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Although leisure constraints that individuals have to cope with can negatively affect their social inclusion and satisfaction with life, little research has addressed the link between these variables. Therefore, the current paper examined the moderator role of leisure constraints on the relationship between satisfaction with life and leisure constraints among adults living in five different European countries. The respondents were 1,382 women and 877 men adults. The findings of analysis revealed that all factors used in the study accounted for 15% of the variance in satisfaction with life and social inclusion had a significant and positive impact on satisfaction with life. As a result, it can be said that leisure constraints had a moderating effect on the relationship between satisfaction with life and social inclusion. The present research study recommends that social inclusion should be encouraged through decreasing to leisure constraints to increase the life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates different uses of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) in national journal rankings and discusses the merits of supplementing metrics with expert assessment. Our focus is national journal rankings used as evidence to support decisions about the distribution of institutional funding or career advancement. The seven countries under comparison are China, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Poland, and Turkey—and the region of Flanders in Belgium. With the exception of Italy, top‐tier journals used in national rankings include those classified at the highest level, or according to tier, or points implemented. A total of 3,565 (75.8%) out of 4,701 unique top‐tier journals were identified as having a JIF, with 55.7% belonging to the first Journal Impact Factor quartile. Journal rankings in China, Flanders, Poland, and Turkey classify journals with a JIF as being top‐tier, but only when they are in the first quartile of the Average Journal Impact Factor Percentile. Journal rankings that result from expert assessment in Denmark, Finland, and Norway regularly classify journals as top‐tier outside the first quartile, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. We conclude that experts, when tasked with metric‐informed journal rankings, take into account quality dimensions that are not covered by JIFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on recent performance measurement and impact evaluation progress made in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Moldova, Turkey and Vietnam as part of the last phase of the Global Libraries Initiative. Design/methodology/approach: The country reports are presented as a series of case studies, in some cases supplementing those reported earlier in this journal. Findings: Recent country-specific survey findings are reported and some conclusions are offered. Research limitations/implications: This paper demonstrates how the adoption of a common approach to library service evaluation across several countries can strengthen research practice at country level beyond the Global Libraries Initiative itself. Practical implications: This paper shares Global Libraries IPA learning at country level with people in other countries who may be contemplating public library evaluation at regional, national or local levels or who are interested in performance measurement and impact evaluation. Social implications: The paper shows how focusing on the impact of public library services on users can enhance the understanding of community requirements and inform the development of more effective services to library users and communities. Originality/value: These case studies reflect concentrated impact evaluation and performance measurement work at country level across a range of countries over more than 18 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The field of quantitative palaeoclimatology has made significant progress in the past decades. However, this progress has been spatially heterogeneous and strong discrepancies – both in terms of quality and density – exist between Europe and North America and the rest of the world. The need to balance this distribution of quantified records has never been stronger, and improving our understanding of past global climate is urgent in order to better evaluate and employ the predictions of climate models. In this paper, it is argued that this gap can be reduced by applying the climate reconstruction method CREST (Climate REconstruction SofTware) calibrated using the open-access GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) database, which contains hundreds of thousands modern distributions of numerous bio-indicator proxies (e.g. pollen, chironomids, foraminifers, etc.). Using the taxonomical diversity of the GBIF database, CREST can be used to reconstruct various climate and/or environmental parameters from assemblage variety of different records. Independent from the usual reconstruction techniques using surface samples for calibration, the CREST/GBIF framework can also be used as an independent tool that can be easily and efficiently applied (1) to complete the global coverage of climate reconstructions, as exemplified with a precipitation reconstruction from Lake Van, Turkey, (2) to revisit existing data sets to obtain new quantitative reconstructions, and (3) to evaluate and/or refine reconstructions based on other methods. The application of this tool promises to foster advances in our understanding of the past climate variability of the Earth system at a global scale. Highlights • A new, globally applicable probabilistic tool to quantitively reconstruct past climates. • The calibration dataset contains the distributions of multiple palaeoclimatic bio-indicators. • Understudied regions can now be explored using the CREST/GBIF framework. • A dedicated software exists to facilitate the use of the CREST/GBIF framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This paper introduces the study on the European Union Project on