The New Turkey
Encyclopedia
The New Turkey: The Quiet Revolution on the Edge of Europe is a 2005
Granta Books publication by BBC
World Affairs Correspondent Chris Morris
which examines the potential and the problems of the far-reaching political and economic reforms being undertaken in what the author describes as a second revolution in Turkey
.
(AKP) in the build-up to the European Union
summit on December 17, 2004, which is described as one of the most important days in modern Turkish history, and concludes that the EU membership talks
that began following the summit will draw the map of Europe for the 21st century.
as the main defenders of an incomplete model with autocratic tendencies and democratic flaws but recent reforms to the 1982 constitution, written under military supervision following a bloody coup, mark a key turning point in the country’s delicate balance of power with foot dragging bureaucrats rather than the generals now being the main opposition to democratisation.
but had subsequently been usurped by Islamist parties to win the support of the urban poor and concludes that Prime Minister Erdoğan has learnt from the mistakes of his deposed mentor Necmettin Erbakan
, such as his nomination of the pro-Islamist parliamentary deputy Merve Kavakçı
exiled after attempting to wear a headscarf to her swearing-in, and takes a more moderate approach allowing his party to captured the centre ground in Turkish politics that has been alienated by the elitist policies of the Kemalists.
has resulted in the “world’s largest nation without a state” receiving cultural rights in education and broadcasting, but, despite events such as the release of Nobel Peace Prize
nominated Kurdish politician Leyla Zana
and her colleagues and the lifting of a 28 year ban on their language, their future is still far from secure and renewed violence after a five-year unilateral ceasefire that followed the 1999 trial of the movement’s ruthless and opportunistic founder Abdullah Öcalan
would soon commence.
, but he concludes it will take a long time for the new thinking to percolate through the system.
had agreed with the International Monetary Fund
, including public spending cuts, increased foreign investment and the introduction of the new Turkish lira
(worth one million old lira), that put an end to the cosy alliance of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen who had carved up the spoils of the old boom and bust cycle between them for decades in a country where corruption is endemic.
to contrast the modern success stories of Şahinler founder Kemal Şahin
, MEP
Cem Özdemir
, Head On
director Fatih Akın
and footballers Ümit Davala
and Tayfun Korkut
with the original generation of Gastarbeiter
who failed to integrate and examine how Turkey directs this group to lobby for EU accession via the Presidency of Religious Affairs funded Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) but faces competition from more extremist elements such as Milli Görüş
and Metin Kaplan
’s Caliphate State which cause the likes of French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin
and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to question multicultural Europe.
’s Somersault in a Coffin
and Nuri Bilge Ceylan
’s Uzak, and great works of literature such as Orhan Pamuk
’s Snow
and Ahmet Altan
’s A Place Inside Us, the best of which are introducing European audiences to modern Turkish identity.
in May 2006, brings the story up to date with the backlash against Turkish EU membership led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel
and the subsequent resurgence of Turkish nationalism in response.
, describes it as, "a new Turkish primer... which cuts a brisk and lucid way through the great themes of Turkish life today", in "a brave attempt to chart the challenges facing the EU's new applicant." Maureen Freely
, writing in New Statesman
, adds that "This is a lot to cover in 258 pages", and "The book moves at a pretty fast clip.... Yet, even as we trot along, struggling to keep up, we get a pretty clear idea of how the Turkish state developed, and where the people stand in relation to it."
Ross Leckie, writing in The Times
, states that, "As a BBC reporter, Morris has travelled far and wide through Turkey", and Finkel adds that, "Morris is full of affection for his former beat... but he enjoys poking the scars left by the ancien régime." While Freely confirms that, "There is an eyewitness electricity to his prose, yet he never loses his capacity to see the story from the outside, and he refuses to let his affection for the country blunt his analysis of its problems." Leckie concludes that "He does not shirk intractable issues such as the Kurdish question, or the use of torture. He brings Turkey out to the light where, for good or ill, it needs to be."
