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A list is provided of the journal's editorial staff including the editor and Director of Turkish Studies Institute at Global Research in International Affairs Center Barry Rubin and editorial board members Ayse Ayata of Middle East Technical University and Bilge Criss of Bilkent University. more...

The Islamization of Turkey has been an ongoing process since the 1970s and was exacerbated by the 1980 military coup. The Turkish-Islamic synthesis had been conceived as an antidote against communism and became a salient policy. The atmosphere became increasingly convenient for Islamists to participate in politics as well as in socioeconomic forums. The ruling AKP defines itself as conservative democratic. Tariqats have been educating young cadres to fulfill the Islamization mission. Prime Minister Erdoğan monopolizes foreign relations, which result in diplomatic scandals and cause people to ask whether Turkey is changing direction. Counterbalancing forces remain confrontational. Paradigm shifts in practicing politics are sorely needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Yeşilada and Noordijk which studies data from the World Values Surveys (1981-2007) about social and religious views in Turkey, one by Ersin Kalaycιoğlu researching voter behavior in Turkey, and one by Nur Bilge Criss on the political shift from secularization to Islamization in Turkey. more...

This article argues that the AKP has dismantled secularism in Turkey through stealth Islamization. Defined as incremental and top-down Islamization of social and political life, this process entails four processes: (1) institutionalization of Turkish Islamist political imaginary; (2) redesigning the Diyanet and public education system to spread Islamic beliefs and practices (da'wa); (3) the privileging of Muslim identity at the expense of secular choices, whose costs have increased substantially; and (4) return of Islam to the public space through changes in the built environment. This article unpacks these four processes, which entails AKP's colonization of the state to Islamize society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article explores the general characteristics of Turkey's foreign policy in long durée by introducing the concept of a modified middle power. It argues that its historical legacy, the ambiguity of its regional belonging, and its real and constructed pivotal geography have modified Turkey's 'middlepowerness' and led to its in-betweenness. As such, the Turkish Republic, in its 100 years of history, has developed different strategies that aim to both remedy and sustain this in-betweenness. It is argued that this characteristic has been Turkey's contribution to global politics. Yet, during the AKP rule, especially since the 2010s, Turkey's in-betweenness has been undermined, ultimately weakening Turkey's position and role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This essay is a politico-cultural survey of the “American Studies” discipline in the United States and abroad, with special reference to Turkey. Against the background of extended relations with the United States during the Cold War period, the field in Turkey developed through bilateral efforts. While the initiative was an invaluable part of US public diplomacy to win hearts and minds, the reasons for the flourishing of American Language (later Culture) and Literature programs in Turkey were, and still are, mainly non-ideological for Turkish students and scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The key puzzle that this article explores is how the Great Powers' wedging strategies and Turkey's efforts to balance these powers defined complex strategic alignment dynamics during the 1930s and World War II. We posit that in the 1930s, as Turkey strove to balance the European great powers, these powers resorted to wedging strategies to sway Turkey away from any other sphere of influence. During World War II, increasing US engagement in the region compelled Ankara to utilize a 'dual balancing strategy' to preserve its neutrality, by balancing between the Axis and the Allies and between the British and the Americans. Concomitantly, both Allies and Axis powers utilized predominantly reward-wedging strategies to keep Turkey away from the opposing bloc. We assert that in rethinking strategic alignment more emphasis should be placed on the interactive nature of wedging process and the role and motives of agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article examines building of the Seyhan Dam (1953–1956) in Turkey. Both Turkish and American agents played significant roles for planning and implementation of the project during the Cold War era. The 1950s provided necessary conditions in Turkey for the rise of new actors and developments to facilitate transition from limited modernity, which had mostly manifested in urban areas, to a more comprehensive state of modernity extended to rural areas. This extension had irrevocable impacts on the natural landscape as well. By referring to some patterns of modernization, this article posits building of the Seyhan Dam as a significant example to demonstrate how state-led modernization extended its scope by means of taming rivers and opening of plains for agriculture in the Cilician (Çukurova) region from late Ottoman to Republican periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article analyzes the transformation of the political position of the Ottoman Armenian community by focusing on the community's reactions vis-à-vis a major turning point in modern Turkish history: the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey. The article demonstrates how and why the Ottoman Armenian community reacted as it did when the status of the state as a Republic was proclaimed by the Grand National Assembly in October 1923. The major argument the article puts forward is that following the results of the Turkish-Armenian War in the Caucasus, the Greco-Turkish War in Western Anatolia, and the retreat of the French from the Cilicia region, the majority of the Ottoman Armenian community which remained within the borders of 'New Turkey' shifted its political position to accommodate the policies of the ruling power in order to protect their physical and cultural existence during this period of political turmoil. Benefiting from primary sources, including Ottoman Armenian and Ottoman Turkish newspapers, archival documents, and parliamentary minutes, this article focuses on the position of Ottoman Armenians following the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, and thus contributes to the historiography on the Armistice period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

By analyzing Turkey's relations with Great Britain and the US in a period of drastic change (1929-47), this article argues that the origins of the shift in the orientation of Turkish foreign policy from Pax Britannica to Pax Americana not only affected the perceptions and strategies of relevant powers, but also entailed a dynamic interactive process. It asserts that the transition featured aspects of significant change, as well as continuity for the region. It demonstrates that while attempting to bandwagon with the relatively stronger naval, military, and economic partner, Turkey also endeavored to pursue a more autonomous foreign policy at various stages of this transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article lists members of the editorial staff of the journal such as Barry Rubin, Ayse Ayata, and Andrew Mango.

This article aims to discuss and analyze the emergence and evolution of Turkey's role as a model in the international system in three different periods, 1991–93, 2003–05 and 2010–12. To this end, it methodologically uses the main concepts of role theory: role expectations, role conceptions and role performance. Focusing on K.J. Holsti's example national role conception category in particular, it seeks to reveal the major similarities and differences between the role expectations that have enacted the role conception known as the Turkish model, and compare the impact of these expectations on role performance in each of these three cases. The major argument of the article is that the sustainability of the model's national role conception depends foremost on Turkey's political and economic capabilities that directly influence its role performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] more...

A list of reviewers who contributed to the journal in 2013 is presented, including Ilker Ayturk, R. Omur Birler, and Tarik Oguzlu.

By problematizing the relationship between geopolitics and foreign policy, this paper investigates the discursive assumptions of two different geopolitical visions of Turkish foreign policy. It seeks to explain how different political actors spatialize Turkey's geography and represent it as having a “different,” “exceptional,” and “unique” geopolitical position in the international system in order to justify foreign policy. By investigating how geopolitical representations produced in each of the different geopolitical vision serve to enable, restrict, and rationalize a different set of role choices for Turkey in the international system, the article is aiming to provide a critical geopolitical perspective in order to understand the discursive transformation of the geopolitical vision in the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) period. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] more...

This paper argues that Turkey only partly fits the mold that describes the rising BRICS countries, and so it is useful to designate Turkey as a special case in the rising powers literature. On the one hand, Turkey has gained from the post-Cold War international structure by expanding its outreach to a broader international audience. However, contrary to many common characterizations of other rising powers such as the BRICS, this new position has not recast Turkey as a revisionist actor bent on distancing itself from the West and challenging the Western order, or standalone actor in regional politics. Indeed, it would be incorrect to conflate Turkey's increasing international prominence with growing strategic independence from the West. In fact, Turkey's economic and political ascent remains deeply contingent upon preserving its bonds with the Western world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] more...