complementary therapies and discusses project outputs and results. The goal of the European Union Project was to improve the professional knowledge and skills of women's health and oncology nurses regarding CT. Background: The increasing and widespread use of complementary therapies in the women's health and oncology population requires nurses to be educated about their suitable and safe use. Many nurses do not have proper training in complementary therapies and therefore should not inform their patients about them. Methods: The 'Improving the Nursing Care with Best Complementary Therapy Strategies Based on European Union Standards' (BestCARE) project was a strategic partnership within Erasmus plus for vocational education and training. The BestCARE project was coordinated by the Akdeniz University Nursing Faculty and was carried out with six partners from Turkey and Europe. Results: Fifteen nurses from Turkey and Italy were trained in complementary therapies in England. In addition, training courses and seminars were held in Turkey and Italy for women's health and oncology nurses. The BestCARE programme consisted of 14 work packages. The BestCARE programme was implemented via websites, an e‐learning training programme, training videos, reference and handbook, a curriculum proposal on complementary therapies and a simulation laboratory. Conclusion and implications for nursing and/or health policy: The BestCARE project allowed nurses to gain knowledge, experience and skills about complementary therapies and created a cultural awareness and sensitivity towards patients, caregivers and health professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The emergence of agriculture in Greece denotes the start of the Neolithic in Europe, however, little is known about dietary practices in the region. Archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological remains indicate reliance on cereals and pulses, together with meat-based subsistence practices, including sheep/goat and pig husbandry. Preliminary investigations of dietary practices obtained through lipid residue analysis of pottery of a small number of sites in the region have confirmed primarily carcass products were processed. The weak evidence for dairy products contrasts with finding of dairy-based subsistence strategies in NW Anatolia, which is surprising given its close proximity. This paper aims to build on this earlier work to provide a more detailed model for the dietary changes throughout the region, both chronologically and spatially. To achieve this >900 potsherds from 11 sites spanning the Early (EN) to Late Neolithic (LN) periods from the north of Greece have been investigated using the lipid biomarker approach involving high temperature-gas chromatography (HT-GC), GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC-combustion-isotope ratio MS (GC-C-IRMS) to determine the nature and origins of organic residues preserved in the fabric of pottery vessels. Lipid residue analysis of pottery vessels revealed ruminant and non-ruminant carcass fats comprise the majority of animal fat types identified, reflecting the high abundance of sheep/goat and pig in faunal assemblages. The emergence of dairying in northern Greece can now be dated to the site of EN/Middle Neolithic (MN) Ritini (5900/5700 - 5500 cal. B.C.E.), however, the frequency of dairy fat residues was low, overall, indicating that dairying was not intensively practised. The δ13C values of the fatty acids extracted from potsherds reflect a predominately C 3 diet, however, in the EN and MN there is greater variation with some lipids exhibiting enriched δ13C values indicating a significant abundance of C 4 plants in the ecosystem(s) covered by the study. Significantly, plant-derived n- alkanes (C 22 to C 34) detected in pottery vessels provide the first evidence for plant processing identified in lipid residues from ceramic vessels in Neolithic northern Greece, supporting the abundant archaeobotanical evidence for the processing of cereals and pulses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I analyse Vp, Vs and Vp / Vs ratio for the crust and uppermost mantle of Anatolia in $$\rm EU_{60}$$, a recently developed 3-D tomographic model for the European continent. Beneath volcanic fields in the Central and Eastern Anatolia, pronounced reductions in isotropic Vs are observed in the crust and uppermost mantle, reflecting high temperature associated with Neogene–Quaternary magmatism in the study region. These slow wave speed anomalies correlate well with high Vp / Vs ratio in model $$\rm EU_{60}$$. By analysing relative perturbations in Vp and Vs at different depths, I observe a distinct pattern for grid points associated with volcanic and non-volcanic regions. The linear regression results of volcanic grid points are characterized by high δlnVs/δlnVp slopes in comparison with non-volcanic grid points. Grid points with linear fitting slopes greater than 2.2 are observed around 50–60 km beneath volcanic provinces. These observations suggest the presence of partial melt in the crust and uppermost mantle beneath volcanoes in the Central and Eastern Anatolia. Comparisons between seismic observations with theoretical single phase partial melting calculations suggest the presence of cracks filled with a few volume per cent of melt in the upper and lower crust. Less than $$1\,{per\,cent}$$ melt-filled inclusions with aspect ratio smaller than 0.001 might exist in the uppermost mantle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Turkey as in Europe, the share of natural gas (NG) in the generation of electricity has shown a dramatic increase since the 1990s. Although Turkey faced two economic crises in the last decade, its total electricity generation has increased by 60%. NG consumption was 0.43 bcm in 1987 and reached 40 bcm by 2014. A big fraction of total electricity generation (TEG) is produced from NG. While the NG-based electricity generation was 0.2% in 1985, its share increased rapidly and it has reached to 48% of the TEG in 2014 and share of NG in total thermal power is about 60%. The goal