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Through a comparative study of Turkey and Israel, this article highlights a specific strategy that autocratizing populist incumbents in ethnically divided societies utilize when they face election setbacks. A "blood gambit" entails fomenting violent conflict to keep the opposition divided along identitarian cleavages, while creating a rally-around-the-flag effect to help the incumbent win a renewed election. After failing to secure a parliamentary majority in June 2015, Erdoğan ended the Kurdish peace process and engineered repeat elections amidst heightened nationalist fervour and renewed conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). These elections gave the Justice and Development Party (AKP) a majority and marked the beginning of its alliance with the ultranationalists. Following Israel's March 2021 elections, Netanyahu increased state repression of Palestinians, which triggered interethnic violence and renewed confrontation with Hamas. The violence threw a wrench into coalition-building efforts between ideologically and ethnically diverse opposition parties. The comparison of Israel and Turkey as two countries with different majority religions, ethnic compositions and socioeconomic levels shows that "blood gambit" is not a parochial strategy. Our analysis also demonstrates that the outcomes of these strategies are shaped by differing institutional and political contexts, in particular, the extent of executive aggrandizement and the level of party fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time of authoritarian drift in many parts of the world characterizing a post-liberal order, this paper aims to contribute emerging literature on how domestic and international factors interact in shaping the foreign policy preferences of middle powers in this new epoch. Hinging on a synthesis of linkage and regime survival theories, the article argues that as the 'inner-directed linkage' of the West to those authoritarian regimes weakens, those regimes' 'outer-directed linkage' with emerging Asian authoritarian centres strengthens. Having been ruled for more than 20 years by authoritarian leader Erdoğan of the JDP (Justice and Development Party), Turkey is an interesting case as an authoritarian middle power with its incrementally intensifying ties with Russia and China. Drawing on the Erdoğan regime's statements and acts departing from the liberal order, especially after the Gezi Park protests in 2013 and the failed coup attempt in 2016, the article concludes that Turkey has recalibrated its domestic and foreign policy, replacing its Europhilism with Eurasianism as a part of his regime survival strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern phase of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has lasted for over three decades. Since the independent republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan emerged in 1991, the status of Nagorno-Karabakh has been at the centre of these countries' foreign and domestic policies. Using Robert Entman's theory, this article examines speeches about possible remedies to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey between 2002 and 2022 and identifies frames that these leaders create over the conflict's resolution. By enhancing our understanding of how state leaders frame their perspectives on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for external audiences, this article demonstrates the complex challenges in achieving a peaceful resolution. Understanding these framing strategies is crucial for comprehending the underlying motivations and interests of the involved parties and sheds light on the challenges faced in resolving the conflict through peaceful means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Türkiye, religious education, entitled 'Religious Culture and Ethics Knowledge' (RCEK), has been compulsory in primary and secondary schools since 1982. Even though Christian and Jewish children are exempted from RCEK, they can still attend, and some have chosen to do so. Moreover, the RCEK curriculum seeks to present Christianity and other religions objectively and descriptively using their own texts, sources and assumptions. Hence, this article aims to examine the presentation of Christianity in a documentary fashion in the curriculum and textbooks of compulsory religious education in Türkiye. The research question addressed is whether the textbooks present Christianity objectively and descriptively or not. The analysis shows that there are improvements in the presentation of Christianity in the current textbooks as compared with previous textbooks. However, there are also problems, such as passages that seek to negate some fundamental Christian teachings and instances of confrontational language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the 100th anniversary of the Republic, Turkey experienced another multi-party election. This paper aims to analyse the role partisanship played in determining the outcomes of the 2023 General Elections. The literature provides valuable insights about the effects of partisanship on the vote choice in Turkey, and underscores the influence of political socialization, newly emerging political parties, clientelist ties and voters' threat perceptions on party identification. To contribute to this literature, this study provides individual level analysis of the data gathered via Turkish Election Studies (TES) and compares the results of 2018 and 2023 elections. This comparison includes comparative examination of partisanship vis-à-vis the effects of such individual variables as social class, political ideology, voters' perceptions of the recent performance of the macro economy, and cultural identities. The findings show that partisanship and cultural divisions seem to be crucial determinants of vote choices in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the impact of the Armenian-Azeri conflict on regional insecurity and a strategic partnership between Turkey and Russia in the South Caucasus. Like the Ottoman and Russian Empires of old, Russia and Turkey continued to have conflicting interests in the region after the end of the Cold War. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 turned this confrontation into a partnership between Moscow and Ankara, as both Russia and Turkey exploited opportunities to expand their control and influence in the region. Lilia Arakelyan and Hanna Kassab argue that Russia and Turkey's prestige-seeking behaviour is based on reciprocated recognition of greatness through cooperation and mutual support. ■ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the text of the Istanbul Summit Declaration in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation summit held in Istanbul in November 18, 1999. Declarations of heads of state of member countries of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation; Commitment to the appraisal of political, economic and security developments in Europe.

