Boğaziçi University, Istanbul Summer term 2014

Summer term course

Current issues in Contemporary Turkey

Dilek YANKAYA, PhD

Course description:
This course covers the political and social history of Modern Turkey in order to give a
global understanding of the construction of the current issues debated in the public
sphere. The thematic approach will be privileged and accompanied by the historical
approach. Hence, each class will present a peace on the puzzle. The focus will be on the
emergence and evolution of the major sociopolitical actors and dynamics since the
foundation of the modern republic and their interaction within the social structures, the
domestic and foreign politics as well as on the formulation of the major topics in the
public debate. At the end of the summer school, the students will be disposing historical
and sociological elements to sharpen their understandings of political and social
functioning of contemporary Turkey.
Four major issues will be approached during the summer semester (they will be
organized according to the class hours):

1ST From Empire to the modern Republic: a new regime in the search of a new society:
- The last period of the Ottoman Empire
- The constitutional and institutional pillars of the modern state
- Where does the new power elite come from? (military, political elite, bureaucracy)
- The economic project and its actors
- The main sociological divisions : cultural-religious and economic divergences
Research questions:
- What are the continuities and ruptures between the Ottoman state and the modern
Turkish state model?
- Analyze the relationship of the modernity and the transformation of the governing
elite.

Compulsory Reading:
Islamoglu, Huri, Perdue, Peter C., Shared histories of modernity. China India and the
Ottoman Empire, Introduction, pp. 1-21.

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Lisa Anderson, “The State in the Middle East and North Africa”, Comparative Politics,
Vol.20, No. 1, Oct., 1987, pp.1-18
Zurcher, Erik, Young Turk legacy and nation building, chapters “Ottoman Empire 1850-
1922 Unavoidable Failure” and “Who were the Young Turks?”, pp. 59-72 and 95-109.

Reading list :
Colak, Yilmaz, “Ottomanism vs. Kemalism: Collective memory and cultural pluralism in
1990s”, Middle Eastern Studies, 2006, Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 587-602.
Karabelas, Gerasimos, “The Military Institution, Atatürk’s Principles, and Turkey’s
Sisyphean Quest for Democracy”, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 45, No.1, January 2009, pp.
57-69.
Keyder, Çağlar, State and Class in Turkey. A study in a capitalist development, Londra,
New York, Verso, 1987.
Lewis, Bernard, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, London, Oxford UP, 1968.
Sakallioglu, Umit Cizre, “The anatomy of the Turkish military's political autonomy”,
Comparative Politics, January 1997, Vol. 29 Issue 2, pp151-167.
Turan, Ilter, “The military in Turkish politics” Mediterranean Politics, London, 1996
Zürcher, Erik Jan, Turkey: A Modern History, London, Tauris, 1993

2ND Religion has always been political in modern Turkey:

- Religion in the social organization : from rural to urban
- The constitutional management of the religious issues : Laïcité
- The political management of the religious issues : Diyanet
- Islam as a matter of social cohesion : the Democrat Party and its conservative
tradition
- Islam as a social and political claim : the Islamist movement
- State pragmatism and Islam : when neoliberalism meets religion
- The empowerment of the Islamic bourgeoisie
Research questions:
- Analyze and explain the following argument: The religion has always been political
in Turkey.
- How to explain the transformation of political Islam since 1970s?

Atasoy, Yıldız. « Cosmopolitan Islamists in Turkey: Rethinking the Local in a Global Era »,
Studies in Political Economy, Autumn 2003/Winter 2004, Cilt 71/72, s. 133-161.
Ayata, Sencer, Patronage, Party, and State: The Politicization of Islam in Turkey, Middle
East Journal, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 40-56.-
Duran, Burhanettin, “Islamist Redefinition(s) of European and Islamic Identities in
Turkey”, Mehmet Uğur, Canefe, Nergis (eds.), Turkey and European Integration:
Accession Prospects and Issues, Londra ve New York, Routledge, 2004.
Gülalp, Haldun, “Globalization and Political Islam: The Social Bases of Turkey’s Welfare
Party”, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Aug. 2001, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 433-448

