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CIAO DATE: 04/07
Fall 2006 (Volume 5, Number 3)
The Welfare Party, Turkish Nationalism and Its Vision of a New World Order (PDF, 17 Pages, 234 KB)
Cengiz Dinc
Thanks primarily to the dedicated work of the core group of its supporters, the Welfare Party (WP) managed to become the most important Islamist group in Turkey in mid-1990s and tried to give its color to the rising Islamism. This showed that in recent decades, an important part of Turkish society came to see certain versions of Islamism as a solution to their problems. The WP strongly contributed to articulation of a broad Islamist discourse that was very critical of the path that Turkish modernization took under the rule of the secular elite. In other words, the WP elite had a distinct understanding of the modern concepts brought about by the Turkish modernization project.
This article tries to analyze the religious nationalism of the WP and how it differed from the dominant, relatively secular nationalism in Turkey, by paying a special attention to the WP elite’s views as directly expressed in their writings, speeches or as faithfully reported on a day to day basis in publications close to the party (e.g. Milli Gazete). The WP elite’s view with regard to nationalism occupied an important place in their view about core aspects of modernity. It is crucial to explore these views both to understand the recent past of Turkey and also the background of the present developments. The article also analyzes the WP’s vision of a new world order as an interrelated area to its religious nationalism. The WP argued that the current world system was harming Turkey and other Muslim countries and its discourse implied that a unity of Muslims would put an end to this situation. According to the WP, Muslims had to have the consciousness that they were part of the Islamic community (ummah). Globalization was interpreted as a process enabling increasing intra-ummah co-operation.
The Pitfalls of the Normalization Process in the Chechen Republic (PDF, 14 Pages, 191 KB)
Emil Souleimanov
On 12 June, 2000, a decree was made public entitled “On the Organisation of a Provisional System of Executive Power in the Chechen Republic”, with Akhmad Kadyrov at its head. In the opinion of some commentators, that decree was intended to mean the de facto establishment of presidential rule in the republic.1 Half a year later, in January 2001, Vladimir Putin signed a decree entitled “On the System of Institutions of Executive Power in the Chechen Republic”, signalling the definitive predominance of the concept of “managed Chechenisation”, and thus a retreat from de facto direct presidential rule. According to that decree, the provisional administration was to be transformed into the permanent government of the Chechen Republic with broader, clearly defined authority. The process of stabilising the social and political life in the republic was to have been accompanied by the creation of the attributes of democratic statehood a constitution, the institution of a presidency and of legislative power (parliament). The ultimate goal was to have been the signing of an accord on the division of authority between the Chechen Republic and the central, federal government. The parliamentary election which took place last autumn was characterized by the Kremlin as the last step in bringing Chechnya back to the constitutional realm of the Russian Federation, thus indicating a clear stabilization of the situation in the republic.
The present article is an attempt to explore the peculiarities of the process of institutional regime legitimization which has been taking place in Chechnya for at least five years.
Turkey and the EU: A Survey on Turkish Mps’ EU Vision (PDF, 29 Pages, 367 KB)
Kudret Bulbul
Even though Turkey’s dream for being a member of European Union (EU) dates back to late 1950s, it can be said that this process has gained its momentum since the governing period of Justice and Development Party, which is shortly called AK party or AKP in Turkish. When compared with earlier periods, the enormous accomplishments during the AK party’s rule are recognized by domestic and European authorities alike. In the parallel of gigantic steps towards the European membership, which is now a real possibility for Turkey, there have been increasing debates about this process. While some European authorities generate policies over Cyprus issue against Turkey’s membership, some others mainly lead by German Christian Democrats propose a privileged status rather than full membership. Turkish authorities do not stay silent over these arguments, and probably first time the Turkish foreign minister can articulate that “should they (the EU) propose anything short of full membership, or any new conditions, we will walk away. And this time it will be for good” (The Economist 2005 30-31) After October third, Even though Mr. Abdullah Gl, who is the foreign minister of the AK party govenrment, persistently emphasizes that there is no such a concept so-called “privileged partnership” in the framework document, (Milliyet, 2005) the prime minister of France puts forward that this option is actually one of the possible alternatives.
On Crossroads: Reflections on Zimbabwe’s Relations with Britain at the New Millennium (PDF, 16 Pages, 191 KB)
Percyslage Chigora
The period following the election of the Labour Party in Britain into power has seen the relations between Zimbabwe and its former colonizer, Britain deteriorating. Deterioration of relations has been witnessed in the actions of government officials, civil society groups, media organizations, academics and citizens. Antagonism between the two countries arises from the conflict of values1 essentially the pursuit of their divergent national interests in the postcolonial world where state autonomy is a myth coupled with the fact and the legacy of colonialism is very much alive. These divergent views, which are evident, bring into focus the nexus between land reform and economic development as well as issues on governance, human rights, political stability, race relations and equity. The network of class interest, commonality of interests and patterns of co-operation has a great bearing on a country’s foreign policy. Cooperation between nations exists primarily when there is a commonality of interests, of which absence of the same presents some degree of enmity, a situation depicted by the current state of relations between these two states.
Iran and the New Iraq: Security Challenges and Foreign Powers (PDF, 12 Pages, 185 KB)
Kayhan Barzegar
The two major functions of each country’s foreign policy are establishing security and creating opportunities in the foreign arena. Assessing the extent of the success of a foreign policy is very much dependent upon the degree of the simultaneity and feasibility of the two aforementioned elements. Indisputably, the new Iraq is the most important ground where Iran’s foreign policy in terms of the above two functions can be put to test. Understanding the roots of Iran’s foreign policy in the new Iraq becomes important since the developments of the last two years in this country transgress the boundaries of bilateral relations and thence affect Iran’s interests both regionally and internationally.
This paper aims at analyzing Iran’s foreign policy in the new Iraq on the basis of the necessity of regional order and Iran’s security concerns; the author maintains that Iran as both an independent power and a key regional player has legitimate security concerns which justify the country’s presence in the political arena of the new Iraq. The main argument advanced here is the view that Iran’s security challenges in the new Iraq is the result of Iran’s legitimate concerns in terms of establishing national security on the one hand and creating opportunities for it to walk out of geopolitical isolation and thus consolidate its credit and influence both regionally and internationally on the other. In other words, Iran’s foreign policy in the new Iraq has so far been defined upon eliminating security challenges caused by the new internal developments in Iraq and the presence of foreign intervening forces in the transition era. The success of Iran’s foreign policy depends upon its entering the second stage: the stage of creating opportunities to extend its natural credit and influence.