Finkel adds that, "Morris has served in Brussels and is therefore better placed than most to answer the most complicated question of all: can a fast-evolving Turkey soft-land in 10 or 15 years' time inside a European Union whose institutions are also in a state of flux?" Freely confirms that, "This gives him the double perspective that the subject demands", and adds that "While he answers head-on every nagging question a Eurosceptic might ask, it is by showing how Turkey is moving to address these problems that he gives a sense of its dynamism." Finkel however concludes that, This really is rocket science and, not surprisingly, Morris hedges a few bets." Although, "He is unequivocal, however, in believing that the prospect of EU membership has already prompted a 'quiet revolution on the edge of Europe'."
Leckie concludes that, "Morris covers the history well and draws important modern parallels", and, "Although let down by the often slight and breezy style beloved of some contemporary journalism, this is an important, challenging and timely book." While Freely states that Morris's compulsion, "to humanise the politics with real-life stories... is his greatest achievement, because any account of Turkey that does not give a strong sense of its people ends up giving only a strong sense of the overweening, overprivileged and often brutally oppressive state which rules them." Whilst, according to Freely, "Morris's central point is that the state has not kept pace with its people: what they were willing to accept 50 years ago, when their economy was closed and contact with the outside world was limited, is not what they want or expect today."
Freely, writing in September 2005, concludes that, "the picture today is not quite as bright as it was when Morris wrote his epilogue. Tayyip Erdogan, the reforming prime minister, looks much weaker than he did this time last year, while anti-EU nationalists inside Turkey have found perfect allies in the anti-Turkey nationalists of the EU. No one knows how the game will play itself out, but if you want to be able to follow it as it happens, there can be no better preparation than this splendid, astute and compassionate book."
2005 in literature
The year 2005 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 25 - Canada Reads selects Rockbound by Frank Parker Day as the novel to be read across the nation....
Granta Books publication by BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
World Affairs Correspondent Chris Morris
Chris Morris (journalist)
Chris Morris is a British broadcast journalist who regularly contributes to BBC News, Today and From Our Own Correspondent, and is the author of the 2005 Granta publication The New Turkey.-Biography:...
which examines the potential and the problems of the far-reaching political and economic reforms being undertaken in what the author describes as a second revolution in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
Introduction
Morris briefly outlines the sweeping democratic, legal and economic reforms rushed through by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan of the Justice and Development PartyJustice and Development Party (Turkey)
The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...
(AKP) in the build-up to the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
summit on December 17, 2004, which is described as one of the most important days in modern Turkish history, and concludes that the EU membership talks
Accession of Turkey to the European Union
Turkey's application to accede to the European Union was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union and its predecessors since 1963...
that began following the summit will draw the map of Europe for the 21st century.
Chapter 1: They’ve Got a Bit of History
Morris goes back through history to assess where the Turks came from, their imperial past, and their long and complex relationship with Europe concluding that modern Turks have unresolved feelings about the messy Ottoman era, which achieved its Golden Age under Süleyman the Magnificent, whose conquests instilled fear and loathing in the European psyche, before slowly degenerating into decadence and corruption, imbedded in the European psyche as a comic figure, with the infamous ‘capitulations’ to foreign powers, still a source suspicion for many Turks, and finally being swept away by Mustapha Kemal Atatürk in the aftermath of disastrous defeat in the First World War.Chapter 2: ‘Devlet’: Atatürk and his Legacy
Morris states that a cult of personality (with an ideology, ‘Kemalism’, to match) has built up around the country’s founder who he accuses Atatürk of establishing something close to a dictatorship as he pushed through a personal revolution of widespread reforms against the will of the uncomprehending majority that left the Turkish Armed ForcesTurkish Armed Forces
The Turkish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. They consist of the Army, the Navy , and the Air Force...
as the main defenders of an incomplete model with autocratic tendencies and democratic flaws but recent reforms to the 1982 constitution, written under military supervision following a bloody coup, mark a key turning point in the country’s delicate balance of power with foot dragging bureaucrats rather than the generals now being the main opposition to democratisation.
