Karabekir Akkoyunlu is a PhD candidate at the Government Department, LSE, where he researches political change in Turkey and Iran, and teaches classes on democratisation and Middle East politics. He i
It was difficult to miss the irony of commentaries on the “triumph of neo-Ottomanism” on 24 July, when Erdoğan was crowned the second conqueror of Istanbul.
This obsession with personalities can fuel the very passions and tensions that such individuals feed on, and obscure the underlying factors that explain their rise in the first place.
Once the external anchor of Turkey’s democracy, the EU‘s normative influence has sunk as low as its reputation among its many erstwhile supporters, who now feel betrayed and abandoned.
Once the external anchor of Turkey’s democracy, the EU‘s normative influence has sunk as low as its reputation among its many erstwhile supporters, who now feel betrayed and abandoned.
The Violence Law can be seen as a site-specific implementation of intensifying methods to oversee the entire population: wholesale detentions and ex post facto indictments have emerged as the preferred method of intimidating, marginalising and criminalising dissenting groups en masse.
Turkey is in turmoil. Hundreds of thousands are protesting on the country’s main squares against a whole set of grievances. They are facing extreme police brutality. But the AKP dream of unfettered economic growth and mounting regional power within a neo-Ottoman sphere of influence is over.
Syria’s neighbours, including Turkey, have the most to lose from an intensifying Syrian conflict, as they directly bear the brunt of it. Thus it is imperative that there is some sort of dialogue across the geopolitical divide. The EU is conspicuous in its absence.
This is an appeal to the global citizenry to wake up to the dire situation unfolding before our eyes and to raise our voice. It is time to put concerted pressure on our respective governments, who are complicit in this cynical spectacle, and urge them to act responsibly for the benefit of all nati