This article locates Turkey in discussions of gender and violent extremism (VE), probes women's diverse roles, motivations, and constraints for and against religious radicalization, and discusses the impact of sustainable patriarchy on their agency. Building on the findings of an extensive field study on women's recruitment to ISIS and al-Nusra from Turkey, the article disproves women's widely assumed passivity, demonstrates other roles as sympathizers, recruiters, and perpetrators, and explores potential push, pull, and enabling factors. It also reveals the hindering effects of patriarchy on women's preventive roles and accentuates the empowerment of both women and women's NGOs for an effective and gender-sensitive fight against VE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study argues that minorities have higher in-group consciousness and adaptability developed through uneven interaction with the majority. Once migrated, their collective experiences are transferred to the country-of-residence with them, leading to higher civic and political integration in the country-of-residence than majority-migrants. Introducing a new civic and political integration model, it compares the majority and minority migrants from Turkey in the UK, by using ordinal logistic regression analyses. Findings show that Kurds are more involved in politics than Turks, however, they do not differ in terms of civic participation. Compared to Sunnis, Alevis feel more represented in the political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a critical discussion of third-country access to normative contestation within the European normative order. It empirically examines the external contestation of the EU's recent sanctions policy directed towards Russia by Turkey, a candidate state, and elaborates on the context in which Turkey contested and renegotiated the normative validity of the EU's sanction policy. The study empirically suggests that Turkey, while behaviourally practising non-compliance, accessed the European normative order and negotiated the normativity of its non-alignment. In the making of this proactive contestation, the normativity of the country's positions and the invalidity of the sanctions policy have been widely negotiated in domestic politics by the political elites. Eventually, Turkey, against the EU's expectations from a candidate state, turned the normative monologue on the sanctions into a multilogue of legitimate normative differences on the validity claims of a united action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Party institutionalization (PI) and party system institutionalization (PSI) are critical for processes of democratization and democratic consolidation, yet their impact and relationship have not been explored under conditions of autocratization. How does autocratization relate to party and party system stability, and how does that link manifest itself? To answer those questions, we draw evidence from Turkey to demonstrate that when autocratization occurs, stabilization at the systemic level can go hand in hand with declining levels of PI. We also conceptualize the process of stabilization at the systemic level alongside unit-level de-institutionalization as a form of systemic ossification. Ossified party systems appear stable but are continuously subject to the possibility of de-stabilization, or even implosion, due to the under-institutionalization of incumbent parties. Driving factors of such (de)stabilization are: (1) the increasing unevenness of party competition and (2) increasing levels of societal and political polarization resulting from autocratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the complex history of Nagorny Karabakh and the wider Caucasus and its implications for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). Special attention is paid to the geopolitical role of Iran, Turkey, Russia, the United Kingdom and other states. It contends that the Second Karabakh War of 2020 and its aftermath signalled a new historical stage in the geopolitical rearrangement of the region, primarily between Russia and Turkey, a situation reminiscent of the deal between Lenin's Russia and Atatürk's Turkey a century ago. Arguably, it is this rearrangement—as well as the ensuing reconfiguration of Russia's and Turkey's relationships with both Armenia and Azerbaijan—rather than the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's relationship with its patron state of Armenia that will determine the future existence of the NKR as a de facto state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between Russia and Turkey since 2015 suggests a new quality in foreign affairs combining tactical alliance and strategic competition. The Russian invasion of Ukraine did not change this. By studying the cases of Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh, we observe not only elements of geopolitical competition and cooperation but also that the combination of the two contradictory approaches in foreign affairs created new opportunities beneficial to the two sides. Russian-Turkish interactions are a unique case study in international relations and are conditioned by their geopolitical competition with the west, a fact that the war in Ukraine did not alter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenomenon:Clinical skills centers allow structured training of undergraduate medical students for the acquisition of clinical skills in a simulated environment. Physician, nurse, or peer tutors are employed for training in those centers. All tutors should have appropriate training about the methodology used in the clinical skills training. Many of the studies revealed the effectiveness of various types of tutors. The aim of our study was to evaluate medical students' satisfaction with clinical skills training, and their opinions about the