Chapter 3: Islam and the Politics of Prayer
Morris postulates that political Islam was first used by Turkey’s generals in the 1980s as a tool against communismCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
but had subsequently been usurped by Islamist parties to win the support of the urban poor and concludes that Prime Minister Erdoğan has learnt from the mistakes of his deposed mentor Necmettin Erbakan
Necmettin Erbakan
Necmettin Erbakan was a Turkish engineer, academic, politician , who was the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1996 until 1997. He was Turkey's first Islamist Prime Minister...
, such as his nomination of the pro-Islamist parliamentary deputy Merve Kavakçı
Merve Kavakci
Merve Safa Kavakçı was a Turkish politician, who was elected as a Virtue Party deputy for Istanbul on April 18, 1999. On May 2, she was prevented from making her parliamentary oath because of her hijab, which is banned for civil servants in secular Turkey...
exiled after attempting to wear a headscarf to her swearing-in, and takes a more moderate approach allowing his party to captured the centre ground in Turkish politics that has been alienated by the elitist policies of the Kemalists.
Chapter 4: The Kurdish Question
Morris states that pressure from the EU and a public backlash against the authority’s heavy-handed counter-insurgency against the violent Kurdish national liberation movement of the Kurdistan Workers' PartyKurdistan Workers' Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party , commonly known as PKK, also known as KGK and formerly known as KADEK or KONGRA-GEL , is a Kurdish organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state for an autonomous Kurdistan and greater cultural and political rights...
has resulted in the “world’s largest nation without a state” receiving cultural rights in education and broadcasting, but, despite events such as the release of Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
nominated Kurdish politician Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana
Leyla Zana , is a Kurdish politician, who was imprisoned for 10 years for her political actions which were claimed to be against the unity of Turkey. When she was a member of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, she was banned from joining any political party for five years with the Constitutional...
and her colleagues and the lifting of a 28 year ban on their language, their future is still far from secure and renewed violence after a five-year unilateral ceasefire that followed the 1999 trial of the movement’s ruthless and opportunistic founder Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan
Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...
would soon commence.
Chapter 5: Open Wounds: The Greeks and the Armenians
Morris examines two of the country’s other minority groups and their troubled legacy; a native Greek community of fewer than three thousand mostly poor and elderly who remained after the 1923-64 pogroms, have according to Morris, seen a rapid improvement in the attitudes that nearly led to war over the 1996 Imia-Kardak crisis changed with the “earthquake diplomacy” that followed the 1999 disaster, and the Armenian natives who have fared equally well in Istanbul but have all but died out in the country’s eastern provinces where 1890-1915 ethnic cleansing by the Ottoman authorities remains one of the country’s most sensitive taboos.Chapter 6: Rights and Wrongs
Morris reports on pressure from both the EU and Turkish grassroots organisations, such as Flying Broom, that has resulted in reforms to the civil and penal codes for a range of human rights issues including attitudes to torture and extrajudicial execution, prison reform following controversial ‘death fasts’ by the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front, legal protection for women and children in a country where polygamy is accepted and ‘honour’ killings are still a reality, and a more inclusive approach to the communities affected by the massive Southeastern Anatolia ProjectSoutheastern Anatolia Project
The Southeastern Anatolia Project is a multi-sector integrated regional development project based on the concept of sustainable development for the 9 million people living in the Southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey...
, but he concludes it will take a long time for the new thinking to percolate through the system.
Chapter 7: It’s the Economy, Stupid
Morris recalls the economic crisis precipitated by the February 19, 2001, falling out between Prime Minister Ecevit and President Sezer that swept Tayyip Erdoğan to power in the 2002 election with a series of economic reforms based on a deal Turkish economist Kemal DervişKemal Dervis
Kemal Derviş is a Turkish economist and politician, and former head of the United Nations Development Programme. He was honored by the government of Japan for having "contributed to mainstreaming Japan's development assistance policy through the United Nations." In 2005, he was ranked 67th in the...
had agreed with the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
, including public spending cuts, increased foreign investment and the introduction of the new Turkish lira
Turkish lira
The Turkish lira is the currency of Turkey and the de facto independent state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The lira is subdivided into 100 kuruş...
(worth one million old lira), that put an end to the cosy alliance of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen who had carved up the spoils of the old boom and bust cycle between them for decades in a country where corruption is endemic.