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Göle, Nilüfer, “Secularism and Islamism in Turkey: the making of elites and counter-
elites”, Middle East Journal, 1997, Cilt 51, No. 1, s. 417-426.
İnsel, Ahmet, “AKP and Normalizing Democracy in Turkey”, South Atlantic Quarterly,
2003, Vol. 102, No. 2/3, pp. 293-308.
Keyman, E. Fuat, “Modernisation, Globalisation and Democracy in Turkey: The AKP
Experience and its limits”, Constellations: An International Journal of Critical &
Democratic Theory, Vol. 17, Issue 2, Jun 2010, pp. 312-327.
Mandeville, Peter, “Transnational Muslim solidarities and everyday life”, Nations and
Nationalism, 2011, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 7-24.
Mardin, Serif, Religion and social change in modern Turkey : the case of Bediüzzaman Said
Nursi, New York, State University of New York Press, 1989.
Navaro-Yashin, Yael, Faces of the State. Secularism and Public Life in Turkey, Princeton,
Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2002.
Öniş, Ziya, “Political Islam at the Crossroads: From Hegemony to Coexistence”,
Contemporary Politics, 2001, Vol 7, No. 4, pp. 281-298.
Sakallioglu, Umit Cizre, Secular and islamic politics in Turkey : the making of the Justice
and Development Party, New York, Routledge, 2008
Tugal, Cihan, Passive revolution: absorbing the Islamic challenge to capitalism, Stanford,
Calif.,: Stanford University Press, 2009.
White, Jenny B., Islamist Mobilization in Turkey: A Study in Vernacular Politics, Seattle,
University of Washington Press, 2002.
Yankaya, Dilek, “The Europeanization of MÜSİAD: Political opportunism, Economic
Europeanization, Islamic Euroscepticism", European Journal of Turkish Studies, 2009, No.
9.
Yavuz, Hakan (ed.), The Emergence of a New Turkey: Democracy and the AK Parti, Salt
Lake City, The University of Utah Press, 2006

3RD Turkish identity’s battle with its own others:

- The ideological basis of the Turkish nationalism
- The symbolic engineering of the Turkish identity
- The constitutional basis of minority right and identity limitations
- Turkey’s minorities: minorities for good, but not so… ( the case of Kurds, Alevis,
non-muslims)
- Other Turks, but not enough : the relation of Turkish state to its immigrants
- The evolution of the political treatment of Turkey’s minorities : question of
recognition and “openings” in AKP era
Research questions:
- Who is a Turk? Compare and contrast the definitions the Turkish national identity at
the establishment of the Republic and in the AKP era?
- Who is a minority ? Analyze the evolution of the minority discourse(s) in Turkey.

Reading list:

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Barth Fredrik (eds), Ethnic groups and boundaries: the social organization of culture
difference, Bergen/Oslo, Universitetsforlaget, London, George Allen & Uwin, 1969,
Introduction.
Grigoriadis, Ioannis N, “Türk or Türkiyeli ? The reform of Turkey's minority legislation
and the rediscovery of ottomanism”, Middle Eastern Studies, 2007-05, Vol.43, N. 3, pp.
423-438.
Göl, Ayla, “The Identity of Turkey: Muslim and Secular”, The Third World Quarterly, Vol.
30, No. 4, 2009, pp. 795-811.
Keyman, Emin Fuat, Kadıoğlu, Ayşe, Symbiotic antagonisms: competing nationalisms in
Turkey, Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press, 2011.
Kurban, Dilek, A tale of reciprocity : minority foundations in Greece and Turkey, İstanbul,
TESEV, 2010.
Olson, Robert, Turkey’s Relations with Iran, Syria, Israel and Russia 1991-2000: the
Kurdish and Islamist Questions, Costa Mesa, Mazda Publ., 2001.
Olson, Robert, The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion 1880-
1925, Austin, Tex, University of Texas Press, 1989.
Özlem Göner, “The Transformation of the Alevi Collective Identity”, Cultural Dynamics
July 2005, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 107-134
Sakallioglu, Umit Cizre, Kemalism, hyper-nationalism and Islam in Turkey, History of
European Ideas, 1994, Vol. 18, Issue 2, pp. 255-270.
Shatzmiller, Maya, Nationalism and minority identities in Islamic societies, Montreal,
Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005.
Taspinar, Omer, Kurdish Nationalism and Political Islam in Turkey: Kemalist Identity in
Transition, New York, Routledge, 2005.
Toktas, Sule, EU enlargement conditions and minority protection : a reflection on
Turkey's non-Muslim minorities, East European Quarterly, 2006,Winter, Vol.40, N. 4, pp.
489-518.
Ulgen, Sinan, “A place in the Sun or Fifteen Minutes of Fame? Understanding Turkey’s
New Foreign Policy”, Carnegie Paper, December, 2010.
Yegen, Mesut, “Turkish Nationalism and Kurdish Question”, Ethnic and Racial Studies,
Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 119-151