differences in coaching skills among the physician, nurse, and peer tutors.Approach:This study was conducted with third-year students (467 students) in 2013-2014 academic year at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine. Participation rate was 85 % (397 students). The students attended the suturing skill training in groups of 40 students. First, a faculty member from the Department of Medical Education delivered a video demonstration and conducted discussion. After the demonstration, the students were divided into groups of 5-6 students. A physician, nurse, or a peer tutor facilitated each group. The students were asked to complete the Coaching Skills Evaluation Form after the practicum session. It contained 13 criteria for assessing the coaching skills. Additionally, the form included a question for rating the student's satisfaction with the tutor. The performance of the tutors at each step was rated on a three-point scale.Findings:Kruskal Wallis analysis was used to compare students' scores for their tutors. The students' satisfaction with tutors was high for all of the tutors. However, there was no difference between students' scores in suturing skill, and between physician, nurse, and peer tutors' coaching skills.Insights:In this study, we revealed that physician, nurse, and peer tutors were equally effective on the students' performances. They were also regarded as effective in their teaching role by students. But the most important point was that sufficient tutor training and preparation was crucial for the success of models. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On May 14, Turkish voters headed to the polls to vote for presidential and parliamentary elections. This was the most challenging race yet for authoritarian populist Erdoğan, as the ongoing economic crisis and deadly earthquakes severely diminished his performance legitimacy. Moreover, the opposition parties united against his regime by rallying behind a joint presidential candidate. However, Erdoğan turned the tables on the opposition and won the presidential race for a third consecutive term while his electoral bloc secured a majority in the parliament. This paper analyses the context and results of Turkey's 2023 twin elections. We highlight the features of the competitive authoritarian regime, Erdoğan's religio-nationalist electoral strategy, and the opposition's fragile state and weak strategy to explain Erdoğan's electoral resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This study, drawing on alternative journalism theory takes a postcolonial feminist approach to investigating the lived experiences and gender-based safety problems of women journalists working for alternative media in Turkey. It evaluates the impact on their professional and private lives of Islamism, populism, nationalism and authoritarianism which intersect in this patriarchal autocracy. The thematic analysis of the data gathered qualitatively by 15 in-depth interviews reveals that most of the safety threats to alternative women journalists stem from security forces in the field and arbitrary judicial sanctions in the courthouses. According to the interviewees, the authoritarian government that sees critical journalism as the greatest enemy controls and oversees these assaults. Furthermore, women journalists suffer from the unsustainable working conditions of alternative news media. Alternative media theories would expect these institutions to be gender-equal and pro-labor, but the prevalent indifference to women's labor and gender rights demonstrates that this normative approach is not justified. However, women still feel encouraged to continue journalism, which they consider an important tool for empowerment not only for themselves but also all "otherized" identities. Moreover, women's solidarity backed by the feminist movement is the primary source of resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey's institution of night watchmanship, or bekçilik, almost vanished during the 1990s as new recruitment was halted. Since 2016, however, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has renewed recruitment in line with its agenda of revitalizing the institution, with recruits now officially named Market and Neighborhood Watchmen. The new regulatory and administrative context is highly centralized while their duties are scarcely different from those of the regular police forces, giving the institution's longstanding ambiguity or in-betweenness a more complicated form. In its attempt to publicly legitimize the institution, the AKP has relied on myth creation. Accordingly, this article contextualizes this process of double myth creation at the intersection of Turkey's neoliberal security sector reforms and AKP's securitization policies. In doing so, the article reveals the reasons underlying growing public anxiety regarding the institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey is the only country that has twice lost cases concerning the violation of parents' freedom to ensure their children an education in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This article firstly seeks to present these court cases. It then moves to the official responses to these cases, especially the curriculum and textbook reforms. The article then discusses some possible ways of reforming compulsory religious education course in Turkey, taking into account the ECtHR judgements and the Turkish laws, as well as the arguments of the government and the applicants in the ECtHR cases, as we believe, a balance needs to be found to achieve a workable solution [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey has long been a productive member of regional international organizations (IOs) like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Council of Europe. Theorists of socialization would predict that Turkey's activities within these organizations would encourage European Union (EU) members who belong to these IOs to support Turkey's application for EU membership. In reality, many EU members who share memberships with Turkey voice severe reservations about the prospects of Turkish EU membership. This article seeks to explain this puzzle. It demonstrates why socialization dynamics have failed to materialize in the Turkey-EU relationship and tests alternative explanations for 'failed socialization'. It finds empirical support for two such explanations. The first involves limitations of IOs' ability to discourage 'bad behavior' by member states. The second involves the increasing importance of mass publics and the dissolution of a 'permissive consensus' that has characterized past decisions about EU enlargement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the contributions of European countries to the United Nations' (UN) actions for peace, citing its implications for Turkish cooperation and coordination. Evidently UN has undertaken steps to improve the capacity and performance of its divisions to meet its members' expectations and requirements on security. Global peace operations highlight the cooperation between the UN and the European Union, which has influenced in resolving conflicts in Turkey.