Chapter 8: Euro-Turks and Europeans
Morris travels to GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to contrast the modern success stories of Şahinler founder Kemal Şahin
Kemal Sahin
Kemal Şahin is a Turkish - German entrepreneur and a textile tycoon. He is also an environmental activist against erosion.-Early life:...
, MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
Cem Özdemir
Cem Özdemir
Cem Özdemir is a German politician. He is co-chairman of the German political party Alliance '90/The Greens, together with Claudia Roth...
, Head On
Head On
-Music:* Head On * Head On * Head On * Head On * Head On * "Head On" , by The Jesus and Mary Chain, covered by several artists...
director Fatih Akın
Fatih Akin
Fatih Akın is a German film director, screenwriter and producer of Turkish descent.- Personal life :Akın was born in 1973 in Hamburg to parents of Turkish ethnicity...
and footballers Ümit Davala
Ümit Davala
Ümit Davala is a Turkish former international footballer who is currently an assistant manager of Galatasaray.-Club career:...
and Tayfun Korkut
Tayfun Korkut
Tayfun Korkut is a former Turkish footballer. He played for Stuttgarter Kickers, 5 years with Fenerbahçe, 3 years with Real Sociedad, 1 year with RCD Espanyol, 1 year with Beşiktaş and 1 year with Gençlerbirliği. He has 42 caps and 1 goal for the Turkish national team. Tayfun Korkut also has...
with the original generation of Gastarbeiter
Gastarbeiter
Gastarbeiter is German for "guest worker." It refers to migrant workers who had moved to West Germany mainly in the 1960s and 70s, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker programme...
who failed to integrate and examine how Turkey directs this group to lobby for EU accession via the Presidency of Religious Affairs funded Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) but faces competition from more extremist elements such as Milli Görüş
Millî Görüs
Millî Görüş has been called one of "the leading Turkish diaspora organizations in Europe". Founded in 1969, the movement claimed to have "87,000 members across Europe, including 50,000 in Germany," as of 2005...
and Metin Kaplan
Metin Kaplan
Metin Kaplan is the leader of the radical Islamist movement Kalifatsstaat which is based in Cologne, Germany....
’s Caliphate State which cause the likes of French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Jean-Pierre Raffarin is a French conservative politician and senator for Vienne.Jean-Pierre Raffarin served as the Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005, resigning after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. However, after Raffarin...
and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to question multicultural Europe.
Chapter 9: Crossroads
Morris examines the influence Turkey’s unique geological location has left from the dark-side as a hub for the smuggling of drugs, weapons, people and terrorist activities that caused it to close its borders with its eastern neighbours for much of its modern history to the bright-side as a hub for the transport of oil, gas and even water that becomes apparent as rapprochement with those neighbours is reached by the current administration and the unrivalled wealth of archaeological finds buried in its soil by centuries of other administrations that have passed through.Chapter 10: Cultural Revolution
Morris explores Turkey’s hybrid media system which combines state-control with restrictions such as Law 5816 “crimes against Atatürk” and article 301 “public denigration of Turkishness” with a new openness that has seen divergence and dissent flourish from conservative morality tales to Big Brother style reality shows on TV, taboo busting films such as Derviş ZaimDervis Zaim
Derviş Zaim is a Turkish Cypriot filmmaker and novelist, who has twice won the Golden Orange for Best Director for Elephants and Grass and Dot ; Golden Oranges for Best Film and Best Screenplay for Somersault in a Coffin ; and the Yunus Nadi literary prize for his debut novel Ares in Wonderland...
’s Somersault in a Coffin
Somersault in a Coffin
Somersault in a Coffin is a 1996 Turkish comedy-drama film, written and directed by Derviş Zaim, about a homeless criminal and car thief. The film, which was released on , received awards at several international film festivals including the Golden Orange for best film at the Antalya International...
and Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Nuri Bilge Ceylan is a Turkish photographer and film director. He is married to the filmmaker, photographer, and actress Ebru Ceylan, his co-star in İklimler .-Life:Ceylan learned photography at age 15, and developed an interest in film at 22....
