Turkey

This study attempts to assess the different ways through which Islam as a religion can impact politics. In fact, the notion that is collectively labeled as Islam and its re-interpretation as an escalating presence of religion in politics in today's world has deep layers. To distinguish a variety of these layers, each with different characteristics, they should be defined, and the type of contributions they can make to politics should be examined one by one. Mixing up the layers with each other and employing characteristics of one for another can result, and in fact has resulted in many misunderstandings in political discussions. In order to show how to distinguish the layers and how to find the dominant layer of religion in each case, the role played by Islam in three important Islamic countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey will be examined. Comparing and contrasting these cases, this paper will conclude that only through identifying layers of religion in force and distinguishing the dominant ones can the actual role of religion be examined in each case study.

Malaysia and Turkey are progressive, modern Muslim-majority countries. Both have shown strong resolve and capabilities in dealing with issues and challenges both at home and international level. In dealing with COVID-19 pandemic, both countries have adopted various measures and strategies to contain the virus outbreak. Yet, the biggest challenge in executing those is balancing the need to protect the public and maintain economic growth. Hence, this study compares and contrasts the measures and strategies taken by both countries in containing the COVID-19 outbreak as well as ensuring the continuity of economic growth. The time period of this study was from March 2020 until early February 2021 as most of the countries, including Malaysia and Turkey, by then had introduced new COVID-19-related health policies and economic stimulus packages. The finding compares and contrasts the effectiveness of those measures and strategies so that both countries can share and learn from this pandemic. .

The beginning of the political crisis in Syria, each regional and trans-regional actors have adopted different policies based on their interests and goals in relation to this country. Syria is an exceptional issue for countries in the region and the world's powers like the United States of America, and any transformation in that form might have a fundamental impact on the interests of each of these regional and global powers. Turkey as a regional power and the United States has always been present in the Syrian crisis as a regional power based on its interests. But the United' support of the present groups in Syria has sought to fight ISIS extremists, which Turkey has called for terrorist groups to reduce the US and Turkey relations. The present study was conducted using descriptive-analytic method and using documentation sources to provide a theoretical framework, the question of why Turkey is against United States about the Syrian Kurdish issue? This study investigates the presence of United States in Syria and the support of Kurdish groups, as well as the reaction that Turkey and Iran have been involved in. The findings of this article indicate that the United States support the Kurdish groups in northern Syria has led to conflict of interest between the two countries.

Turkey as one of the regional actors in the Middle East has taken the ‘Look East’ policy in its foreign policy since 2002, when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has come to power. Although the relations between Turkey and Afghanistan have a historical background dating back to the Ottoman, but the geopolitical and geostrategic position of Afghanistan has doubled its significance for Turkish politicians during the NeoOttomanism, the situation which has emerged in Turkish politics, especially its cultural diplomacy over Afghanistan Since the rise to power of the AKP. So, in this article, the main question is, what are the objectives and tools of Turkish cultural diplomacy in Afghanistan during the AKP era? In response to this question, the main hypothesis is that Turkey's cultural diplomacy during the AKP era was based on the use of shared linguistic, ethnic and religious values to strengthen Turkey's soft power in Afghanistan as well as the hegemony of Turkey in the region.

Developments and accomplishments of the newly founded Republic of Turkey in the first half of the 20 th century had long been the focus of Reza Khan, the Pahlavi ruler of Iran. He considered Atatürk and his actions to be a good model for modern life. After ascending the throne, in parallel with the implementation of Western models, he applied the dominant thinking of Turkey about people’s way of life. Emphasis on the role of women, believing that the backwardness of social organization is the reason for the humiliation of women in the society, was closely pursued by Reza Shah as an important policy and as an ideology of his governance. Among special features and components of women's issues are their presence in the social fields, clothing, health, work and financial independence, and their education, which are addressed comparatively. The main question of this article is that despite the policies of Reza Shah's government regarding women, following the example of Atatürk, what similar achievement was made? If not, what were the reasons for this? The present article tries to identify different aspects of Iran and Turkey by using archival documents, newspapers, written sources, historical researches, and descriptive-analytical methods in examining instances of modernization by imitating Turkey. The result confirms the main point that it is not correct to equate the social modernization activities of Reza Shah and Atatürk. The personality structure, the level of knowledge and awareness, and how the two came to power had a different process, and finally, the society's approach to their position in power was also different. Reza Shah's perspective with Atatürk on women's issues and the actions taken by each of them to change the position of women followed different conditions, reactions, and consequences, which in this article is highlighted using a grounded theory and a background study on issues and finally an appropriate analysis is made based on the author's perception.