The freedom of media is an essential component for democratic settings; however, in some contexts, citizens experience several barriers to enjoy this right in full. Replacing conventional media channels, social media is becoming an indispensable medium to express and discuss politics in such environments. Yet, there is little consensus in the literature about how social media relates to offline political participation, especially in settings where citizens do not experience media freedom in full. By using survey data that has been collected after the Turkish general election of 2018, this article aims to display the relationship between social media use and offline political participation. The analysis reveals offline political participation is related to sharing political views online and exposure to alternative political ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems of government have been an issue that has occupied Turkish politics periodically since the transition to multi-party politics. Most political leaders from the right-wing spectrum have repeatedly advocated the transition to a presidential system, which they considered an instrument for a fast and powerful executive branch. Following the constitutional amendments in the 2017 referendum, parliamentarism was replaced with the presidential government system. However, this dispute has not been settled yet. The opposition parties claimed that the presidential system would lead to a more authoritarian political regime, while the leading political party saw the amendments as tools to prevent a coalition government and sustain political stability. Inspired by these opposing views, this study aims to reveal the authoritarian shift generated by the 2017 constitutional amendments. It focuses on empirical findings to transcend the rational interpretations of the amendments. It concludes that even the two-and-a-half-years experience of the Turkish presidential system offers tangible proof of further authoritarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In competitive authoritarian regimes, forming a pre-electoral coalition (PEC) provides a mean for opposition parties to defeat the incumbent party. In Turkey, the ruling Justice and Development Party initiated a PEC by forming the People's Alliance with two other parties. Like the opposition in other competitive authoritarian regimes, Turkey's opposition parties also formed a PEC, namely the Nation Alliance. Looking at the political affinity of these parties by using their election manifestos and Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES) data, the paper argues that while the People's Alliance was formed by ideologically close parties, the Nation Alliance was composed of ideologically distant parties, whose main aim, under a competitive authoritarian regime, was to prevent the incumbent from gaining a parliamentary majority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Erdogan's rising authoritarian tendencies at home coincided with the hardening of his positions in the country's foreign relations. From Libya to Syria to Greece to Iraq to Azerbaijan, and yes, even to Israel, Turkey's actions have been at least controversial and have also led to increased tensions with Cyprus, Egypt and Greece over the EastMed maritime zones, but also with faraway geopolitical players. The article tries to explore the material foundations of current Turkey's assertive foreign policy, focusing on the main country's economic indicators, defence capabilities and defence economics. By comparing Turkey's economic potential and defence capabilities with regional players but also with some other middle or even great powers such as England, France, Italy and Russia, the analysis shows that Turkey's aggressive international behaviour is not only the outcome of a new nationalist rhetoric but is based on some facts and data that should not be overlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems of government have been an issue that has occupied Turkish politics periodically since the transition to multi-party politics. Most political leaders from the right-wing spectrum have repeatedly advocated the transition to a presidential system, which they considered an instrument for a fast and powerful executive branch. Following the constitutional amendments in the 2017 referendum, parliamentarism was replaced with the presidential government system. However, this dispute has not been settled yet. The opposition parties claimed that the presidential system would lead to a more authoritarian political regime, while the leading political party saw the amendments as tools to prevent a coalition government and sustain political stability. Inspired by these opposing views, this study aims to reveal the authoritarian shift generated by the 2017 constitutional amendments. It focuses on empirical findings to transcend the rational interpretations of the amendments. It concludes that even the two-and-a-half-years experience of the Turkish presidential system offers tangible proof of further authoritarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1982 Turkish Constitution established a legal system aimed at ensuring state efficiency and stability more than the full respect of the rule of law. In the last decade, the latter is undergoing a democratic decay. The currently dominant Islamic Populism is reinterpreting fundamental concepts of constitutional democracy to entrench a paternalistic majoritarian vision of the law-making process and of the society. This perspective undermines the principle of gender equality, confirming the denial of LGBTQIA+ rights and increasingly favouring the principle's interpretation in line with the Islamic