The 20-year rivalry between Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (above), who is the guardian of the Islamist regime, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, came to a head in the recent conflict in Iran. The latest developments in Iran following the recent highly disputed presidential elections have created a wishful political atmosphere which has been characterized by hasty conclusions.

SETA PUBLIC LECTURE By  Ali T. Akarca  Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago Chair Talip Küçükcan SETA Date: June 23, 2009 Tuesday  Time: 16.00 – 18.00 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara

One often gets this question from academics and experts: What will be the framework of international relations in the 21st century? Will it be determined by "hard instruments" such as energy, security and population?

 Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ delivered an unprecedented speech on Tuesday. Given its tone, arguments and scope, Başbuğ's speech may herald the beginning of a new era in civilian-military relations in Turkey

With the appointment of Yusuf Ziya Özcan as the new president of Turkey’s Higher Education Board (YÖK), there is renewed hope for the future of the Turkish university system. For too long Turkish universities have performed way below acceptable international standards. Nor have they catered to the increasing needs of Turkish society. Instead of improving the standards of higher education in Turkey, YÖK has acted like an academic police controlling everything in the universities.

The decision by the Turkish Constitutional Court to reject the closure case against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) opens a new chapter in the history of Turkish democracy.

German philosopher Jurgen Habermas is among the few prominent Western thinkers who still believe in the promise of the Enlightenment.

The Turkish Constitutional Court’s verdict annulling the Parliament’s amendments to Articles 10 and 42 of the Constitution disregards popular will, legalizes arbitrary restrictions on the right to equal access to education, and erodes the separation of powers by permitting itself to act outside of the legal order.

Turkey has one of the youngest populations in the world, with about 20 million people between the ages 15 and 30. According to the 2007 census, about 60 percent of the total population of Turkey is under the age of 30. So just what is this young and extremely dynamic population doing?

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a Turkish world from the “Adriatic Sea to the Chinese Wall” became a new topic of discussion in Turkish policy circles. While Turkey tried to develop close political, economic and cultural relations with the newly independent Central Asian Republics, the mid and late 1990s witnessed a steady decline in the relations and failed to produce any concrete results. With its new foreign policy outlook, Turkey is seeking to increase its field of sphere in Central Asia by revitalizing its efforts to reconnect with the sister Turkish states. Security, economic cooperation, energy and civil society initiatives are the new dynamics of the Turkish-Central Asian relations.

The debate over the headscarf issue is increasingly becoming a debate about who defines modernity in Turkey. The traditional vanguards of modernity are claiming to own modernity in a way that leaves practically no space for those they define as the "other," which in the language of militant Turkish secularism turns into "enemies of the republic," "backward-looking dogma obsessed people," "religious fanatics," "ethnic nationalists," etc.

The short-term winner of the July 22 elections is the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) but the big winner is the traditional periphery of Turkish society. The AK Party’s challenge now is to turn this victory into an asset for those who voted for the party. And this means electing a president who will not be a disappointment for the vast majority of the public.

Recent events have once again thrown into sharp focus the question of democracy and secularism in Turkey. The table talk topic is whether Turkey should be democratic or secular. The July 22 elections will be a battleground for the Turkish political system to decide if it can be both secular and democratic while remaining civilized.

With July 22nd set for national elections, Turkish politics has entered a new phase. While AK Party is faced with the most important challenge of its political life to date, Turkish democracy is also put to the test. Over the next ten weeks, we will see a deep identity politics playing out in the Turkish political space.

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.