’s Uzak, and great works of literature such as Orhan Pamuk
Orhan Pamuk
Ferit Orhan Pamuk , generally known simply as Orhan Pamuk, is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing....
’s Snow
Snow (novel)
Snow is a novel by Turkish author Orhan Pamuk. It was published in Turkish in 2002 and in English in 2004. The story encapsulates many of the political and cultural tensions of modern Turkey and successfully combines humor, social commentary, mysticism, and a deep sympathy with its characters.Kar...
and Ahmet Altan
Ahmet Altan
-Biography:He was born 1950 in Ankara, Turkey to the writer Çetin Altan. A working journalist for more than twenty years, he has served in all stages of the profession, from being a night shift reporter to editor in chief in various newspapers....
’s A Place Inside Us, the best of which are introducing European audiences to modern Turkish identity.
Epilogue
Morris’s epilogue, written in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in May 2006, brings the story up to date with the backlash against Turkish EU membership led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
and the subsequent resurgence of Turkish nationalism in response.
Further reading, viewing and listening
Morris gives a brief list of recommended books, films, music and websites for further study.Reviews
Andrew Finkel, writing in The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, describes it as, "a new Turkish primer... which cuts a brisk and lucid way through the great themes of Turkish life today", in "a brave attempt to chart the challenges facing the EU's new applicant." Maureen Freely
Maureen Freely
Maureen Freely is a U.S. journalist, novelist, translator and professor.-Biography:Born in Neptune, New Jersey, Freely grew up in Turkey and now lives in England, where she lectures at the University of Warwick and is an occasional contributor to The Guardian and The Independent newspapers. Among...
, writing in New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, adds that "This is a lot to cover in 258 pages", and "The book moves at a pretty fast clip.... Yet, even as we trot along, struggling to keep up, we get a pretty clear idea of how the Turkish state developed, and where the people stand in relation to it."
Ross Leckie, writing in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, states that, "As a BBC reporter, Morris has travelled far and wide through Turkey", and Finkel adds that, "Morris is full of affection for his former beat... but he enjoys poking the scars left by the ancien régime." While Freely confirms that, "There is an eyewitness electricity to his prose, yet he never loses his capacity to see the story from the outside, and he refuses to let his affection for the country blunt his analysis of its problems." Leckie concludes that "He does not shirk intractable issues such as the Kurdish question, or the use of torture. He brings Turkey out to the light where, for good or ill, it needs to be."
Finkel adds that, "Morris has served in Brussels and is therefore better placed than most to answer the most complicated question of all: can a fast-evolving Turkey soft-land in 10 or 15 years' time inside a European Union whose institutions are also in a state of flux?" Freely confirms that, "This gives him the double perspective that the subject demands", and adds that "While he answers head-on every nagging question a Eurosceptic might ask, it is by showing how Turkey is moving to address these problems that he gives a sense of its dynamism." Finkel however concludes that, This really is rocket science and, not surprisingly, Morris hedges a few bets." Although, "He is unequivocal, however, in believing that the prospect of EU membership has already prompted a 'quiet revolution on the edge of Europe'."
Leckie concludes that, "Morris covers the history well and draws important modern parallels", and, "Although let down by the often slight and breezy style beloved of some contemporary journalism, this is an important, challenging and timely book." While Freely states that Morris's compulsion, "to humanise the politics with real-life stories... is his greatest achievement, because any account of Turkey that does not give a strong sense of its people ends up giving only a strong sense of the overweening, overprivileged and often brutally oppressive state which rules them." Whilst, according to Freely, "Morris's central point is that the state has not kept pace with its people: what they were willing to accept 50 years ago, when their economy was closed and contact with the outside world was limited, is not what they want or expect today."
Freely, writing in September 2005, concludes that, "the picture today is not quite as bright as it was when Morris wrote his epilogue. Tayyip Erdogan, the reforming prime minister, looks much weaker than he did this time last year, while anti-EU nationalists inside Turkey have found perfect allies in the anti-Turkey nationalists of the EU. No one knows how the game will play itself out, but if you want to be able to follow it as it happens, there can be no better preparation than this splendid, astute and compassionate book."