conception of gender complementarity. Such a limitation in women's enjoyment of equality is quite striking for a country that started the process of women's emancipation and empowerment at the beginning of the twentieth century, coevally with the establishment of the Turkish Republic. Furthermore, this drift raises doubts as to the activity of the parliamentary committee on 'Equal opportunity for women and men', established in 2009 with the duty of ensuring the respect for gender equality throughout the law-making process. Does it effectively enhance gender equality in the legislation or is it a mere reputational tool? To answer this question, after having introduced the illiberal features of the current Turkish regime, the activity of the Committee is assessed against the European and Turkish standards on the quality of legislation. Finally, concluding remarks compare the Turkish case with other illiberal authoritarianisms' discourse on gender equality, underscoring to what extent the Turkish authoritarian drift entails an anti-gender evolution in line with the conservative ideological vision of several other populisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional powers are often assumed to place diplomatic emphasis on their surrounding regions. Yet few systematic comparisons have been carried out to empirically verify this assumption. Do regional powers tend to devote more attention to their neighbours or to more influential global partners instead? This article attempts to bridge that gap by comparing the amount of diplomatic attention that Brazil, South Africa and Turkey have devoted to their regions, ie South America, Africa and the Middle East/North Africa region, respectively. Relying on data on presidential diplomacy and diplomatic presence from the Rising Powers Diplomatic Network (RPDN) data set, we verify which destinations were prioritised by these three countries from 1995 to 2018. Results indicate that South Africa is the most regionally committed regional power. Turkey shows the least significant regional engagement, while Brazil occupies an intermediate position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work on elections in unconsolidated democracies and electoral authoritarian states has identified violence a problem that commonly afflicts electoral processes. Yet there is still little understanding of citizen reactions to violent acts and how voters attribute blame for attacks, intimidation, forceful obstruction of campaign activities and other violations of electoral peace. This paper aims to add to the growing micro-level literature on the dynamics of electoral violence by providing evidence of factors that shape regional heterogeneity in reactions to this phenomenon. Taking as our frame of reference the 2018 Turkish presidential elections, we probe the role of party identification and region of residence in conditioning blame attribution, separately and in combination. We find that the process of blame attribution is shaped by party identification, but that this effect is highly dependent on the regional context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of Europeanisation initiated in Turkey following the 1999 Helsinki summit witnessed a loosening of state control over the Patriarchate of Constantinople under the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). In parallel with the AKP's reforms geared towards EU membership, the Patriarchate's activities became more transnational in their character, especially with regards to its organisation and influence over religious affairs within the Christian world. This contribution traces change and continuity in Turkish policy towards the Patriarchate under the AKP government. Key differences between the AKP government's stance on the Patriarchate and those of its predecessors are noted, with specific reference to prospects of EU membership and the strategy that has been devised by the AKP to that end. Specifically, the contribution shows that Turkey's bid to join the EU initially presented important leverage over Turkey, allowing the Patriarchate to reassert its transnational character. However, diminished prospects of EU membership together with a gradual return of nationalist sentiment now present an important challenge for the Patriarchate in its efforts to maintain transnational character and influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

President Erdoğan and the AKP government initiated a comprehensive restoration process immediately after the failed coup in mid-July 2016. In fact, the country has been experiencing a very comprehensive and violent regime transformation since this time. I assert that recent political developments paved the way for institutionalization of a 'plebiscitary presidential regime' that depends on a particular combination of supreme power of the leader, an extremely weak parliament, and elections of a plebiscitary character. In this context, the paper aims to shed light on the role of the new strategic legalism which allows rule of law to be replaced by a rule by law approach, the executive prerogative principle to be dominant, and the law to be used for demobilization, all playing a highly critical role in the suppression of democratic opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Turkey's multifaceted cyberspace governance policy and argues that positioned between two opposites of cyberspace governance that has close military and security ties to the West, and domestic Internet policies more similar of Russia-China axis, Turkey should be considered as a swing state in global cyberspace governance debates. The article shows that despite her official discourse on multi-stakeholderism and its compliance with the emerging norms in the Euro-Atlantic alliance concerning cyber-security, cyber-crime, and cyber-defense; Turkey's domestic Internet policy converges towards the Russia-China axis characterized by the rise of information controls and increasing efforts to establish "digital sovereignty" to national cyber space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attempted coup of July 16, 2016 caught many observers of Turkey by surprise. It was either hoped or believed that the age of military intervention was over. After all, hadn't Turkey's military been politically pacified following EU-centered reforms and after waves of resignations and indictments of top officers resulting from allegations of deep-state