EU-Turkey relations and the stagnation of Turkish democracy

The current stagnation of Turkish democracy goes hand in hand with the current impasse in EU-Turkey relations. A combination of domestic factors with a loss of credibility of EU conditionality led to a situation in which political reform is substantially stalled and in cases where it is realised, it is mostly conducted to serve the interests of the ruling political elite and with no real reference to the EU. The virtuous cycle of reform that characterised the 1999-2005 period has been replaced by a vicious cycle in which lack of effective conditionality feeds into political stagnation which in turn moves Turkey and the EU further away from one another

How does identity relate to attitudes towards differentiation? The cases of France, Germany, Czech Republic and Turkey

This paper explores the ways in which national identities shape attitudes towards differentiated integration in two old member states, one relatively new member state and one candidate country – namely France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Turkey. It also observes how the impact of differentiated integration on European identity is perceived in these given countries in terms of preserving European identity (deepening), the dilution of European identity (disintegration) and the territorial/geographic limits of European identity (widening). By employing primary research and discourse analysis, the study finds that there is no single and monolithic national identity which produces a uniform attitude towards differentiated integration in member and candidate states, but rather that competing domestic national identity narratives produce differing attitudes within a state on differentiated integration. These national identity narratives can translate into starkly different policy positions concerning the policy area that is subject to differentiated integration, as well as on how differentiation is expected to impact the future of European integration and European identity

Analysis of Motif and Compositıon on Anatolian Village Carpets

Anadolu köy halıları ve göçebe yaşamında dokunan halılar incelendiğinde; dokumacıların inanç, kutsallık, yaşam, yaşadıkları çevre bağlamında oluşturdukları önemli ve belirli özellikteki motifleri halılarda kullandıkları görülmektedir. Bunların temelini, yaşadıkları ortamlar, karşılaştıkları olaylar ve kullandıkları nesneler oluşturmaktadır. Bu nesneler ise tarihi ve güncel olabildiği gibi soyut, sembolik ve organik olmaktadır. Anadolu halılarındaki motiflerin daima kare, dikdörtgen, üçgen, altıgen, sekizgen, paralelkenar gibi geometrik alan içerisine yerleştirilerek geliştirildikleri kolaylıkla anlaşılmaktadır. Bu temelde oluşturulmuş motifler, Anadolu köy halılarının orta alanlarının çeşitli kompozisyon değerlendirmeleri ile kenarsularında kullanılmıştır. Bu motifleri oluşturan, geliştiren ve dokuyanların ellerinde ne kâğıt ne de kalem bulunmaktadır. Ellerinde ise eskiden kalma halı örnekleri, ayna ve taksimatsız cetvel olan bu insanlar, yaratıcılıklarını orijinal sanat bağlamında oluşturmuşlardır. Ayrıca bunların görselleştirilmeleri ise; düzlem geometri bağlamında dikey, yatay ve diyagonal yönlerde oluşturularak yapıldığı görülmektedir. Anadolu köy halıları incelenirse; halının desenleri yönünden orta alan ve kenarsuları ile oluşturulan iki temel bölümden oluşturulduğu görülür. Oğuz boylarından Türkmen ve Yörüklerin Orta Asya’dan Anadolu’ya aktardıkları motifler, sadece süsleme öğesi ya da estetik bir eleman olarak değerlendirilmemelidir. Çünkü onları tek boyuta indirgemek içlerini boşaltmaktan öteye gitmeyecektir. Toplumun ortak anlam yüklediği sembolik motif, renk ve anlamlar; geçmişten günümüze ulaşan ve kullanılan geleneksel biçimlerin kökenleri ve bunların yüzey değerlendirmelerinin geometrik açıklamaları, göründüğünden farklı anlamlar taşıyan ikonografik motifler olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Anadolu köy halıları geometri, halk bilimi, sanat tarihi, toplum bilimi gibi farklı görüşler yanı sıra bazen ideolojik yönlü çözümlemeler ile motif ve desen kompozisyonlarındaki düzen ve simetri öğelerinin açıklamaları yapılmaktadır. Bu araştırmada, Anadolu köy halılarında kullanılan motiflerin oluşturulmasında temeller araştırılacaktır. Ayrıca bu halılardaki motif ve kompozisyon çözümlemeleri geometrik temelle incelenerek açıklanmaya çalışılacaktır.When the Anatolian village carpets and the carpets woven in the nomadic life are examined; It is seen that weavers use important and specific motifs that they have created in the context of belief, sanctity, life, and the environment they live in. The basis of these are the environments they live in, the events they encounter and the objects they use. These objects, on the other hand, can be historical and contemporary as well as abstract, symbolic and organic. It is easily understood that the motifs in Anatolian carpets are always developed by placing them in geometric areas such as square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, octagon, and parallelogram. The motifs created on this basis were used in the middle areas of Anatolian village carpets with various composition evaluations. Those who create, develop and weave these motifs have neither paper nor pen in their hands. These people, who have ancient carpet samples, mirrors and an undivided ruler in their hands, have created their creativity in the context of original art. In addition, their visualization is in the context of plane geometry, it is seen that it is created in vertical, horizontal and diagonal directions. If Anatolian village carpets are examined; It is seen that the carpet is composed of two basic parts formed by the middle area and the edges in terms of patterns. The motifs transferred from Central Asia to Anatolia by Turkmen and Yuruks from the Oghuz tribes should not be considered only as an ornamental element or an aesthetic element. Because reducing them to one dimension will not go beyond emptying them. Symbolic motifs, colours and meanings that the society ascribes a common meaning; The origins of traditional forms that have survived from the past and used and the geometrical explanations of their surface evaluations appear as iconographic motifs that have different meanings than they seem. In addition to different views such as geometry, folklore, art history, and social science of Anatolian village carpets, sometimes ideological oriented analyses and explanations of order and symmetry elements in motif and pattern compositions are made. In this research paper, the foundations of the motifs used in Anatolian village carpets will be investigated. In addition, the motif and composition analyses in these carpets will be examined on a geometric basis and will be tried to be explained

Turkish Accession and Defining the Boundaries of Nationalism and Supranationalism: Discourses in the European Commission

The European Union in general and the European Commission in particular are characterised by supranational governance. The enlargement policy gives the Commission the opportunity to export and promote supranational norms and define the boundaries of Europe as a supranational polity through the conditionality of membership and intensive contact with the candidate countries. This article analyses the discourses of the Commission on Turkey and gives us insights into how well Turkey fits the supranational model in the eyes of Commission officials. It demonstrates how the boundaries of supranationalism are set and even challenged by the prospects of Turkey’s accession