This study reviews the relationship between geopolitics and geo-economics of the Eastern Mediterranean gas resources and Turkey’s perspective on it. The dispute over the region’s resources has entered a dangerous phase in 2019, and the coastal countries are trying to discover new gas resources in areas that overlap with other countries’ marine basins. This has caused a new conflict in the region at two levels. The first level is the dispute between Turkey and Greece over the Cyprus issue, which has also been drawn to this issue. The second one is the fierce geopolitical rivalry between Turkey and other coastal actors such as Egypt and Israel. For showing its decisiveness, Turkey signed a maritime border agreement with Libya in 2019 to neutralize its rivals on the gas issue. In this context, it may be asked, what does motivate the Turkish authorities in their strict policies towards the Eastern Mediterranean? According to the findings, Turkey is trying to take legal-political and military steps to faze the unity of rivals, and this has enabled the Turkish authorities to project and adapt their power in order to enhance their role and presence in the region.

The weakness of Ottoman empire, in particular in the last years, adding to the materialistic tendencies of politicians, was attributed to not only a sort of disappointment of the religious state, but also exacerbating orientations to revitalize Islam. Nevertheless, with the exemption of current Turkey, other regions, dominated by Ottoman, were grappling with severely extremist trends which, in spite of their reduction, has been irritating the Islamic world after ages. Thus, what is the relation between Ottoman’s collapse and Salafists’ tendencies? The article by applying a historical analysis and investigating the pivots of Ottoman’s state, studies the reasons for Ottoman’s decline and by analyzing the effects of political vacuum as well as the disappearing of a supportively religious state in the area, scrutinizes the relationship between the collapse and the evolution of Salafists’ attitudes. Overall, Ottoman’s collapse contributed to the creation of a political vacuum, fed the appropriate context to raise Salafism in the Islamic world and Wahhabism is alleged a normal yet utilitarian approach to handle ever-increasing internal patches as well as internationally infuriating interventions at the time.

The Alawite community, who according to the Supreme Leader are "orphans of the family of Muhammad", believe in following the school of Ahl-ul-Bayt (a.s) is still rooted in them. However, throughout the history of Alawism, due to the influence of some religious movements, policies and targeted political-cultural planning, they have suffered from a mixed and multifaceted identity and nature. Therefore, the trustees of this field have a kind of religious and customary duty to celebrate some religious holidays and ceremonies with a detailed and comprehensive planning and focusing on the common aspects with the Alevi community, that is, a special belief in the Imams (a.s.). And finally, believing in the principles, pillars, and values of the school of Ahl- ul-Bayt (a.s), take fundamental steps in the direction of reviving the true religious identity of the Alevi community. (Question) The current research has tried to analyze and evaluate the impact of the Islamic Revolution of Iran in restoring the true identity of the Turkish Alevi community based on the descriptive-analytical method and according to the "diffusion theory" from the words of ideological leaders. (Methodology) In general, Alevi leaders believe that today, with the blessing of the Iranian Islamic Revolution and the correct understanding of the Ahl- ul-Bayt (a.s) school, efforts are being made to introduce the correct principles and traditions to the Alevi society. In this regard, it is a great responsibility for Alevi leaders and sects to keep the Alevi community safe from threats by educating the Ahl-ul -Bayt (a.s.)