conspiracies against the government? We argue the contrary; in Turkey, the armed forces remained a political actor and had failed to professionalize. In addition, the Turkish military were plagued by in-fighting and factionalism, most notably officers aligned to the Gulen movement. These two factors, factionalism and unprofessionalism, were the main reasons why Turkey experienced yet another attempted coup. Such a state of affairs highlights Turkey's seemingly perpetual crisis in its civil–military relations, a significant obstacle on the road to democratization and a lesson to other countries with histories of military interference in the political process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since at least 2011, Turkey has undergone a dual process of democratic backsliding amid the emergence of a new, authoritarian regime under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. An interesting component of this process of authoritarian turn has been the lack of serious opposition on the part of the opposition parties CHP and IYIP parties to the growing political repression, curtailment of civil liberties and growing consolidation of power in the hands of Erdoğan. In this article, we deal with a major puzzle that emerged in Turkey's politics: how did the AKP regime legitimize its authoritarian transformation of the political system in Turkey in the eyes of CHP and IYIP, despite these parties' political opposition to the AKP regime and its Islamist agenda? In answering this question, we make use of a causal theory that predicted the intensified use of legitimation claims on the part of the incumbent regimes during authoritarian restructuring. Combining the works of several scholars, we utilize the concept of "missions," along with ideational narratives, performance objectives and six claims of legitimation to explain how the AKP managed to legitimize its authoritarian grip and regime change even in the eyes of the main opposition parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To determine the effects of high- and low-fidelity simulators on student nurses' learning of heart and lung sounds. Background: Simulation is an important part of nursing education because it helps to improve patient care and provides patient security. Method: The sample consisted of 3rd and 4th year students who studied at a nursing faculty in Istanbul between April and June 2017. In this randomized controlled experimental study, students were randomly divided into 2 groups, the high-fidelity simulator group (HFS group, n = 36), and the low-fidelity simulator group (LFS group, n = 35). Results: The auscultation skill levels of the HFS group were significantly higher post-training in comparison to the pre-training measurement (P <.05). There were no significant differences in the auscultation skill levels of the LFS group between the pretest and posttest measurements. Conclusion: The use of high-fidelity simulators is more effective in the learning of heart and lung sounds by student nurses than low-fidelity simulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conflict between the AKP and the HDP can, in part, be understood as a conflict over the nature of democracy in Turkey. While the AKP embodies a vision of majoritarian democracy that has descended into electoral authoritarianism, the HDP offers an alternative vision of ‘radical democracy’ that argues for minority rights and checks on the centralised state. It is against this backdrop that this article analyses the rise of the HDP to become the first Kurdish party to pass the 10% electoral threshold without allying with another party and gain representation in the Grand National Assembly. This article argues that while both parties offer competing visions of democracy, both are instrumental. That is, the parties’ commitment to their democratic visions depends upon the degree to which it helps to advance their interests. In this regard, they fit a longer-term pattern in Turkish politics, which ultimately leaves Turkish democracy weak and with little reason for optimism going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to explain the rise of competitive authoritarianism in Erdoğan's Turkey. The recent literature has mainly focused on the taxonomical debate about the type of regime established by Erdoğan, dealing only rarely with the factors explaining the Turkish autocratization. Building on Levitsky and Loxton's framework, which underlines the catalyst role played by the election of populist leaders for the rise of competitive authoritarianism in Latin America, the analysis identifies the interactions among Erdoğan's populism and threats and opportunities provided by both domestic and international environments as the major cause explaining Turkish autocratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several observers of Turkey have recognised a novel development in Turkish politics: the rise of Erdoganism. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's personality and style have come to embody the Turkish nation, the state and its economic, social and political institutions. But what is Erdoganism? What are its main attributes? Is it a mere ideology or the name of the emerging political regime in Turkey? While commentators have provided several observations of Erdoganism, it has not been duly examined on its own in the academic literature. This paper's main premise is that in Turkey, a new political regime has emerged in recent years which can best be defined as Erdoganism. Erdoganism has four main dimensions: electoral authoritarianism as the electoral system, neopatrimonialism as the economic system, populism as the political strategy and Islamism as the political ideology. We first explain why we think Erdoganism is a better concept to define the emerging political regime in Turkey. We briefly discuss Sultanism, Khomeinism and Kemalism in order to produce a set of references for our discussion of Erdoganism. We then provide a thorough analysis, explaining the ways in which Erdoganism manifests itself through electoral authoritarianism, neopatrimonialism, populism and Islamism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the circumstances shaping the evolution of the Gülen movement. Once considered a relatively liberal and pluralistic Islamic movement based in Turkey, the movement later succumbed to authoritarianism and illiberalism following its political alliance with