of this paper is to review the historical development of the electricity and NG sectors, and to forecast and review the process of electricity generation with NG. Additionally, this paper compare the use of NG in electricity generation in Turkey and World, and analyze the supply–demand projections and future prospects in the field of energy. Results obtained from the present study show that a diversity of energy resources has not been achieved and as it is today in meeting the increasing energy demand, NG will continue to be a priority in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a country in transition from emigration to immigration, Turkey hosts many diverse migrant groups, creating a very dynamic research field to explore. Amongst them, European retirees have settled in the coastal Turkish Riviera. This paper tries to understand the perspectives of both retired EU migrants and local hosts on migration and settlement processes. After briefly describing the geographical distribution of EU citizens in Turkey, the paper focuses on the demographic characteristics and socio- economic integration of retired migrants in Antalya, the most popular destination in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the effects of migration on life satisfaction in later life. We compare the life satisfaction of older migrants with that of non-migrants and return migrants of a similar age and originating from the same regions in Turkey. Turks constitute one of the largest migrant groups in Europe, and the growing population of older Turkish migrants display greater risks of loneliness and material disadvantage compared to native-born populations in Europe. However, compared to their non-migrant peers from the country of origin, older migrants may experience gains from migration that are reflected in their life satisfaction. Using the 2000 Families Study, a large survey of Turkish migrants from the peak labour migration period and their non-migrant comparators, we investigate whether life satisfaction of migrants and stayers differs and the possible causes of any differences. We find that both migrants and return migrants experience higher life satisfaction in old age than stayers. However, the gap cannot be explained by the classical determinants of life satisfaction such as income, health, partner and friends, or religiosity, nor by the better outcomes of the migrants’ children. We discuss possible reasons for this migration satisfaction advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1990s were the years that Europe witnessed very dynamic and also turbulent times. Transition in the Eastern Europe paved the way for reunification of Europe in political, economic and cultural domains. Education, and higher education in particular, has been perceived as one of the most suitable means for creating a common European identity. Cooperation among European universities has long been promoted as a part of the European cultural project to develop the understanding of a European identity among the young generations. Bologna Process is the outcome of this political will declared in 1999 and aimed at creating a common European Higher Education Area and European Research Area. There have been significant changes in higher education systems of the member countries since then. Yet, after nearly two decades from its launch, the process is being questioned by many and higher education community deeply divided over the philosophy of Bologna. Turkey, as a member of the process since 2001, has also employed Bologna reforms for restructring its higher education system and for accelerating the integration with the Western world. Turkish universities succesfully implemented many of the structural reforms, yet the substance of the regulations and contribution of the process in creating a common European identity among the scholars are questionable. This paper focuses on these issues and reflects the views from the field by presenting findings of a survey carried out with research assitants in a Turkish state university. The survey was carried out in 2017 with the participation of 145 research assitants working in 10 faculties in Suleyman Demirel University. Major findings reveal that research assistants have little information on the process. Most of them think that the primary aim of Bologna process is to create a European identity, yet it is hard to talk about such an identity at the moment. In addition, research assistants do not perceive Turkish higher education and researchers as a part of European higher education area. On the other hand they do not think Bologna process as a threat to national identity. As for the implementation of Bologna process, it is seen as a bureaucratic process increasing the workload of academics which lacks democratic participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent advances, critical areas in the analysis of European migration remain underdeveloped. We have only a limited understanding of the consequences of migration for migrants and their descendants, relative to staying behind; and our insights of intergenerational transmission is limited to two generations of those living in the destination countries. These limitations stem from a paucity of studies that incorporate comparison with nonmigrants -- and return migrants -- in countries of origin and which trace processes of intergenerational transmission over multiple generations. This paper outlines the theoretical and methodological discussions in the field, design and data of the 2,000 Families study. The study comprises almost 50,000 members of migrant and non-migrant Turkish families across three family generations, living in Turkey and eight European countries. We provide indicative findings from the study, framed within a theoretical perspective of "dissimilation" from origins, and reflect on its potential for future migration research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the paper is to illuminate Metternich's attitude towards possibilities of reform in the Ottoman Empire and the reasons for his interest and practical steps taken in this matter. The paper attempts to provide an accurate account of an important, but until now, entirely ignored, aspect of Metternich's diplomacy and offer further proof that Metternich was not the benighted reactionary depicted in the nineteenth-century historiography, but a conservative keenly aware that the conservative order could survive only if reformed so as to adapt it to the realities of a post-revolutionary age. