southeastern europe

by Spyros A. Sofos republished from  the Edge Hill University Institute for Social Responsibility website Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ’s 2018 presidential election victory appeared to seal his party’s domination over Turkey’s politics until the end of his term in 2023, or even 2028. Since this victory however, he has presided over an ailing economy. The Turkish lira has  plummeted , foreign reserves have shrunk as the Central bank intervened  to stabilise the currency , and external debt  mounted  until Qatar, in May 2020 gave the country’s economy  a temporary reprieve . Concurrently, a number of “rising stars” are waiting in the wings. These include the, 2019 İstanbul mayoral election winner,  Ekrem İmamoğlu , and former Erdoğan ally  Ali Babacan .  They are both preparing for the post-Erdoğan era by cultivating their charisma and political capital, causing concerns over Erdoğan’s re-election chances. Erdoğan sought to deflect attention from the country’s woes through a co

This is a second effort to comment on the recent protest in Turkey. This 'second take' is informed by having had the opportunity to talk  over the past couple of days  to a number of people  in Istanbul  with diverse opinions on the situation  . In an article  I wrote back in 2007 on the events of the summer of that year in Turkey, I had tried to develop a reasoning that countered the way in which the military-bureaucratic establishment in Turkey framed Islamism in general, and the AKP in particular, as the ‘Other’, as an outsider to the Turkish body politic that threatened to destroy the achievements of the secular, modernizing forces that had built the Republic. I was arguing then it is evident that, contrary to the attempted simplification of the current political situation into one characterized by the irreconcilable conflict between a monolithic and fundamentalist Islamist camp bent on introducing Şeriat (sharia law) and Turkey’s secular forces, the reality is m

Recent developments – particularly a proposal to recognize Macedonia as the ‘Republic of Vardar Macedonia’ - have demonstrated that, contrary to the fears of some, the debt crisis will not impede Greece’s capacity for resolving regional disputes. appearing in transconflict.com By Spyros Sofos Commentators have recently been  expressing concerns over the impact that the Greek debt crisis will have on the ability of the country to play an active role in resolving a number of outstanding issues in its relationship with neighbouring countries. It is quite true that Greece may be distracted by the magnitude of the task of economic restructuring in hand. It is also not unreasonable to assume that the embattled PASOK government might not be willing to open any new fronts by taking foreign policy initiatives that its opponents may consider or represent as undermining the country’s national interests. Against this backdrop last month’s visit to Athens by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

An extensive interview that covers virtually all one would like to know about today's Turkey by one of the best Turkish social scientists. Sociologist Ayhan Aktar: Polarization is among elite, not men in street Sociologist Ayhan Aktar says the division in Turkish politics is mostly in regards to the elite, not ordinary people, considering the tension in society in recent years when the country’s agenda has been full of weighty issues such as an ongoing investigation into a clandestine organization known as Ergenekon, the government’s efforts to settle the Kurdish issue and a hotly debated constitutional amendment package. Read more in Today's Zaman (3 May 2010)

Over the past year or so 'something' has been happening in Turkey. After the spectacular showdown between the military and judiciary on the one hand and the AKP government on the other, after the survival of the latter in the face of a Supreme Court case that could have entailed the closure of the party, a series of conspiracies to destabilize the government, or to create a 'hot' incident with Greece have been seeing the light of publicity ( Balyoz ( Sledgehammer) plot ). The erstwhile untouchable army has had to endure intense and unrelenting adverse publicity and to witness a litany of middle and high-ranking officers being implicated in these cases or even investigated. Allegations of plots ranging from the childish to the sinister (both of which, incidentally, the military has been proven to excel in) are now part of the staple daily media diet of a Turkish public hooked on the suspense and excitement these provide.  At the same time, the  Erdoğan government is prop

Back in February, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto ğ lu met Greek Cypriot academics  and representatives of civil society in Ankara to discuss developments and prospects of the Cyprus issue. And only a few days ago, journalists from Alithia, Politis and the Cyprus Mail, former Cyprus-EU chief negotiator Takis Hadjidemetriou and United Democrats leader Praxoulla Antoniadou Kyriacou, as well as a number of Turkish Cypriot journalists, met Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo ğ an and EU Minister Egemen  Bağış in Istanbul. This is the closest to what one could call track II encounter and exchange process between the two countries and, as such, it should not be underestimated. Apart from the novelty of this unprecedented activity involving, amongst others, the Turkish Prime Minister addressing Greek Cypriots, one could not but notice the messages that he and his colleagues conveyed. Erdo ğ an reportedly stressed his view that time is right for a solution as the two communit