‘Islamic Democracy’ in the Arab World
September 12th, 2008 by Jason
Der Spiegel has an in-depth look at the current state of democracy in the Arab world. The 7-part series surveys Kuwait, Turkey, Tunisia, Jordan, and the Gulf, as well as analyzes the history of the fusion between Islam and democracy.
The authors reject the notion that democracy is somehow incompatible with Islam or Arab culture, and they conclude that “giving the peoples of the Islamic world a voice in shaping their own destinies will help make their lives easier, the region more predictable, and the West more secure.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Gulf, Islam and Democracy, Jordan, Kuwait, Political Islam, Tunisia, Turkey | Comment »
Turkey’s Historic Visit to Armenia
September 8th, 2008 by Sarah
After Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian invited Turkish President Abdullah Gul to make a historic visit to Yerevan, both leaders watched an international soccer match between their national teams and met beforehand in a closed-door session. This marked the first visit to Armenia by a Turkish head of state since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Brian Ulrich at American Footprints questions whether the visit will “truly lead to an end to the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries.” Ulrich suggests that “the crisis in South Ossetia is probably a factor influencing decision-making” as “Armenia is, right now, Russia’s closest ally in the Caucasus” and opines that Armenian officials may fear that Russia’s newfound position closer to the Armenian border “may herald a time when Russia might seek to intervene directly in its affairs. If that happens, Turkey will be an important country to have relations with in the interest of playing one large power against another.”
Posted in Diplomacy, Turkey | Comment »
The Soft-Touch Statescraft of Bashar Assad
September 4th, 2008 by Jason
Syrian President Bashar Assad spoke today at a summit in Damascus with the leaders of France, Turkey, and Qatar to discuss Middle East peace. Assad said that he has handed a proposal for peace with Israel to Turkish mediators. No word yet on what it entails.
Michael Young wades deep into the thicket of Syrian-French-Israeli diplomacy in the Daily Star today. He accuses French President Nicolas Sarkozy of “ostentation and shallowness” in his quest for a share of Arab-Israeli peacemaking glory. Sarkozy rather fatuously declared that Middle East peace “went through France and Syria”, perhaps forgetting what Assad’s idea of Middle East peace looks like.
Posted in Diplomacy, Israel, Mideast Peace Plan, Qatar, Syria, Turkey | 1 Comment »
Turkey, Iran, and the West
August 19th, 2008 by Adam
Soner Cagaptay in the Los Angeles Times is troubled by the implications of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent trip to Turkey. Cagaptay says in the past a visit by an anti-Western autocrat, especially one so diametrically opposed to Turkey’s secular principles, would have been extremely controversial. However, according to Cagaptay, the expanding ties between Ankara and Tehran reflect a weakening devotion to secularism and democracy in Turkey and Cagaptay warns that, “Years from now, Ahmadinejad’s visit to Istanbul will be remembered as the tipping point at which the West lost Turkey, and Turkey lost its soul.”
Posted in Iran, Secularism, Turkey | Comment »
POMED Notes: Implications of Turkey’s Constitutional Court Decision
August 7th, 2008 by Sarah
Yesterday, the Brookings Institution invited Cagri Erhan, Ibrahim Kalin, and Murat Yetkin to discuss the Turkish court’s ruling and its implications for Turkey’s relations with the United States and Europe. Cagri Erhan is Vice President of the Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies, Ibrahim Kalin is the Founding Director of the Foundation for Political, Economic, and Social Research, and Murat Yetkin is a columnist for Radikal, a Turkish publication. Brookings Visiting Fellow and former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Mark Parris moderated the event.
All of the speakers saw the court’s decision as “good step forward for democracy.”
For POMED’s full notes, click here.
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Event Notes, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, Turkey | Comment »
Mending Fences in Turkey
August 7th, 2008 by Adam
An editorial in the Christian Science Monitor suggests now that the AKP has escaped being banned it must reach out to secularists in order to stabilize Turkey’s polarized political system. The editorial says that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan must follow the court’s warning to not push his party’s religious agenda to tamp down tensions between Islamic and secular forces. However, the most important initiative the AKP could undertake would be to refocus on EU accession talks, which would be a powerful reforming tool.