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As is known, the racist worldview rising in Europe, particularly in Germany of the 1930s, affected also the socio-political realities in Turkey, and became in effect a part of the official policy of the country. Many theories of obvious Turkist nature, such as Güneş Dil Teorisi (Sun Language Theory), were even shaped by the government and introduced into the university programmes. In this framework, the ancient Near Eastern states were declared Turkish, and the idea about the primordial presence of the Turks in Anatolia and Mesopotamia became a sort of axiom or absolute truth. From anthropological perspective, thousands of Armenian and Greek graves were opened and examined for the purpose of determining the real Turkish type; the skulls taken from these graves were compared with those of the contemporary Turks. The racist ideology defeated in Europe as a result of World War II, was correspondingly overthrown in Turkey too; even some sanctions were imposed to its defenders. However, since the 1980s, the similar ideas have been brought to the agenda again via the project of 'the re-discovery of the proto-Turks in Anatolia'. Moreover, some Turkish academics have argued that the non-Muslim and non-Turk peoples, such as the Pontus Greeks, the Armenians, and the Assyrians are, indeed, of Turkic origin. This paper examines the recent publications by several Turkish authors who vehemently advocate the above summarised views, which, at the same time, are shared and embraced by a clear majority of the academics studying identity and ethnicity issues in Turkey. The introductory part of the paper discusses the theoretical aspects of ethnicity-again with a focus on the relevant literature published in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at the Women's Memory symposium on the 20th anniversary of the Women's Library and Information Center (WLIC) is presented. Topics include the Turkish women's movement's continuity or discontinuity, the Western second-wave feminism import to Turkey and coordination between the women's libraries. The conference was held at Kadir Has University and some papers were presented by the panel members from Turkey, Europe and Middle East.

The paper suggests that European political identity, as a fragile project, is always in need of external significant 'others' in order to buttress a sense of common fate within the sui generis political entity of the European Economic Community/European Union (EU). Adopting a historical and diachronic perspective, the paper argues that for decades the threat of Eastern European communism represented one such external other as a gathering element for Western Europe, but that with the end of the Cold War this 'other' was gradually replaced by the threat of Islam and Islamism (and by extension Turkey's possible entry into the EU). Europe's threat was first the communist sickle; it is now Islam's crescent. Such a portrayal is obviously problematic because of its populist and simplistic appeal that has served political purposes. This needs to be questioned. The return of religion through what is currently described as desecularisation is a rather recent issue for Europe and the question of multireligious Europe ought to be taken seriously. The paper argues, in the line of Delanty, that one should adopt a civilisational approach to Europe, thus giving real space to differences within Europe, and reflect on certain biases of secularity and laicite towards the dominant religion in various countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between Turkey and the EU entered a new phrase on October 3, 2005 with the opening of Turkey’s accession negotiations. This paper proposes that the specific juncture that European integration finds itself in and the perceptions of Turkey’s fit into Europe are the main variables around which member states’ preferences and the European public’s position on the Turkish accession are shaped. This is different from arguing that Turkey’s adoption of the EU acquis would determine its accession. Turkey’s adoption of the EU acquis/criteria is necessary but not sufficient on its own, as other factors will shape Turkey’s accession. These factors are the convergence of member states’ interests, the public approval and the EU’s internal dynamics. This paper concludes by arguing that the interplay of the utilitarian concerns, the ideational factors and the EU’s internal dynamics is the key to understand the conditions under which Turkey’s accession talks will proceed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is threefold: First, to note an unspoken, but obvious fact. The European Union is a living organism that functions with relative success at several levels: legal, economic and monetary in particular. Second, the threat to the EU is from its very success, a desire to overreach natural and functional boundaries by including nation-states with profoundly different structures and goals. Third, this paper seeks to awaken the policy making bodies in North America to the emergence of regional force in most of Europe that is by varying degrees complementary to US interests and at the same time competitive to the present notion of hegemony. The EU along with the US illustrates the power of bipolarity in the West. The issue of Turkish entrance indicates the limitations of such a condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the influence of Turkey's European Union (EU) candidature on its civil-military relations. It argues that EU conditionality and adaptation pressure for the convergence and alignment of Turkey's authoritarian political regime to the