The ideology and politics of the Nationalist Action Party of Turkey

This article has two central areas of concern. The first involves the analysis of how the basics of the ideology of the Nationalist Action Party (NAP) of Turkey (1969-1981) drew some strength from the fascist potential of the political traditions of the Kemalist period, but at the same time deviated from it. The second argument, however, demonstrates the deep impact the party had on the course of Turkish democracy. It was a party with a narrow superficial power base and was sustained artificially in the political scene by the objective historical conditions in the crucial decade of 1970s. This second contention implies that the NAP was a conjunctural phenomenon with no hope of a long-term success in Turkish political landscape and had therefore to adopt a radical ideological content and a strategy of action to come and stay in power. Furthermore, and more important, what kept it going was not any authentic and pressing needs emanating from the grass-roots of its constituency, but the strategy of the dominant political forces on the centre-right. The following analysis of these two arguments is heavily based on the primary sources related to the NAP

The ideology and politics of the Nationalist Action Party of Turkey

Cizre-Sakallioģlu Ümit. The ideology and politics of the Nationalist Action Party of Turkey. In: CEMOTI, n°13, 1992. L'immigration turque en France et en Allemagne. pp. 141-164

Disentangling the Threads of Civil-Military Relations in Turkey: Promises and Perils

Abstract When one takes stock of Turkey's capacities and limitations not in terms of geopolitics, Islamism, or the Kurdish question but from a sociological and political perspective focused on internal challenges and prospects, perhaps the most critical concern turns out to be the civil–military imbalance. There is a need for a better understanding of the possibilities and challenges for establishing new game rules and a more democratic redefinition of civil–military equation in Turkey, where a politically "autonomous" and "religiously secular" military bloc is pitted against a popularly elected "Islam?friendly" government in the context of an electoral democracy dominated by suspicion, conflict, and open confrontation between the sides. This essay examines the critical impact of the victory of the "yes" votes in the historic referendum of 12 September 2010 and the Ergenekon incident as catalysts for change and reform in Turkey's civil–military balance.http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/mediterranean_quarterly/v022/22.2.cizre.htm

Turkey at the Crossroads: From ‘Change with Politics as Usual’ to Politics with Change as Usual

The article analyzes the new roadmap for Turkey after the summer 2011 elections as not a “resumption” of unfinished business from the last nine years, but from the perspective of the ability of Turkey’s ruling party, the AK Party, as well as the opposition forces and actors to “transform” some anachronistic features of the dominant politics as well as deal with troubling new trends in society. The AK Party governments made progress in many areas by pushing forward a series of far-reaching reforms which have genuinely changed Turkish politics. However, Turkey under AK Party rule includes a society which has failed to shed its extreme hostility toward different ideas, identities and values. Moreover, current opposition parties and movements in Turkey continue to be weak in imagination, vision, capacity and leadership, which have led to rigidities and even deeper political divisions. More importantly, the new government will have to create new possibilities out of its past failures and turn paradoxes, contradictions and ambiguities in politics and society, in the country and in the region, into positive achievements

L’immigration turque en France et en Allemagne

Numéro consacré à ces deux communautés turques, l'une, en Allemagne, nombreuse (environ 1 600 000 personnes) et l'autre, en France, en croissance rapide (entre 200 et 250 000). Analyse comparée de leurs modes d'intégration et des problèmes qu'elles rencontrent, notamment en raison de la montée du racisme, le rôle des associations politiques et religieuses, l'évolution des envois de fonds des travailleurs immigrés. Comment, compte tenu de leur hétérogénéité sociale, culturelle (Turcs et Kurdes..