Future of Turkey in the European Union

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Turkey’s future in the European Union (EU) is a subject of intense debate both in Europe and in Turkey today. Although Turkey first applied to join the EU 45 years ago, it is the only candidate country, which has not yet started accession negotiations. On the one hand, any future enlargement that includes Turkey is a controversial topic for the EU, since Turkey would be the only Muslim member in the EU, which has accepted 10 new members in May 2004. On the other hand, it is too late to exclude Turkey from the future of the EU since it has put the issue of the EU accession at the top of its national agenda and is the only candidate country that has completed the Customs Union with the EU. This article aims to explore future scenarios regarding Turkey’s inclusion to or exclusion from the EU and assess their short and long term implications

The role of ‘the language of the other’ in the segregated education system of Cyprus as a vehicle for developing intercultural dialogue for reconciliation and peace through education

The conflict in Cyprus is rooted in identity, and the importance of the island’s languages to conflicted groups has become a contentious subject. This study explored the various roles that language plays in the island’s post-conflict context: the potential to bring an intercultural dimension to teaching the ‘language of the other’, and understanding what it means to employ the language of a former enemy, along with its relationship to identity, across the divide in public education. After Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004, the Northern Cypriot authorities (TRNC) partially lifted the border in Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe, and the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) in the South introduced optional Turkish in schools for the first time. Turkish and Greek language students’ and teachers’ experiences shed light on challenges for language policymaking post-conflict, and implications for peace education in the future. I interviewed seven Turkish teachers of Greek and six Greek teachers of Turkish. I interviewed 25 secondary school students in the North and 27 in the South. Students’ motivation to study Greek and Turkish includes the political aspect of learning the language of the former enemy; they are aware of the importance of language for future peace on the island. Students’ views should guide top-down educational policymakers, teachers, and unions, for why and how to develop and promote learning the language of the other. Given that no lasting solution has been reached in Cyprus, such language learning to bring about understanding is essential for political future, for security, and for daily use

Host country institutions and firm-level R&D influences: an analysis of European Union FDI in China

The paper investigates the effects of institutions and their interaction with firms’ research & development (R&D) levels on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in China based on a sample of 680 European Union (EU) firms over the period of 1998–2008. Employing panel data estimation approaches and further augmented with the cross-validation technique, our results indicate that EU FDI in China is influenced by the host country’s institutions, rendering support to the institutional theory. Our analysis indicates that the rule of law, institutional reforms and the interaction between institutional reforms and R&D have significant effects on FDI inflows in China. Further analysis suggests that the coefficient for the interaction between the rule of law and R&D is positive and significant after World Trade Organisation (WTO) entry implying that the effects of reforms following the WTO entry much outweigh the impact of rule of law in EU firms’ decisions to invest in China. We also find evidence that EU firms tend to adjust their FDI levels in China in an attempt to reach the desired investment level

The effects of ownership structure, sub-optimal cash holdings and investment inefficiency on dividend policy: evidence from Indonesia

We investigate how a firm's decision to hold excessive cash or to overinvest could influence its dividend payout policy in Indonesia. Additionally, we examine the association between corporate ownership structure and cash dividends. Using a data set of Indonesian listed firms for the period from 1995 to 2014, we find that excessive cash holding (overinvestment) positively (negatively) affects a firm's likelihood of paying dividends. Also, we find that family, foreign, state and institutional ownership have significantly negative links with dividends, which suggests the signals of expropriation of firms' wealth by major shareholders. These findings strongly support the expropriation hypothesis that commonly applies to firms with higher level of concentration or to firms in a weak legal environment by which the rights of minority interests are put at risk by large shareholders

Liquefaction Potential of Railway Embankments

This paper presents an overview of the nature of train-induced vibrations and discusses the liquefaction potential of railway embankments under such low-level vibrations. The paper also presents the results of static and dynamic finite difference numerical analyses performed for a simple railway embankment geometry. The liquefaction potential for the railway embankment foundation was estimated using the results corn FLAC numerical analyses, as well as a cyclic shear stress liquefaction resistance approach using a modified cyclic resistance ratio curve. Liquefaction of railway embankment foundations was found to be possible. However, based on the majority of reported failures the liquefaction potential remains low unless the train-induced vibrations are coupled with factors such as loose foundation, and sudden rise of pore water pressures due to poor drainage, flooding, or heavy rainfall

A new stakeholder opinion-based rapid sustainability assessment method (RSAM) for existing residential buildings

In many developing countries, several strategies and programs have been established to support the green building initiative, but overall progress is too slow to keep up with the global advances. To accelerate progress in building sustainability as well as to aid the decision-making process of different parties involved, a tailored quantification method for the sustainability performance of buildings is needed. The study presents a Rapid Sustainability Assessment Method (RSAM) – a fast and easy-to-implement system developed using indicators and their respective weights obtained from stakeholders and an assessment approach based on residents’ responses. It was then applied to measure the sustainability performance of several residential buildings (from eras: before 1991, from 1991 to 1998, and after 1998) in the capital of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana). Results differentiated well between the buildings of different era, revealing that even new buildings certified via international green building rating systems do not entirely satisfy the vision of sustainability of the capital’s residents. Although the residents’ opinion-based method was developed for existing residential buildings, it is flexible enough to accommodate future changes e.g. including data obtained from other stakeholders (e.g. building management) and assessing non-residential buildings. RSAM is further applicable to residential buildings constructed after 1950s in other similar regions including post-Soviet and Eastern Bloc countries

From Selection to Instruction and Back: Competing Conformational Selection and Induced Fit Pathways in Abiotic Hosts

Two limiting cases of molecular recognition, induced fit (IF) and conformational selection (CS), play a central role in allosteric regulation of natural systems. The IF paradigm states that a substrate “instructs” the host to change its shape after complexation, while CS asserts that a guest “selects” the optimal fit from an ensemble of preexisting host conformations. With no studies that quantitatively address the interplay of two limiting pathways in abiotic systems, we herein and for the first time describe the way by which twisted capsule M-1, encompassing two conformers M-1(+) and M-1(−), trap CX4 (X=Cl, Br) to give CX4⊂M-1(+) and CX4⊂M-1(−), with all four states being in thermal equilibrium. With the assistance of 2D EXSY, we found that CBr4 would, at its lower concentrations, bind M-1 via a M-1(+)→M-1(−)→CBr4⊂M-1(−) pathway corresponding to conformational selection. For M-1 complexing CCl4 though, data from 2D EXSY measurements and 1D NMR line-shape analysis suggested that lower CCl4 concentrations would favor CS while the IF pathway prevailed at higher proportions of the guest. Since CS and IF are not mutually exclusive, we reason that our work sets the stage for characterizing the dynamics of a wide range of already existing hosts to broaden our fundamental understanding of their action. The objective is to master the way in which encapsulation takes place for designing novel and allosteric sequestering agents, catalysts and chemosensors akin to those found in nature