EU acquis communautaire have resulted in the democratization of civil-military relations and the empowerment of government in the Turkish political system. The findings indicate that harmonization reforms have deinstitutionalized and illegalized the coercive influence of the military in the Turkish political system and empowered the government in political decision-making by: (a) changing the functions, duties and composition of the National Security Council (NSC), (b) increasing the parliamentary control over, and transparency in, defense and military expenditure, and the civil judiciary control over the military, and (c) increasing the public support and trust to the civil institutions. It utilizes Europeanization, and the rational choice and historical versions of the new institutionalist theory as its theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses differences in rural and urban origin in visits from natives and the occurrence of interethnic marriages of Turkish immigrants in six European countries. We argue that values and human capital explain the relationship between rural-urban origin and contact with natives. The value-based hypothesis stipulates that differences in contact with natives are due to values and predispositions that correlate with people's rural and urban origin. The human capital hypothesis predicts that variation between rural and urban origin can be ascribed to differences in human capital accumulation. Using the Six Country Immigrant Incorporation Comparative Survey (SCIICS), the results show that Turkish immigrants with a rural origin have fewer visits from natives and are less likely to intermarry. Furthermore, educational attainment, destination country language proficiency, religious identification and identification with the origin culture explain a substantial part of the rural origin effect. However, also when accounting for values and human capital, we find a significant direct effect of rural origin, suggesting that rural and urban immigrants build social relations differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Return migration has been one of the rather neglected aspects of migration until recently, although a considerable number of international migrants as well as inter-regional migrants return to their place of origin. Nevertheless, since the beginning of the 1990s, the interest for issues related to return migration has grown considerably. In the context of Turkish return migration there still is a lack of information about the motives for returning, the new social status, the levels of satisfaction and reintegration as well as the employment and income of emigrants who have returned home. This paper aims at shedding light on this neglected aspect of Turkish migration in the context of Europe as well as on the history of Turkey as a country of immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To provide initial data regarding country‐specific evidence of workplace violence towards nurses working within the health sector in five European countries. Methods: This is a descriptive and cross‐sectional pilot study, conducted in June 2016. The sample consisted of 260 nurses working in selected health care settings in five participating countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, and Spain). The questionnaire used was adapted from the International Labour Office/International Council of Nurses/World Health Organisation/Public Services International Workplace Violence in the Health Sector Country Case Study—Questionnaire. Results: A large number of participants confirmed that they had been physically attacked or verbally abused in the workplace in the last 12 months. In most cases, the physical and verbal abuse was inflicted by patients and to a lesser degree by relatives of patients, staff members, or managers/supervisors. In the majority of cases, no action was taken to investigate the causes of the incidents. In most cases, participants believed there was no point in reporting the incidents. However, the reasons for not reporting or discussing incidents of workplace violence varied depending on the country. Conclusion: Workplace violence towards nurses is a serious problem internationally, and violence prevention strategies need to be implemented. SUMMARY STATEMENT: What is already known about this topic? The nursing profession is at high risk of workplace violence. However, the problem seems to be severely underreported.What this paper adds? A better understanding of the problem in the social and cultural context, together with data fill information gaps regarding workplace violence in selected European countries.The implications of this paper: On the basis of the data obtained, prevention programmes and recommendations can be established and implemented in nurses' daily lives. Evaluation can also be conducted of the effectiveness of existing programmes and standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its crucial role in sustaining better integration, multilingualism is not discussed as widely as the other topics of multiculturalism within the context of the European Union (EU) enlargement. The accession process requires Turkey to take notice of the opportunities and shortcomings as well as the challenges of European multilingualism and to communicate the relevance of the Turkish language to the completeness of European multiculturalism. The present article aims to assess the EU language policy in light of the future imperative of incorporating Turkish into Europe's linguistic family by referring to the EU's laws, norms, and values as well as NGOs' reports and opinion papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main argument of this paper is that, due to the increasing support for the extreme right in Europe and human rights violations and democracy problems in Turkey are considered as identity issues which will affect Turkey's accession process. This article aims to examine the debates on whether Turkish identity is compatible with 'European Identity', as an unofficial membership criterion. These debates derive from