi dimension; in part two, at Syria’s conflict and the wider Kurdish question.

Turkey and the Armenians: politics of history

Vicken Cheterian 3 July 2012

A new generation's encounter with the Armenian genocide of 1915 is producing fresh understandings of Turkey's - and the middle east's - modern history, finds Vicken Cheterian.

The Americanisation of Turkey

Dimitar Bechev 18 March 2012

Turkey's international profile and domestic politics have long been oriented towards the European Union. Now, both the Arab awakening and the internal momentum of AKP rule are pushing Ankara closer to the United States, says Dimitar Bechev.

The water finds its crack: an Armenian in Turkey

Hrant Dink

Five years after Hrant Dink was assassinated in 2007 his spirit lives on. The Turkish courts are still refusing to track down the network that set up his killings and many thousands of Turks are demonstrating with the slogan that emerged spontaneously in the protests immediately after he was slain: "We are all Hrant. We are all Armenian". This is the first of his two openDemocracy articles, published in 2005.

Armenia-Turkey: the end of rapprochement

Vicken Cheterian 30 December 2011
A diplomatic process designed to normalise relations between Armenia and Turkey led to the signing of two protocols in 2009. Its failure is rooted in the miscalculations of both sides, says Vicken Cheterian.

2011, lessons of hubris

Kerem Oktem 22 December 2011
The Arab uprisings expose the self-delusion of the powerful - from the region itself to Turkey, Germany and the rest of Europe. This is a moment to register and build on, says Kerem Oktem.

Significant changes in Turkish religion and Turkish nationalism

William Armstrong 18 October 2011
Turkish society has proved to be loyal to its country rather than divided over religious and political views as Turkey’s disputes with Israel have united them into a common feeling: nationalism.

Turkish democracy: a flawed model

Agnes Czajka and Bora Isyar 5 October 2011
Turkey’s political leadership under Recep Tayyip Erdogan is projecting the country as a successful model of democracy for Arab states emerging from authoritarian rule. A closer look casts doubt on the claim, say Agnes Czajka and Bora Isyar.

The AKP years in Turkey: the third stage

Gunes Murat Tezcur 20 September 2011
A near-decade of rule by Turkey’s governing AKP has reshaped the state and consolidated the party’s clear political hegemony. But this very success exposes serious remaining problems in Turkish democracy, says Gunes Murat Tezcur.

Turkey's democracy, Europe's imperative

Nora Fisher Onar 23 June 2011
The result of Turkey's election creates a vital need to put the country's relationship with the European Union at the centre of both partners' concerns. What is at stake is the historic mission of reconciling secularism, democracy and Islam, says Nora Fisher Onar.

Turkey’s election, and democracy's shadow

Gareth Jenkins 21 June 2011
The third successive victory of Turkey’s ruling party confirms its domination of the country’s political landscape. But a close study of the AKP's evolving methods of rule reinforces grave doubts about the direction of Turkish democracy, says Gareth Jenkins.

Turkey's “passive revolution” and democracy

Kerem Oktem 9 June 2011
A near-decade of rule by strategic, business-friendly, moderate Islamists has transformed Turkey’s political dynamics. Now, the prospect of a third successive electoral victory seems to offer the Justice & Development Party (AKP) a chance to consolidate its hegemony over the once entrenched military-led “deep state”. But the situation is not so simple for the AKP, nor so clear for Turkey’s future. Rather, increasing domestic tension and regional turbulence are posing critical new questions over the country’s democracy and model of governance, says Kerem Oktem.

Europe’s tipping-point, Turkey’s solution

Nora Fisher Onar 4 April 2011
The prospect of Turkish membership of the European Union looks more remote than ever. But neither Europe’s infirmity nor Turkey’s widening horizons need be the end of the story. A revived relationship based on mutual benefit remains possible, says Nora Fisher Onar.

This week's editor

Heather McRobie


Heather McRobie is a regular contributor to 50.50

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