Pure Turkish Politics

Turkey is again discussing bringing back capital punishment to Turkish Penal System. This time both Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Party (MHP) are determined to legalise constitutional change in the nearest future without considering all consequences of this decision. Both parties motivated with nationalist sentiments that finds considerable support from Turkish Society. Their political action stirs up with the feeling of taking revenge from Kurdistan Workers Party and Gulenist Network Leaders. In consideration of the victims who suffered from both organisations actions, this decision seems fair enough by majority of Turkish people. On the other hand, cost and benefit calculation of reinstating death penalty after ten years is full of questions.  If both political parties political stance towards the application of death penalty is taken into consideration, there is a mixed picture. As for AKP, in its early years (before being government party) they were a...

In one of his latest press statement, state minister Nurettin Canikli has emphasized that investigations towards the state officials who are linked with Gulenists should not be considered as "witch hunt". He repeatedly mentioned that they carry on lawful and fair investigation process to identify who are affiliated with the Gulenist Network and if innocence of civil servants are proved, then they will reinstate them to their jobs. The term "witch hunt" explains a long horrible tradition that punishing people who believed to be demon. The person accused as witch put into a fire and if he or she stay alive then it is found not guilty for his or her actions. Basic logic in witch hunt is demanding suspect to prove its innocence by itself and doing it generally under impossible conditions. In modern criminal justice system, proceedings for suspects pursued on the contrary. According to presumption of innocence principle, one is considered innocent until its guilt p...

Being a politician has always been a tough task in Turkey. If you are a politician who is narrow-minded, having pretentious manner on the subjects that you have been advised not to carry on them or who do not understand Turkey's political dynamics, this country's political environment sometimes oblige you to act on the contrary to your beliefs and arguments.  This fault in not only belong to politicians, but also their advisers share responsibility as much as their superiors. If politicians surrounded by advisers who only consider their self-interest and gives priority to keep their position secure or praise politician no matter how much their decision is wrong, again politicians most likely to see similar unfortunate experience.  In recent Turkish political history, there are plenty of examples involving Turkish politicians who are upended with their fundamental arguments. Even though we do not have enough data to reveal what was the exact reason of their contradic...

Institutional capacity is a technical term that is commonly used by political scientists to emphasize ability of state institutions to achieve objectives, adapt required reforms, solve problems or accommodate with new political status quo. Having a strong institutional capacity is very important for politicians to transform states because in the absence of institutional capacity their innovative ideas will not work due to absence of people who can implement these ideas. Analogically, if political elites considered as brain, absence of institutional capacity means having no hands to implement brain orders.  Since 2002 after Justice and Development Party (AKP) has become the government party, institutional capacity has always been a problem for Turkey. The major reason behind this problem was AKP did not prefer a merit based human resources system during these years. Instead, they relied on selection of state officials for their ideology or identity.  During the first ...

Since Nationalist Party Leader Devlet Bahceli has called AKP Government to bring the legislative amendment to Turkish Parliament that transforms Turkish Parliamentary System into a Turkish Presidency, pros and cons of Presidential System has become a hot topic in Turkey. AKP politicians and pro-AKP media enthusiastically supports Presidential System that they believe Turkey has lost many years because of political coalitions and Presidency will bring political stability to Turkey. On the other hand, opposition parties (including Republican Party-CHP and People’ Democratic Party-HDP) and the media those critical to AKP’s political actions, criticize the Presidential System due to Turkey’s political and law structure is not mature enough to maintain such a political system. They also emphasize that launching the Presidential System may cause abuse of power of Presidents who may have a tendency to authoritarianism.  Concerns of both sides are fair enough and their arguments are ...

Islam-pol is the acronym of a prospective law enforcement agency expected to be operational within the countries of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The idea of establishing Islam-pol brought up by President Erdogan at the opening session of the 13th Islamic Summit of the OIC hold in Istanbul. Erdogan has proposed Islam-pol as a multinational police organisation amongst the member states of OIC to fight against international terrorism. Since Al-Qaida, DAESH and alike terrorist organisations have become a major threat to Islamic states, creating Islam-pol or similar organisations in the OIC has been a favourable idea in recent years. Therefore, Erdogan’s proposition found support from member state representatives at the summit and the headquarter of the Islam-pol is agreed to establish in Istanbul. According to the latest news, organisation will be competent to improve counter-terror cooperation among member states by intelligence sharing and will provide training progra...

Gordion Knot is an ancient proverbial term that is commonly used to describe solving a complex problem by coercive action. According to the ancient story, when Alexander the Great has marched into the Phrygian capital of Gordium he found a chariot belongs to the ancestral father of the city, Gordius. The yoke of the wagon was tied with a knot with its hidden end and who could unravel the knot is thought to be the conqueror of the Asia. After several attempts to untie the knot, Alexander sliced the knot instead of patiently unravelling it and he carried on his military expedition. The story does not tell us how Alexander’s pragmatic approach has influenced the people in Gordium.  However, in the contemporary Turkish politics Turkey is facing with a new Gordion Knot that needs to be untied patiently.  This new Gordion Knot was created by Gulenists since 1970’s by diffusing all Turkish Governmental Institutions using different immoral methods. According to recent trials...