Hazar Raporu - Issue 02 - Winter 2012

Abstratcs
Prof. Dr Ercüment Tezcan – The Future of the EU: Myths and Realities (Page 31)
Tezcan’s article focuses on the current economic and political crisis in European Union. He tries to evaluate possible
scenarios regarding the political future of the union. The article acknowledges the precarious economic and
political situation of the European Union. However the author mentions that such crises in the past have actually
made the union more formidable.
Prof. Dr Mesut Hakkı Caşin – Turkish Foreign Policy Towards Caspian and Central Asia (Page 52)
Professor Caşin’s article examines the current state of relations between Turkey and the Caspian region. It provides
historical background and the perspective regarding the future of the Turkey’s interaction with the region. The
article underlines that the when Turkey’s engagement with the region started when the Soviet Union collapse,
Turkey’s enthusiasm to project influence in the region was not welcomed by the other power brokers in the region.
Turkey also lacked necessary political and economic means to compete in the region. However the author stresses
that the current diplomatic and economic capacity of Turkey combined with the overall geostrategic changes in the
region provide necessary conditions for Turkey and the region to advance their strategic partnership
Dr. Şener Aktürk - Nationalism and Democratization in Turkey (Page 67)
Şener Aktürk begins his discussion with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and of Ottoman identity, while
focusing on the origins and the nature of Turkish nationalism. He describes Ottoman identity as being based on
four pillars: Muslim, Orthodox Christian, Armenian, and Jewish. With the founding of the Republic, the new
nation-state aspired to transform the Muslim millet of the Ottoman identity into the Turkish nation. Against this
background, the origins and the consequences of ethnically specific grievances of the Kurds and the Alevis, as
well as the causes and results of the recent reforms also known as the Kurdish opening are explained. In discussing
the future of the nascent Kurdish nation-state in northern Iraq, Aktürk finds implausible the fear of a greater
Kurdistan, and compares it with the fear of a greater Turkistan in the early 20th century, which also proved to be
unrealistic. He also argues that the European Union’s influence on identity-related reforms within Turkey has been
far less than it is often assumed in the English-speaking media and academia, and certainly secondary to the role
of domestic political actors and factors. Islamic multiculturalism has had a far greater and primary ideological role
in justifying Turkish government’s implementation of the reforms also known as the Kurdish opening. Despite
these democratic reforms, Aktürk is pessimistic about the prospects of a more inclusive national identity in a new
constitution. He particularly highlights the fact that the current government, despite its success in major identityrelated
reforms such as the Kurdish opening, has neither developed a new national identity emphasizing the unity
of its citizens amidst ethnic diversity nor redefined “Turkishness” through a non-ethnic prism to allow for the
expression of ethnic sub-identities while fostering a supraethnic Turkish patriotism. This failure is in part a result of
the government’s lack of an intellectual and academic preparation for identity reforms.
Prof. Dr Fuat Keyman – Turkish Foreign Policy (Page 85)
Fuat Keyman evaluates last ten years of Turkish foreign policy and the changing landscape of the Middle East.
Keyman considers that the has been notable success in Foreign Policy, however Turkey needs to be cautious
regarding the changing dynamics in the region. Turkey’s position regarding the Arab revolutions is the right one
with certain criticisms. He believes that the “zero problems with neighbors” policy was a right course for the past
ten years, however the current strategic transformations in its neighborhood do necessitate a more realist approach
in handling foreign policy.
CASPIAN REPORT
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