Aylık arşivler: Kasım 2016

Democracy’s Challenge

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November 28, 2016

All peoples aspire to democracy.  Regardless of the level of respect they have for fundamental rights and freedoms all regimes claim to be democratic in some form because it remains the ultimate source of legitimacy to govern.

Notwithstanding its worldwide appeal, democracy as practiced in the West has faced some challenges in recent years. Interventions in the Middle East have not only adversely affected West’s public discourse on promoting democracy but also led to serious questioning of related violations of domestic and international law.

Moreover, the global economic crisis has given rise to strong criticism of the existing economic order on both sides of the Atlantic. Long before, but especially since the collapse of communism, free market economy had become the twin sister of democracy. In other words, failures of the free market also had a negative impact on the perception of democracy. Okumaya devam et →

Turkey, European Union and NATO

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November 14, 2016

“Turkey’s traditional foreign policy, bitterly criticized by the present Government for having betrayed Turkey’s potential, stood on pillars. Our relations with the United States and the European Union constituted the first two. A third one was our relations with our neighbors and the region. Prominently among those was Russia. Since the world is in a constant process of transformation Turkey was searching for new pillars to add to the existing ones. Relations with China, India and other emerging powers offered new prospects. Okumaya devam et →

From Arab Spring to Turkish Autumn

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November 7, 2016
The EU summit held in Brussels on December 17, 2004 decided that accession negotiations with Turkey would start on October 3, 2005. The process was accordingly launched at the Luxembourg Intergovernmental Conference. This was two years after the Justice and Development Party (JDP) came to power when “democratic reform” was high on Turkey’s agenda. In early April 2009 President Obama visited Turkey. He addressed the Turkish Parliament and referred to Turkey’s strong, vibrant, secular democracy as Ataturk’s greatest legacy. Regional countries were looking at Turkey with envy. Okumaya devam et →