the AK Party and their subsequent falling out. The paper opens with a brief overview of the historical context of the relationship between state and society in the Ottoman Empire and then examines the politicization of Islam as a movement of resistance against the modernizing reforms of the Kemalist state. The complex interplay of these factors culminated in the construction of a secular communalism in Turkey. The remainder of the paper focuses on the triangulated relationship among state, society, and religion, targeting the alliance and political struggles between the AK Party and the Gülen movement. The paper concludes that once legal and political checks and balances are removed, Islamic movements bend towards authoritarian tendencies seeking to monopolize or, at least, influence nearly every sphere of social and political life. After a decade-long experiment with Islamic movements in power, Turkey—increasingly authoritarian in character and socially fragmented—is experiencing the most serious institutional crisis in its history as a modern republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current article delineates the qualified nature of citizenship in the Turkish Republic. Its primary argument is that the content of citizenship in Turkey has been shaped and reshaped since its establishment by a continuous struggle for social and political hegemony. Throughout this struggle the incumbent regimes, Kemalist, populist, and Islamist, subjected the full range of citizenship rights to conceived – internal and external, real and imagined – security threats, which further legitimized restrictions on Turkish citizenship. The recent downturn in Turkish citizenship, which started in 2011 and peaked following the failed coup attempt in summer 2016 and the referendum of April 2017, should be understood in relation to the contemporary turmoil in the Middle East which confronted the Turkish state with a plethora of security challenges and justified further infringement of citizenship rights in Turkish society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper seeks to explain Turkey’s rapid de-democratization from the conceptual perspective of existential insecurity, which accounts for the unwillingness of incumbents to share or relinquish power. The Kemalist era, the multi-party period and the early AKP era have all shown elements of the radicalizing effects of political insecurity and the weak institutions which stem from them. The concurrence of a revisionist Islamist project and geopolitical and ideological crises in Turkey’s overlapping neighbourhoods, however, have driven existential angst and insecurity among the incumbents to novel proportions. Under the conditions of this aggravated insecurity, the consolidation of a stable authoritarian regime appears unlikely, reducing the possible scenarios for Turkey’s immediate future to a weak and contested authoritarian arrangement or further escalation of conflict and instability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While neoliberal interventions and policies have had serious effects on all societies, their impact on the institutional setting of some countries in the European periphery has been particularly drastic. Over the last years, countries as Turkey, Macedonia and Serbia – which we have selected as an illustration for the trend – have gone through processes of Europeanization and neoliberal transformation. For the ruling parties the ‘European agenda’ and neoliberal structural adjustment reforms opened new spaces to alter established political routines and reconfigure institutional settings. In the light of generally weak institutions, the ruling parties in Turkey, Macedonia and Serbia have aimed at consolidating their power through the adoption of authoritarian patterns of governance. The three countries experienced a democratic rollback accompanied by a rise of authoritarian tendencies, limiting the space for democratic contestation. The article explores the foundations and mechanisms of the authoritarian patterns of governance in the three countries. Developments in Macedonia and Serbia are dealt in reference to the power system and the claims to legitimacy of the ruling Justice and Development Party in Turkey. The article argues that the ruling parties’ power derives from their legitimation strategies based on institutional reforms in line with EU conditionality, redistribution through informal channels and populist nationalist narratives. The ruling parties function as machines and clientelistic channels. They have been sidelining or replacing formal institutions and practices with negative long-term repercussions on democracy and the functioning of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002 Turkey has undergone double regime transitions. First, tutelary democracy ended; second, a competitive authoritarian regime has risen in its stead. We substantiate this assertion with specific and detailed evidence from 2015 election cycles, as well as from broader trends in Turkish politics. This evidence indeed confirms that elections are no longer fair; civil liberties are being systematically violated; and the playing field is highly skewed in favour of the ruling AKP. The June 2015 election results and their aftermath further confirm that Turkey has evolved into a competitive authoritarian regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the progress and shortcomings of democratic control of armed forces (DCAF) reforms in Turkey and seeks to question how Turkey might be further motivated to implement reforms. It questions official motives in each reform process and finds two main motives for progress: the prospect of EU accession and democratization. It finds the motive for the existing shortcomings as the goal for allowing a degree of authority for military within DCAF in order to prevent political abuse of military power. Thus it seems that Turkey might be motivated to overcome these shortcomings only when its understanding of DCAF details a full subordination of military to civilian authority. