If the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) believes that a withdrawal to Kandil only will be sufficient, the other phases of the solution process may be put into practice arduously.
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As the parties take a political-stress-test in the solution process, all of the actors who fail to play a founding-role will have to suffer structural fractures, independently of the survival or success of the process.
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Whatever happens, relations between the two countries cannot and will not reach the high level of cooperation between Turkeys pro-coup elites and Israel in the late 1990s.
In addition to a big plus in the diplomatic success column of Turkey, for the sake of being realistic however, the structural issues such as the Turkish-Israeli conflict over the regional vision and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, etc. should be taken into consideration.
Perhaps from now on, Tunisia should adopt an approach prioritizing social dynamics without pushing the new constitution process aside.
Trade relations between Turkey and Russia indicate that divergence between these two countries regarding the resolution of the Syrian crisis has not deeply influenced the relations between the two.
The congresss most outstanding contribution to the AK Party and Turkish politics was that it offered crucial hints to define the identity of the AK Party and the new dynamics of its politics.
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Does the PKK, in the context of Turkey’s Kurdish question, intend to lay down its arms under any circumstance?
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Syria has become one of the few friends Iran has left, after it was blatantly sanctioned by the West, the U.S and other states in the region after the Islamic revolution.
In the last decade, the Turkish Republic has experienced the most difficult breaking points in its history since its establishment.
Turkish foreign policy has entered a new phase, and it is highly possible that this phase will prove to be a breaking point.
Despite a historical affinity between Israelis, Turks, strong interaction between people, NGOs, think-tanks was never established, that’s exactly what we need.
The Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) and PollMark recently conducted a fairly extensive and comprehensive study with the participation of 10,577 people in 2,497 different spots.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's walkout in the midst of a discussion on Gaza in Davos won him millions of supporters not only in Turkey, but around the world. With his bold position on the Middle East peace process, Erdoğan has the Arab and Muslim streets behind him.
The birth pangs of a new human geography and geographic imagination are being felt across the Middle East. As the ethnic and sectarian models of cultural and political identities are being questioned, new patterns of cultural affinity and association are emerging with a new sense of shared history and common geography.
According to the 2008 Transatlantic Trends public opinion survey recently released by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) -- available at www.gmfus.org -- Turkey's threat perception has declined and its confidence has increased compared to a year ago.
The Georgian-Russian crisis, the political and economic alienation of Armenia in the Caucasus, Turkey’s new project to establish the Caucasus Stability Platform, and the Turkish and Armenian administrations’ willingness to normalize relations have created a suitable atmosphere in which to put an end to the problems between Turkey and Armenia
In the parliamentary elections of July 22, 2007, AKP (Justice and Development Party) won 47% of the votes, obtaining a very strong mandate to take issue with Turkey’s outstanding problems. In the predominantly Kurdish east and southeast region, the AKP doubled its vote from 26% to 53%. The AKP seemed to have persuaded the Kurds thanks to the party’s earlier moves to solve the Kurdish problem by granting more rights and freedoms as well as jobs and economic prosperity. Having started the negotiation process with the EU and obtaining such a strong mandate from the Kurdish voters, why did the AKP turn its back to the Kurdish issue? This can be explained with reference to three groups of factors working at the domestic, the EU and international levels.
Turkish President Abdullah Gül’s visit to the White House, his first such visit to the US as president and the first visit by a Turkish president in 11 years, comes at a time when US-Turkish relations have taken a new turn.
Abdullah Gül has been elected the 11th president of the Turkish Republic. Some analysts called his candidacy controversial and warned of a major backlash. All that is past now. A number of challenges lie ahead for Gül. The challenges, however, are not only for him but also for the future of Turkish democracy. Gül received 339 votes in the third round. This is more than the last three presidents got: Turgut Özal got 263, Süleyman Demirel 244 and Ahmet Necdet Sezer 330. The choice of the new Turkish Parliament reflects the will of the majority of Turkish voters. According to a recent poll conducted by research firm Konda, if there was an election today the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) would get 54 percent of the vote. This means two things: First of all, there is still a steady flow of votes from the center-right (Democrat Party, DP, and Motherland Party, ANAVATAN) to the AK Party. And second, Gül’s presidency has been interpreted as the right choice by both the AK Party and other center-right voters.