Posted in Political Islam, Reform, Secularism, Turkey | Comment »
2008: Handling Turkey’s Crisis And Our Addiction to Middle East Oil
August 5th, 2008 by Matt
A couple unrelated posts to pass along from the folks over at The Washington Note:
Last Thursday, one day after Turkey’s Constitutional Court narrowly decided against throwing out the moderate Islamic ruling AKP party, Ben Katcher criticized the State Department’s neutral policy position on the issue, saying it “undercut the administration’s policy of promoting democracy in the Middle East”. Katcher also posed an important question yet to be directly addressed by either candidate–whether the U.S. should seek to isolate, marginalize, or engage moderate Islamist parties like AKP as part of our efforts to promote democracy in the region.
Today, Steve Clemons criticizes both McCain and Obama for proposing “short-term, knee-jerk responses” to the current energy policy dilemma. Clemons implores both candidates to “work harder at thinking through what the characteristics of a new equilibrium in the Middle East and globally might look like”, so they are as prepared as possible to create a more stable, durable situation upon taking office.
Posted in Election 08, Islam and Democracy, Oil, Political Islam, Secularism, Turkey, US foreign policy, US politics | Comment »
Perhaps Not A Victory For Democracy After All
August 5th, 2008 by Sarah
Spencer Boyer and Brian Katulis at the Center for American Progress laud the Turkish Constitutional Court’s recent decision, upholding the constitutionality of the AKP party. “Turkey is as important to the United States as Germany was during the Cold War, serving as a literal and figurative bridge between East and West.” They argue that “Muslim-majority countries all over the world have been watching the complicated interplay between Islam and secular democracy in Turkey, and many have viewed the AKP as an encouraging model for the future.”
However, Zeyno Baran at the Hudson Institute isn’t convinced that the decision is an outright victory for democracy. According to Baran, the AKP party has created a “climate of fear” by conducting government surveillance on its critics, and there is speculation that the Ergenekon case is mere political retribution. Ultimately, Baran warns that if the Ergenekon case turns out to be “mostly a show trial, then those concerned for Turkish democracy and rule of law need to reconsider where Turkey is headed.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, Turkey | Comment »
Debating Iran’s Influence in Iraq
August 5th, 2008 by Sarah
Bitter Lemons, Rana Sabbagh-Gargour, Reza Molavi, Ariabarzan Mohammadighalehtaki, Ahmet O. Evin, and Ghassan Attiyah debate Iran’s increasing influence in Iraqi politics.
Reza Molavi and Ariabarzan Mohammadighalehtaki explain why a stable Iraq is in Iran’s best interests and outline how Iran has contributed to the relative calm in Iraq. “It was Iran that advised Muqtada al-Sadr to dissolve the Mahdi army, thereby preventing a major clash between it and the Iraqi armed forces. Later, when the Baghdad operation took place and supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr refused to give up their guns, once again it was Iranian mediation efforts that saved the day and stopped escalation of the conflict in Sadr City.”
According to Ahmet O. Evin, Turkey has played an important role in fostering stability in Iraq, realizing its benefits to Turkey’s domestic security. However, because Iran has been able to capitalize on the rising sectarian divisions in Iraq by exerting influence on the Shi’ite communities, the question of Iran’s influence on Iraqi policies toward the north may pose challenges to Turkey’s efforts.
For the full debate, click here.
Posted in Iran, Iraq, Turkey | Comment »
A Victory for Democracy
August 4th, 2008 by Sarah
An editorial in The International Herald Tribune applauds the Turkish Court’s decision to not ban the AKP party. “The court ruling is a victory for Turkey, for democracy and for the politics of moderation in the volatile Near and Middle East. That makes it a victory for the United States as well.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, Secularism, Turkey, US foreign policy | Comment »
AKP Triumph
July 31st, 2008 by Sarah
An editorial in The Times Online (UK) lauds the Turkish Court’s decision to not ban the AKP party as“showing moderate Islamists in other countries that Islam is compatible with democracy, and that they should and can work within a secular legal framework to achieve their spiritual ends.”
Meanwhile, an editorial in The Wall Street Journal Europe argues that the “Court’s ruling is an opportunity for E.U. leaders to re-engage their large Muslim neighbor” and cites the prospect of E.U. membership as having “done more than anything else to solve some of Turkey’s fundamental problems.”
Posted in Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, Secularism, Turkey | Comment »