4TH Turkish foreign policy at the crossroads of internal and external paradigms:
- The basis of Turkish foreign policy culture
- The Cold War paradigm and pragmatism
- Neoliberal paradigm and the discovery of the Middle East
- The rediscovery of the Central Asia and the empowerment of Gülen Movement
- The Islamist movement and its transnationalisation
- The evolution of Turkey’s approach to Eurasia (Balkans, Mediterranean region,
Caucasus)
- Membership to the European Union and Europeanization of Turkey

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- Neo-ottomanism? Old pragmatism, new identity discourse
- The Arab Spring with or without the Turkish model?
Research questions:
- Study the evolution of Turkish foreign policy actors since the end of the Second
World War.
- Is Turkey a regional actor? Discuss with the foreign policy principles, Turkish state’s
international activism and its challenges.

Reading list:
Altunışık, Meliha Benli, “Worldviews and Turkish Foreign Policy in the Middle East”,
New Perspectives on Turkey, No. 40, 2009, pp. 171-194.
Anderson Lisa, “The State in the Middle East and North Africa”, Comparative Politics,
Vol.20, No. 1, Oct., 1987, pp.1-18.
Aras, Bülent, “The Davutoglu Era in Turkish Politics”, Insight Turkey, 2009, Vol. 11, No. 3,
pp. 127-142.
Abramowitz, Morton, The United States and Turkey: Allies in Need, New York, Century
Foundation Press, 2003.
Karaosmanoğlu, Ali L., “The Evolution of National Security and the Military in Turkey”,
Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 54, No. 1, Fall 2000, pp. 199-216.
Kaya, Ayhan, Kentel, Ferhat, Euro-Turks : A Bridge or A Breach between Turkey and the
European Union, Bruxelles, CEPS Publications, 2005.
Kirişçi, Kemal, “Turkey’s Foreign policy in Turbulent Times”, Institut d’Etudes de Sécurité
(Union Européenne), Chaillot paper No. 92, September 2006, pp. 7-108.
Kirişçi, Kemal, “The Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy: The Rise of the Trading
State”, New Perspectives on Turkey, No. 40, 2009, pp. 29-57.
Larrabee, Stephen F., Turkey’s New Geopolitics, Turkey’s New Geopolitics, Survival, Vol.
52, No. 2, 2010, pp. 157-180.
Öniş, Ziya, “Domestic Politics, International Norms and Challenges to the State: Turkey-
EU Relations in the post-Helsinki Era”, Turkish Studies, 2003, Vol 4, No. 1, pp. 9-34
Öniș, Ziya, “Turkey and the Middle East after September 11: Importance of the EU
Dimension”, Turkish Policy Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 4, 2003, pp. 83-91.
Öniş, Ziya, “Turkey and the Arab Spring: between ethics and self-interest”, Insight
Turkey, 2012, Vol. No. 3, pp. 45-63.
Robins, Philip, Suits and uniforms: Turkish foreign policy since the Cold War, London,
Hurst & Co, 2003.
Sayari, Sabri, Challenges of Triangular Relations: The US, the EU and Turkish Accession,
South European Society & Politics, June 2011, Vol. 16, Issue 2, pp. 251-263.
Sayari, Sabri, “Turkish Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era”, Journal of International
Affairs, Fall 2000, Vol. 54 Issue 1, pp. 169-183.
Tunander, Ola, “A New Ottoman Empire?: The Choice for Turkey: Euro-Asian Centre vs
National Fortress”, Security Dialogue, 1995, Vol. 26, No. 413, pp. 413-426.