the change in the content of European identity which depends on global challenges. Particularly, since the end of the Cold War, idea of collective European identity has been changed remarkably. In this respect, another research question asked in this article is, although it has not been directly mentioned in the European Union's legal documents, to what extent Turkey would be affected by these challenges that came up with the changing political atmosphere in the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey redefined its geographical security environment over the last decade by deepening its engagement with neighboring regions, especially with the Middle East. The Arab spring, however, challenged not only the authoritarian regimes in the region but also Turkish foreign policy strategy. This strategy was based on cooperation with the existing regimes and did not prioritize the democracy promotion dimension of the issue. The upheavals in the Arab world, therefore, created a dilemma between ethics and self-interest in Turkish foreign policy. Amid the flux of geopolitical shifts in one of the world's most unstable regions, Turkish foreign policy-making elites are attempting to reformulate their strategies to overcome this inherent dilemma. The central argument of the present paper is that Turkey could make a bigger and more constructive impact in the region by trying to take a more detached stand and through controlled activism. Thus, Turkey could take action through the formation of coalitions and in close alignments with the United States and Europe rather than basing its policies on a self-attributed unilateral pro-activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between Turkey (and its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire) and Europe has been long, often tense or openly hostile, and is in some senses fundamental to the identities and development of each; this relationship also adds a considerable burden of suspicion to Turkey's current aim of joining the European Union (EU). This essay examines these propositions by providing an account of the history of the relationship and of Europe's recent, conditional approach to Turkish accession to the EU. While accepting that much remains to be done at the institutional level to bring Turkey into alignment with EU norms, this paper argues that Turkish accession is a historic opportunity for Europe that it should not squander. Despite mixed signals, further development of Turkey's democracy along the path to Europe is the most likely course. The story is not "never-ending", but the end will not come quickly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The making of the modern Ottoman state in the 19th century was closely interrelated with population issues and policies. ‘Population’ became an important component of Ottoman history throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. As the state identified the ‘population’ as a source of income after the Tanzimat, it tried to protect and procreate it through certain institutional arrangements and regulations. These policies consisted of protecting the existing population, controlling population movements, promoting procreation, and giving subsidies and lending money at interest to peasant families. The procreation policies included enforcement of marriages and encouragement of reproduction within marriages while they discouraged traditional birth control methods and practices. As in any other context, Ottoman families resisted the policies of procreation and pressures coming from the central government. This paper will examine the state''s policies toward families and individuals as well as the responses of the people to these policies. I will attempt to construct a model based on the protection and the procreation policies of the modern Ottoman state, which will be an important springboard toward building a basis for conducting comparative analysis with other European states. By doing this, I will try to challenge some of the established assumptions on the nature of the ‘modern state’ in the 19th century. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigates the identity of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) - the conservative-democratic party in power in Turkey since November 2002 - and assesses its role in the EU's decision to open accession negotiations with Turkey. It argues that the AKP leadership has successfully employed an identity-based strategy highlighting the possibility of being Muslim and sharing European norms and values at the same time and the importance of Turkey's EU membership to refute 'the clash of civilizations' thesis to get Turkey closer to the EU in the post-September 11 global political context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first analyzes the question why did Czarist Russia and Ottoman Turkey fall behind the West? It is argued that interstate rivalry forced West European rulers to respect the private property rights of producers and subjects earlier and to a greater degree than czars or sultans ruling over huge contiguous territories ever had to. Incentives to work were better in Europe than elsewhere. The mobilization of available knowledge for productive purposes was easier than elsewhere. Limited government implied less political obstacles to innovation. Comparatively secure private property ownership in the means of production made the establishment of scarcity prices and the rational allocation of resources easier than elsewhere. Whereas the Western past was feudal, the Russian or Turkish past was patrimonial or even sultanistic. Feudalism is a much better starting point for establishing the rule of law and safe property rights than patrimonialism. The second issue has been the question why Czarist Russia could outperform Ottoman Turkey. Here the political consequences of the Muslim tolerance of slavery and polygyny matter. Being slaves, many members of Ottoman ruling elites were at the mercy of their owner, the sultan. Therefore, they became tools of arbitrary rule. Moreover, the practice of polygyny generated