October 2010 News from Turkish Review Dear Reader,
October-November
In the First Issue of Turkish Review
The Exodus Human nature is excited by new beginnings. We love newborn babies. The first ray of light that enters our room with the morning sun brings us tidings of a new life. We all turn and look at newcomers to a community with curiosity and compassion. The Turkish Review (TR) is a newcomer to the community of periodicals. It expects the curiosity and compassion of your eyes. It knows very well that the world it has been born into is in a bottleneck. The world of journalism in general and that of print journalism in particular resembles a graveyard of hopes for success and love of the profession. It will have to outpace Pharaoh the deadline and its army of other commitments; it will have to walk through the waters of the Red Sea of changes in the Turkish political, economic and cultural agenda; it will have to extract pure-aswater articles from intellectuals who sometimes keep stone silent about their promised submission dates; it will have to wander in the Wilderness of Paran of distributors, subscription schemes, banking failures, accounting obligations, budgetary cuts and, last but not least, the temptation of the Golden Calf of resignation. Even after all this wandering, it is not promised the Holy Land on your bookshelves, where there are already the Philistines, the Hittites and the Amalekites with several Goliaths. And David is not yet born! And as the editor of TR, I'm no Moses with a miraculous staff! In this exodus your subscriptions, constructive criticism and intellectual contributions will count for manna. Please be generous with it. We shall not hoard it; you have to send it each and every day. In this exodus I promise to be Joshua, the carrier of the cluster of grapes, and Bülent Cantimur, who does all that I cannot do, will be the Caleb of this analogy. We shall bring you the ripest and the tastiest of the fruits of Turkey. Many do not know, but Joshua, the son of Nun, or Yûþa ibn Nûn, as we Muslims call him, is believed to be buried on one of the seven hills of Istanbul. This completes the analogy: TR is coming to you from the land of Joshua, the land of political conspiracies, of immense struggle between forces of democracy and forces of secularist fundamentalism, of the only healthy man of Europe, of economic emergence in a time of global crisis, of demilitarization of the general culture and resistance of the military, of the switching of roles between the conservative periphery and the elitist center, of diminishing separatist threats and a surging dialogic mood. These and all others at one and the same time! Think of TR as a dinner table. You will find there the traditional hospitality of the Turks, the colorful fruits of Asia Minor, the countless spices of the Orient and the irresistible synthesis of Eurasian cuisine. Please add your manna to the feast! Bon appétit! Editor-in-Chief
Interview
Philosophical depth: A scholarly talk with the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu: 'Europe will either evolve into a higher civilization with the input of the Muslims, Hindus and other ancient civilizations, or it will start to decline.' by Kerim Balci
Article
Living in difficult times By Ali Babacan The economic and financial landscape has been shaken by an unprecedented crisis of which seeds were sown a couple of years ago. Interconnectedness of the international banking system and significant exposure of major banks to complex, toxic assets transformed what started as a liquidity crisis into a solvency problem.
Article Demilitarization and democracy by Lale Kemal Normalization of the Turkish military to bring it under full civilian democratic control will be painful -- just like Turkey's democratization process in general. The crisis surrounding the appointment of top commanders this summer and the evident determination of the political authority to exercise its legal rights marks an important turning point for civilian military relations.
TR Debate
Referendum Results: Reconciliation or Conflict? Sept. 12 was not the first referendum in Turkey, nor was it the country's first constitutional amendment. But it did set one precedent: for the first time Turkish society was divided into two major camps over a political issue. The recent referendum in Turkey was about a constitutional amendment, but the political campaigns prior to the referendum polarized the country. The "no" front viewed the referendum as a vote of confidence in the AK Party. The "yes" front, endorsed the eligibility of the AK Party, also seeking to encourage it to introduce a brand new constitution. The TR Debate demonstrated that Turkey has still political and social problems to deal with.
Article Different attitudes in the Arab world towards Turkey's referendum
Article The authenticity of anti-Americanism in the Turkish military and its reasons
The official Arab media opted to pay no attention to the referendum discussions and controversies in Turkey. But for the religiously motivated Arab elites, it can be said that for the first time in the history of Turkish-Arab relations, influential Arab elites seem to be interested in a heated discussion of Turkish politics on the making of a new constitution.
Anti-Americanism has been a reality since the 1960s in the Turkish military. However, anti-Americanism has never made it to the top military ranks until the AK Party advent to power. The current belief in anti-American sentiment in the TSK is fairly speculative, even though it does have a historical basis.
Report Ergenekon is Our Reality "Ergenekon is Our Reality" is the final report of a workshop that was held on April 1011 2010 in Istanbul with the initiation of the Young Civilians and the Human Rights Agenda Association. The report was introduced to the press on the 1st of July, 2010. more...
Dossier Religious service at Akhdamar: A small step for humanity, a giant one for peace by Markar Esayan On Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010, an historic milestone was reached in Turkey. A religious service was held, after a 95-year hiatus, at the Surp Haç Armenian church. At least 4,000 attended the service. Most of the Armenian visitors were Turkish Armenians. The occasion attracted a small number of visitors from Armenia and from among the diaspora. This was a small step for humanity, but a giant one for peace.
Dossier Turkey hosts worldwide family conference in Antalya, By Kudret Altindag Turkey is going to host a comprehensive family conference Nov. 26-27, 2010 in Antalya. The conference,co-organized by the Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADÝP), Women's Platform and Dialogue Eurasia Platform (DA), all organized under the most powerful civil society organization in Turkey, the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV).
About Us
The Turkish Review is a bimonthly journal founded in 2010 and published by Feza Gazetecilik A.S., focusing primarily on Turkish politics and foreign policy, international affairs, global economics, integration and ideas, and matters related to global sociopolitical issues.
Book Review A key text to understanding the mindset of the architect of the new foreign policy: civilizational self-perception, By Aysegül Taskapu 118-123 Professor Ahmet Davutoglu, the man behind Turkey's assertive new foreign policy, is well known in the West for his important book 'Strategic Depth: Turkey's International Position.' His 'philosophical depth,' though, is better presented in his 'Alternative Paradigms: The Impact of Islamic and Western Weltanschauungs on Political Theory.' This book has been published in English and widely read by interested circles.
Dossier Coup plots and minorities in Turkey by Meryem Ilayda Atlas The coup plots like the Sledgehammer Plan aim to create chaos and disorder in society in order to provide grounds for the justification and legitimization of a military intervention. Such chaos would not only create discomfort and a high level of insecurity within society, but would also harm Turkey's foreign relations.
Contact Us
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