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Uğur, Mehmet, Yankaya, Dilek, “Policy Entrepreneurship, Policy Opportunism and EU
Conditionality: The AKP and TÜSİAD Experience in Turkey”, Governance, 2008, Vol. 21,
No. 4, pp. 581-601
Yavuz, Hakan, “Turkish identity and foreign policy in flux: The rise of Neo-Ottomanism”,
Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies, 2007, Vol 7, No. 12, pp. 19-41.

Course goals:
This course satisfies a major elective requirement for Political sciences and international
relations. As such, it is intended to sharpen students’ skills in the following areas:
- Historical understanding of political and social processes.
- Ability to observe public debate, political discourse as well as domestic and
international media on Turkey.
- Ability to observe relationships between economic, sociological and political
processes in domestic and foreign policy areas.
- Ability to conduct self-directed study on a given question.
- Ability to write argument driven papers.
- Ability to develop debate and discussion skills.

Course format:
The majority of class time consists of an interactive lecture format, whereby variety of
issues in the current public debate will be presented and discussed in concert with
assigned readings. The four last classes will be dedicated to class presentations: the
students will make a presentation on the research question of their choice decided at the
first session with the class instructor. The will present on the weekly assigned research
question (20 minutes), followed by a Q&A session.
The class participation is compulsory in the form a class presentation and participation
into debate. Press follow-up is highly encouraged from diverse resources (Time,
Financial Times, etc.. as well as Al-Jazira). The use of audiovisual elements is encouraged
also in order to observe the media construction of social reality as well as to activate
collective thinking. While students are responsible for all assigned readings, required
and selected readings as well as case study presentations will constitute the basis for the
exams.

Grading system:
Class participation: 20%
Research & presentation: 30%
Final paper: 50%

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Selected general bibliography on Turkey

Ahmad, Feroz, The Making of Modern Turkey, London, Routledge, 1993.

Barkey, Henri, The State and The Industrialization Crisis in Turkey, Boulder, Colo,
Westview Press, 1990.
Berkes, Niyazi, The Development of Secularism in Turkey, London, Hurst, 1998.
Bozdogan, Sibel, Kasaba, Reşat (eds.). Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in
Turkey. Seattle WA : University of Washington Press, 1997.
Buğra, Ayşe, State and Business in Modern Turkey, State University of New York Press,
Albany, 1994.
Keyman, Fuat (ed.), Remaking Turkey: Globalization, Alternative Modernities, and
Democracy, New York, Lexington Books, 2007.
Keyman, Emin Fuat (eds), Citizenship in a global world: European questions and Turkish
experiences, London ; New York, Routledge, 2005?
Keyman, Emin Fuat, Turkish politics in a changing world: global dynamics and domestic
transformations, İstanbul, İstanbul Bilgi University, 2007
Onis, Ziya; Senses, Fikret; Turkey and The Global Economy: Neo-liberal Restructuring and
Integration in Post-Crisis, London, Routledge, 2009.
Öniş, Ziya, “Beyond the 2001 Financial Crisis: The Political Economy of The New Phase
of Neo-liberal Restructuring in Turkey”, Review of International Political Economy, 2006,
Cilt 16, No. 3.

Selected audiovisual resources

The Incredible Turk (1958): Documentary reflecting the Western vision of Turkey
during the Cold War. It shows Mustafa Kemal’s efforts to establish and modernize the
Turkish Republic. The Film contains rare battle scenes from the World War I and the
Turkish War of Independence as well.

The Rageh Omaar Report - Turkey's new visionary, Al Jazira, (2010): Documentary
reflecting the Arab world’s vision of “Turkish model”, Turkey as a regional power.

Other documentaries and films will be proposed during the semester.