downward social mobility and political instability and thereby added another obstacle to the establishment of safe property rights for producers or merchants. The final issue is the economic prospects of Russia or Turkey. Economic freedom is better in Turkey than in Russia. Moreover, Russia is graying, whereas Turkey may look forward to a growing labor force. Although a rich endowment in natural resources seems to favor Russia, the resource curse has prevented other resource rich countries from developing. Therefore, the Turkish prospect looks much brighter than the Russian one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the mass media on individuals' political behavior has received a lot of scholarly attention. However, there has been little research done to determine whether and to what degree the media affects citizens' knowledge about the EU. This paper examines whether Turkish citizens' level of knowledge about the EU varies with exposure to television, radio and newspapers using empirical evidence from the 2006 Eurobarometer survey data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influenced by international donors and policy institutions, civic activism in Turkey has increasingly become synonymous with carrying out projects. Project culture is reshaping what civil society is, and what civic activism means. By showing how civil society is changing due to the integration of Turkey with the outside world, particularly with the EU, this article aims to move beyond the prevalent approaches to the study of Turkey-EU relations, which emphasize macro-policy issues and most often discuss pros and cons regarding Turkish EU-membership or evaluate how far Turkey is from fulfilling various criteria. Instead, this paper argues for an increased focus on how Turkey-EU relations reshape Turkish political culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a time series method called 'transfer function', this paper examines the effect of terrorism on tourism in Turkey. The results indicate that there exists a negative but small impact of terrorism, which is observed within approximately one year. However, terrorist attacks in Turkey have accounted for a reduction of six million foreign tourists over the last nine years. Moreover, the economic cost of terrorism in the tourism industry was more than $700 million in 2006. However, terrorist attacks in continental Europe and America, and an active war involving a neighboring country, had no effects on tourism in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, it is known that the association law between Turkey and the Community grants rights to Turkish citizens which are legally enforceable before the national authorities and courts of the Member States, thanks to the decisions of the Court of Justice. Recent years have witnessed a number of cases before the Court regarding the standstill provisions in association law relating to workers on the one hand and freedom of establishment and to provide services on the other. One striking example is the Soysal case, which paved the way for certain Turkish nationals to travel to Germany without a visa. Therefore, there is a strong need to explore the exact boundaries of the above mentioned standstill clauses. This paper examines the nature, scope and effects of these standstill provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1990s, Istanbul regained its long-forgotten role as a regional gateway between Asia and Europe. With the growing importance of the city in global flows, hypotheses concerning the global city and social/spatial polarisation were advanced for Istanbul, arguing that it could best be characterised as a ‘divided city’. This paper suggests that despite the city's growing integration with global dynamics, the degree of segregation is not on the rise but even registered a slight fall between 1990 and 2000. The distinct nature of social mobility that provided the poor with the opportunities for upward mobility generated an easily legible pattern of segregation. In the mid-1990s these dynamics changed and the forces acting upon segregation became too diversified to be reduced to a single factor, generating unpredictable results in parts of the city. Our findings indicate that the mobility of the existing population and locational choices of newcomers work in opposite directions as far as their impacts on segregation are concerned, with the former increasing and the latter decreasing the existing levels of segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on Turkey's bid for membership with the European Union. The main hypothesis of the present study considers the objectives of the EU and examines whether its policy regarding the issue of human rights in Turkey is, indeed, based upon the efficacy of the liberal assumption that there is a genuine link between democracy, respect for human rights and international stability. In any other case, the issue of human rights might have been manipulated as a precondition that instead of determining Turkey's status, merely delays the processing of her application while keeping her at a close distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Save for Israel, no other nation participating in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) challenges popular notions of what it means to be “European” (geographically and/or culturally) to the extent than does Turkey. As the nation begins a long process toward membership of the European Union (EU), debates have flared (often in the print and broadcast media) over the “European-ness” of Turkey. It is interesting to note that, along with the third place achieved by the Turkish soccer team in the 2002 World Cup, the ESC victory in 2003 put the nation on the international “popular culture map” as never before. In this paper, the authors will analyze and discuss coverage in the international and Turkish press of Turkey's victory in the 2003 ESC and the extent to which a discursive space was opened in which the idea of Turkish “European-ness” (or “non-Europeanness”) was addressed and