Gunes Murat Tezcur

Gunes Murat Tezcur teaches political science at Loyola University, Chicago. He specialises in the politics of Iran, Turkey, and Kurdish nationalism. He is the author of Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey: The Paradox of Moderation (University of Texas Press, 2010)

The AKP years in Turkey: the third stage

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.

By Gunes Murat Tezcur

/ 20 Sep 2011

Turkey’s referendum: a democratic dynamic

The popular endorsement of constitutional amendments is a small but positive step towards Turkey’s democratisation, says Gunes Murat Tezcur.

By Gunes Murat Tezcur

/ 15 Sep 2010

Turkey in transition: reality and image

The visit of Barack Obama to Turkey on 6-7 April 2009 at the end of his week-long European tour - the United States president's first to a Muslim-majority

By Gunes Murat Tezcur

/ 24 Apr 2009

Turkey after Hrant Dink

It has been a year since a teenager callously murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist and activist Hrant Dink on a busy sideway in the middle of the day in Istanbul. Dink'

By Gunes Murat Tezcur

/ 18 Jan 2008

Turkey’s Kurdish challenge

A series of developments in the last month has internationalised Turkey's Kurdish problem and gravely threatened the already fragile stability in the region. The essence of the problem

By Gunes Murat Tezcur

/ 8 Nov 2007

Turkey's political opening

The Turkish parliamentary elections held on 22 July 2007 turned out to be a remarkable step towards democratic consolidation and civilian rule. The elections followed the presidential crisis of April

By Gunes Murat Tezcur

/ 24 Jul 2007

Turkey divided: politics, faith and democracy

A convulsive crisis is gripping Turkey. At stake is not just the choice of the next president or even the future political direction of the country, but the fundamental identity

By Gunes Murat Tezcur

/ 3 May 2007

Hrant Dink: the murder of freedom

Hrant Dink, the Armenian-Turkish intellectual and the editor of the newspaper Agos, was murdered on the afternoon of 19 January 2007 in Istanbul. His murder is a grave blow to

By Gunes Murat Tezcur

/ 23 Jan 2007

The Armenian shadow over Turkeys democratisation

Every society experiences defeat in its own way, observes Wolfgang Schivelbusch in his book The Culture of Defeat: On National Mourning, Trauma and Recovery, but the varieties of response within

By Gunes Murat Tezcur

/ 12 Oct 2005