Commentaries

Authoritarianism from Above and Below: Exclusive
Nationalism and the Turkish‐Kurdish Conflict

by Harun Ercan

Executive Summary:

The persistence of the Kurdish conflict in the Middle East has created deadly outcomes for Turkey’s democratization process and facilitated the emergence of an authoritarian coalition promoting exclusive nationalism from above. While consolidation of the authoritarian rule in Turkey occurred in parallel to the rise of exclusive nationalism and regional militarism, the electoral authoritarian regime is currently facing multiple challenges. As the economic recession deepens, a new wave of ethnonationalism targeting the Kurds and immigrants is in the making, but this time from below. The possibility of democratic change in the future seems to depend on to what extent main opposition parties will be able to distance themselves from exclusive nationalism and build a pro-democracy
alliance including the People’s Democratic Party (HDP).

Human Rights Jeopardized in Turkey: Governmental and Judicial Intentions to Erode Due Process and the Right to a Fair Trial

Prof. Hasan Aydın, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL, USA

Executive Summary:

Executive Summary: Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations have drawn attention to abusive persecutions, the erosion of the right to a fair trial and torture during detention in Turkey. The government has ignored or sidestepped the European Convention on Human Rights’ (ECHR) decisions pertaining to pre-trial detentions and fair trials by adding new grounds to indictments and continuing pre- trial detentions.

Minorities in Turkey I: Law and Reform

Baskın Oran

Executive Summary:

Here I uncover the relationship between the term “Turk”(an ethno‐religiousterm that, in some usages covertly, in some overtly, aversthat Turkey is the land of ethnic Turks, and that only Muslims are consideredTurk), and the concepts of race and religion. A critical period for theadvancement of human rights and minority rights in Turkey occurred in theearly 2000s, when the parliament adopted a series of reform packages inorder to harmonize the country’s laws with those of the European Union(EU). I propose to examine a case of these most radical democratic reformscarried out since the establishment of the republic, in order to understandhow these reforms have been put into practice. I also trace the deviationfrom these reforms after 2005, by examining the subsequent laws andpractices that undo or undermine them, and discuss their implications,particularly for Kurds in case of the deterioration under the state ofemergency (Olağanüstü Hal, or OHAL), declared in response to the July 15,2016 coup attempt.

Minorities in Turkey II: Ideology and Discrimination 

Executive summary: This article focuses on the ideological roots of therepressive and discriminatory mentality/philosophy that has shapeddemocracy and minority policies in Turkey. My aim is to analyze theconsequences of this mentality, with an emphasis on hate speech anddiscrimination. To this end, I summarize the consequences of the issues andpolicies discussed in the previous article, and discusstheir future implicationsfor both the state and the people of Turkey. I conclude that it is necessary torefer to citizens not through the ethno‐religious term Turk, and still less asMuslims, but through the thoroughly territorial term Türkiyeli (of Turkey),and to do all that is necessary to ensure such a transformation in mentality.
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Turkey’s dealing with the Syrian Kurds (Part II)

Michael Gunter

Executive Summary:

This Commentary survey’s Turkey’s interaction with Syria’s surprisingly influential Kurds and explores the Turkish-US confrontation over the US support of the Syrian Kurds against ISIS. It concludes that the Biden administration will likely continue to implement the limited, but effective role his predecessors Trump and Obama had carried out, but that the ultimate fate of Syria and its embattled Kurds remains unclear.

Turkey’s dealing with the Syrian Kurds (Part I)

Michael Gunter

Executive Summary:

This wide-ranging survey of the Kurds in Syria will evaluate the mid-term fall-out of the suddenly announced US withdrawal on October 7, 2019. It concludes that 1. The US dishonorably deserted its Syrian Kurdish ally, 2. Alienated future allies who would no longer trust it, 3. Allowed some of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) prisoners incarcerated by YPG guards to escape and potentially revive the genocidal jihadist organization, 4. Rewarded Turkish aggression, 5. Handed the murderous, but badly taxed Assad regime new life, 6. Facilitated Iran’s drive to the Mediterranean and potential threat to Israel, and, maybe most of all, 7. Empowered Russia as the ultimate arbitrator of the Syrian imbroglio to the detriment of the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).