debated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to quantify the extent to which Turkey has a comparative advantage in the tomato, olive oil, and fruit juice industries and how this has changed over the period 1995-2005 in the EU market. To study Turkey's competitiveness and its progress two widely used indexes are calculated: the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and the comparative export performance (CEP) index. In addition, import demand functions of the EU are estimated for rival countries. Using regression analysis we hypothesize that if Turkey is a competitor for these countries, its price will have a statistically significant effect on export demand functions. Both index and regression results indicate that Turkey has a strikingly high comparative advantage in the fruit juice and olive oil markets in the EU but this is not the case in the tomato market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serbian Gypsy narratives have a very important function in Gypsy culture - that of shaping and influencing the behaviour of those to whom the stories are told. This paper analyses two Serbian Gypsy oral narratives that place special emphasis on the kinds of behaviour that are encouraged or discouraged in everyday life, and which have presumably helped Gypsies to survive through the centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new strategic environment that was created with the end of the Cold War, led many European countries to abolish conscription and adopt an all volunteer force (AVF). Even though it is not likely for the Turkish Armed Forces to adopt an AVF in the near future, the issue has been in the official documents of the Turkish Armed Forces since the 1990s. Thus, efforts have been made by all services to increase the ratio of professional officers. One possible way of achieving this is the re-enlistment of present recruits. This paper examines the possible economic and socio-economic determinants of the re-enlistment decision of recruits for Turkey's Armed Forces. The empirical findings indicate that the geographical background as well as economic welfare is influential in the re-enlistment decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution suggests a framework for examining Turkish--European relations from the perspective of domestic and external inputs of foreign policy making in Turkey. In viewing the relationship as a unique part of overall Turkish foreign policy orientation, the study employs a multi-level, multi-causal approach and a contextual framework. Accordingly, the paper identifies and deals with three main structural inputs of Turkish foreign policy -- namely, the Ottoman experience and its long-lasting legacy; the geopolitical realities of Turkey; and the ideological foundations defined under the leadership of Atatürk As well as the effects of the recent systemic changes on Turkish foreign policy as an example of conjectural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, after a short theoretical discussion of the methodology of comparison in the first section and an attempt to define "political culture" in the second, focuses on two processes of modernization: the Turkish and the Russian. "Political culture" is defined as a kind of imagined formula that includes varying values, intuitions, characteristic features, and even social manners (modus operandi) of a defined political system. In this paper it serves as a key concept in the comparison that is done. The third section, then, deals with the historical dimensions of the Turkish and Russian processes of modernization. It examines what the main aims of the Russian and Turkish modernizers were, what they did, what the main limiting factors were, what was common to the two modernization experiences, and what the role of religion in both countries was. The article also discusses modernization in Turkey and Russia from another point of departure: whether it was European or not. Following upon the discussion of the modernization experiences in both Turkey and Russia and some of the current debates, the article summarizes the meaning of Europe for Russia and Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Revealing the genetic population structure in abundant avian species is crucial for understanding speciation, conservation, and evolutionary history. The Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio, an iconic songbird renowned for impaling its prey, is widely distributed as a breeder across much of Europe, Asia Minor and western Asia. However, in recent decades, many populations have declined significantly, as a result of habitat loss, hunting along migration routes, decrease of arthropod food, and climate change e.g., severe droughts in Africa. Within this context, gene flow among different breeding populations becomes critical to ensure the survival of the species, but we still lack an overview on the genetic diversity of the species. In this paper, we analyzed the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (mtDNA) and the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (mtDNA) of 132 breeding Red-backed Shrikes from across the entire breeding range to address this knowledge gap. Our results revealed consistent genetic diversity and 76 haplotypes among the Eurasian populations. Birds are clustered in two major groups, with no clear geographical separation, as a direct consequence of Pleistocene glaciations and apparent lineage mixing in refugia. This has led to genetic panmixia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on Ron Pinhasi and Mark Pluciennik's paper which examines the potential contribution of archaeological human skeletal material to interpretations of the nature of the transition to farming in Europe. Researchers' argument that in south-eastern Europe the introduction of farming is related to colonization from Central Anatolia; Level of biological admixture; Artifactual material associated with the human remains; Use of late Early or even Middle Neolithic samples; Notion that the Mesolithic and early Neolithic populations of Iberia were genetically distinct.