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Turkey’s snap parliamentary election in November 2015 took place in an environment of growing political violence and terrorism resulting from the renewal of the Kurdish conflict in the southeast and two major suicide bombings carried out by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Presenting the coalition arithmetic, the article first examines the failure to form a government after the previous election five months earlier. It then examines the campaign for the November election, including party strategies, key issues and the role of the media, before analysing the results and the election winners and losers. In restoring a parliamentary majority for the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party – AKP) that has governed Turkey continuously for the past 13 years, the November election marked the basic continuity of Turkey’s predominant party system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The European Union (EU) has successfully been exercising its transformative power through both its enlargement and its neighbourhood policies for decades. Nonetheless, transformation towards a more European model of governance through Europeanisation is not a linear process, but a differentiated one. Adverse consequences for Europeanisation (i.e. de-Europeanisation) have often been neglected. The case of media freedom in Turkey, with a deteriorating trend across time, exemplifies such an outcome. This article explores media freedom in Turkey in the last decade. It argues that media reforms have been reversed over time in a de- Europeanising trend, with the EU losing its position as a reference point for reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey is at the crossroads of Europe and several volatile and strategically and economically important regions, including the Caspian Sea basin region, the Middle East, and Russia. Turkey is the most important part of Caspian Sea Basin-Middle East-Turkey triangle. Its location on two continents plays a central part in Turkish history and gives the country a major advantage in serving the markets of Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa. Turkey's geopolitical situation will play possible important role in regional politics in the near future. Turkey's domestic energy sources especially new petroleum reserves will become important in the future. Petroleum plays very important role in foreign policies and their international relations of Caspian and Middle East countries. The Middle East itself produces 32% of the world's oil, but even more impressive is they have 64% of the total proven oil reserves in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenomenon: Interns in Turkey must endeavor to study for a specialty exam during their internship. The preparation process for the specialty exam and the effect of this process on the students’ anxiety has not been studied comprehensively. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the interns’ preparation time for the specialty exam, their perception of how the preparation process affects their training, and which factors are related to their test anxiety.Approach: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 6th-year students (interns). A questionnaire asked participants to report health status, academic achievement, exam-related anxiety, and trait anxiety. Two open-ended questions asked about views regarding the specialty exam. Multiple linear regression was used to identify the significant predictors of anxiety level due to the exam.Findings: The average duration of exam preparations of participating interns (n= 214) was 16.8 months and 14.3 hours/week. Participating interns’ health status, economic level, perception of academic achievement, time allocated to study for the exam, time remaining until the exam, and trait anxiety level demonstrated a relationship with anxiety level due to the exam (R=.35, R2=.13, p<.001). In the open-ended questions, the most frequent opinion regarding the importance of the Examination for Specialty in Medicine was “Value attributed to specialization” (43%). The most frequent response regarding the contribution of studying for the specialty exam to their general professional skills was “Rehearsal/recall.”Insights: Participating interns spent an appreciable amount of time preparing for the specialty exam. Although participating interns value this exam, they appear to believe that preparing for it will contribute only moderately to their professional competencies, while increasing their anxiety level. The internship curriculum, requirements, and timing of the specialty exam should be reconsidered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fate of Turkey's non-Muslim minorities has been somehow linked to the country's foreign policy since the eighteenth century. Throughout the Ottoman era, the early years of the Republic and the Cold War period, foreign policy issues had a mostly negative impact on the treatment of the non-Muslim minorities, engendering the state's suspicion and repression. This has changed at the turn of the twenty-first century, with the emergence of a new variable in Turkish foreign policy: The European Union. Reforms undertaken by Ankara since then have considerably transformed the scene, although challenges do still remain, demonstrating the dialectical nature of the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In search for an instrument to measure overall curriculum impact, we developed a Medical Achievement Self-efficacy Scale (MASS) and presented it to medical students enrolled in the different years of the integrated Ghent curriculum. The research aim was to study the validity and reliability of this new scale. MASS items were constructed based on the end terms of the Ghent curriculum, as it is related to the general competency frameworks of CanMEDs and the Five-star Doctor. The scale includes at least two items for each CanMEDS competency domain. Items were examined by seven experts in view of content and face validity. This resulted in an MASS version, containing 18 items, to be rated on a five-point Likert scale. This version was piloted on 94 undergraduate medical students enrolled at the Catholic University of Leuven. The final version was presented to 1066 undergraduate medical students enrolled at Ghent University. Reliability of the MASS scale was high ( α = 0.89). As expected, self-efficacy scores increased significantly over the years ( F = 39.11, p < 0.001). In view of determining predictive validity, regression analysis was carried out to predict students' academic achievement from self-efficacy scores. As expected, MASS scores significantly predicted Maastricht Progress Test scores ( F = 108.18, p < 0.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]