It is necessary to contemplate and understand why, in the face of such radical changes, Turkey's political map, party choices have remained the same.

Despite the lengthy history of the Kurdish question, the persistent coexistence of various political approaches failed to create a mutually acceptable term to describe the issue at hand.

As the road map progresses, the EU is expected to gradually introduce visa facilitation for Turkey. A full visa exemption is stipulated to take place at the end of the process through the EU’s standard procedures.

The increasing timidity of Western democracies to pursue the principle of responsibility to protect at an international level is leaving the Chinese government with the freedom to oppress .

INSIGHT TURKEY DEBATES   Chair:     İhsan Dağı, Insight Turkey    Speakers:    Kemal Kirişci, Boğaziçi University     Alper Dede, Zirve University      Date: June 2, 2011 Thursday  Saat: 14.00-16.00  Venue: SETA, Ankara

Bin Laden whom George W. Bush had declared would be captured "dead or alive" after the 9/11 attacks was killed by the Obama administration.

The migration and settlement of Turks and Muslims in Europe since the 1960s has irrevocably changed the social, cultural, religious and demographic landscape of European societies by transforming them into more ethnically heterogeneous and diverse political communities.

The survey “Turkey's Perception of the Kurdish Issue,” jointly conducted by the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) and PollMark, has yielded quite important sociological findings on the relations between Turks and Kurds.  The research was undertaken to reveal the content and the grounds of the social relations between the two communities, the current phase of social integration and whether terror and violence have caused lack of trust and confidence between these social groups. The survey shows that the will and desire for coexistence transcends ideological, ethnic and political identities. The research points out that despite the lengthy period of violence and terror, political polemics and crises, there is still no environment of distrust or enmity between Turks and Kurds and that the country is not threatened by the danger of ethnic violence over Turkishness or Kurdishness.

SETA CONFERENCE By  Adam Luedtke  Assistant Professor, University of Utah Date: May 7, 2008 Wednesday Time: 17.00 - 19.00 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara

An important meeting was held in İstanbul last week. The conference, called “Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Youth Work,” was co-organized by the Council of Europe and the Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation (ICYF-DC), which was started by member nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). As part of the “All Different, All Equal” campaign program, the conference brought together about 200 participants, all young people, from Muslim and European countries.

The Alliance of Civilizations initiative is one of the major attempts of our day to bring different cultures and civilizations together. Like all great ideas, it has arisen out of a need to address a problem: the problem of recognizing cultural differences without denying their existence on the one hand, and without turning them into causes of conflict and war, on the other. In a world in which all of us passionately seek a moral and political center, the need for uniting rather than dividing is obvious. Reaching that goal, however, remains a daunting task.

Current developments and recent social and cultural transformations under the forces of globalization indicate that the prophecy of traditional secularization thesis seems to have failed to capture the ongoing influence of religion. Proponents of secularization thesis established an unavoidable and casual connection between the beginning of modernity and the decline of traditional forms of religious life. Generally speaking theorists of secularization process argued that religion would lose its influence on social and political life once the society absorbs the values and institutions of modernization. For B. Wilson for example “secularization relates to the diminution in the social significance of religion”. L. Shiner on the other hand, argued that the culmination of secularization would be religionless society.

There is a growing Muslim population in the very heart of Europe, where states are largely secular. Secularized European social life, political culture and the public sphere are all facing an enormous challenge of accommodating a relatively religious Muslim citizens coming from different Muslim countries. Despite settling in Europe and getting socialized here, many Muslims attach great importance to their sacred and religious values, trying to express their demands and identities in the public sphere.

Turks in Germany are no longer transitory gastarbeiter (guest worker) people but de facto settlers in Germany, despite the dominant official political discourse that constantly reiterates that Germany is not a country of immigration. The parameters of this political discourse are based on an ethnocentric interpretation of citizenship and nationhood in Germany, which emphasizes volknation, a cultural nation, and leads to the political exclusion of ethnic minorities.

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Today there are increasing numbers of Muslim diasporic communities in Europe. Since 9/11 Islam and Muslim communities were put under the spotlight and public gaze. Although numerous publications hit the bookshelves, a number of ill informed analyses of Islam and approaches to Muslim communities still dominate the popular public opinion in the West. Misperceptions about Islam and Muslims in particular gave rise to the essentialist views of this faith and its followers as fundamentalist, pro-violence, uncompromising and anti-Western. It is time to challenge the monolithic perception of Muslims in Europe and argue that Turkish Muslims constitute a changing diasporic community defying clichés and common stereotypes about Muslims. The Turkish community in Europe is part of the emerging ‘European Islam’ and has its own diversity in the expression of Turkish-Muslim identity.

Awareness of the importance of civil society institutions increased among Turks in Europe after the mid 1980’s. Membership volume of Turkish civil organizations, their areas of activities and relations with other institutions suggest that Turks internalized values of civil society and are increasingly getting integrated in the Dutch society. Interests of Turks in civil society organizations and civil values as well as focus of their political preferences are an indication of social integration. The primary focus of Turks in the Netherlands is political questions in this country rather than Turkey. They are interested in issues such as political participation and representation in their host country since they want to lead a harmonious life with the society in this country.The current study indicates that Holland is at the heart of the activities of Turkish civil organizations. Majority of the organizations in the sample carry out their activities in Holland either on local or national level. This trend is an indication for the efforts and willingness of Turks who would like to integrate in the larger society. Research results also show that Turks don’t want to live in cultural ghettos isolated from rest of the society with walls of discrimination but they want to lead a social life in harmony with the Dutch society far from conflicts but without losing their own identity.