Taming the "New Turkey"
The discourse of "new Turkey" has repeatedly appeared during historical turning points of the Turkish Republic. It is used for the sake of different interests by local and foreign circles.
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Foreign Policy Implications of Turkey's Power Struggle
Since December 2013, there has been an increasing power struggle in Turkey between two former allies, the Gülen Movement and the ruling AK Party.
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The criminalization of the Gülen Movement in the context of the struggle with the parallel structure might conclude with the other-ization of the movement.
Turkey's local elections which looked more like parliamentary elections are finally behind us. Never had an election season in the country's history been so aggressive and tense.
The elections will not end polarization in Turkish politics. In fact, this election should be seen as the first phase of the presidential elections of Aug. 10, 2014.
In an atmosphere where the Kurdish issue is interpreted as Turkey's most important political problem aside from terror, the position and responsibility of both the government and the Kurdish political movement is growing.
What happened on March 30?
When the race for the March 30 elections began, there were at most 15-17 swing vote cities that were up for grabs. In all but one of these swing the race was between the AK Party and only one other opposition party.
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March 30 Elections and Opposition Parties
The opposition parties neither signal a structural and managerial change in their parties nor offer a different vision for the future in the event they lose the March 30 elections.
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SETA Political Researcher Galip Dalay said that there is no big drop of support for Erdoğan and his party due to the tension.
In other words, extra-parliamentary forces working against the government have effectively resulted in Erdoğan's association with democracy, the ballot box and popular will.
The Justice and Development Party (AK Party), with the elections on March 30, will have run in a total of eight elections since its founding. If the polls and the rallies are any indication, it seems that AK Party will prevail once again.
The Dec. 17 operation transformed the local elections into a vote of confidence for the AK Party government. March 30 is no longer about municipalities and town councils but Mr. Erdoğan's political future
After the Dec. 17 operation, the local elections that are supposed to take place on March 30 have come to mean much more than local elections.
We must question how a list that lumped together these individuals - who, even if they committed crimes, would never join forces or commit the same crimes - came into being.