Just as the political structure of any country can have a positive or negative impact on the democratization process; The opposition bloc, which includes political parties and currents, civic institutions, etc., has a dual positive and negative impact on this process. In Turkey, the influence of the opposition bloc in the democratization process has been relatively positive for a century. However, in the last two decades, with the rise of the Islamist Justice and Development Party to power, the Turkish opposition bloc has adopted varying approaches to the political structure, which has had a more negative impact on democratization process. The current research has examined the performance of the Republic People's Party as the largest opposition party, focusing on three main approaches of Turkish parties towards the political structure. To this end, a historical institutionalism approach has been adopted using library and digital resources. In terms of methodology, this study has employed the process tracing method. Turkish opposition bloc, especially the political parties, though considered to be a major indicator of democracy, seems to have adopted undemocratic political procedures such as "appeasement procedure", "supportive procedure" and "deviant procedure" in the last two decades.

The purpose of this study is to conduct comparative review of Iran and Turkey’s cultural diplomacy in Iraq after the US invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Iran and Turkey, as two influential powers in the developments of the Middle East, are trying to advance their cultural diplomacy in Iraq according to the nature of their government, goals, and aspirations. The main question of the research is, “On what approach are the effectiveness factors of Iranian and Turkish cultural diplomacy in Iraq between 2003 and 2020 based?” The hypothesis is that Iranian cultural diplomacy in Iraq after 2003 has been following Shi’ism, the axis of resistance, and Iranianism as the cornerstones of its approach, as opposed to Turkish cultural diplomacy that is based on Turkish nationalism and neo-Ottomanism. Accordingly, each of these governments is trying to exert influence in Iraq using soft power and cultural diplomacy. In doing this, Iran and Turkey have different conditions, opportunities, threats, and tools to advance their cultural diplomacy. The research findings indicate that Iran is in a better position than Turkey in terms of conditions, opportunities and tools but the focus on Shiism and the issue of resistance in Iraq has led to little attention paid to other features of cultural diplomacy. In contrast, Turkey, with its benefit-oriented and opportunistic approach, has been able to make the most of tools such as Kurdish language and literature, media diplomacy, tourism development, scientific and educational topics, etc. through careful planning and has gained more influence in Iraq. The method of data analysis is descriptive-analytical and the data collection was carried out via library research.  

The Arab Uprisings initiated a new phase of security order in the Middle East. In light of these developments, Türkiye is regarded as one of the players who set the stage for shifting its regional stance. Moreover, the Kurds in northern Iraq and Syria were able to express their desire for independence, which led to new geopolitical developments in the North Middle East. In this regard, the attitudes of Turkish politicians toward the Kurds in northern Iraq and Syria demonstrate their different views of the aforementioned Kurdish territories in the years following the beginning of the Arab Uprisings. Now the question here is why the Turkish government behaved differently toward the Kurdish areas of Iraq and Syria both during and after the Arab Uprisings. The Turkish government's divergent actions seem to be caused by two factors: on the one hand, its security concerns regarding the autonomous territories of the Syrian Kurds in the south of Türkiye; and on the other hand, its economic gains from the Kurdish territories of Iraq, including oil concessions. Put simply, the contradictory behavior of Turkish statesmen toward Syrian and Iraqi Kurds in the post-Arab Uprisings is influenced by existential security concerns as well as economic and political interests. This paper aims to use the defensive realism theory to address the double standards of Türkiye towards the Kurds of Iraq and Syria in the post-Arab Uprising era.

The term “free zone” refers to designated areas in which companies are taxed very lightly and it enhances global market presence by attracting new business and foreign investments. For over a century, governments around the world have sought to boost and exploit the economic power of their particular regions and zones by designating them as “special” or “free” economic zones. The trend of establishing such zones or areas have gained momentum in the last four or five decades with countries accounting for small businesses and millions of direct or indirect jobs. The Middle East, especially the countries in the Persian Gulf, for some and other reasons, have particularly embarked on such a trend. The current paper tries to highlight benefits and challenges faced by free trade zones in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, taking into account recent global financial crises.

After demonstrating Ottoman Empire and attempt of Turkish emperors in order to gain caliphate and government of all Muslims, World’s political geography witnessed the demonstration of great Ottoman Empire for six months. The formation of Ottoman Empire, on one hand, was converted to the main axis of the political geography of the region, and started competing with other political power districts of the world on the other hand. This went on for ages. By the end of the world war first, the world’s political formation was altered and the disintegration of the great Ottoman caliphate occurred by Sykes-Picot agreement in 1917 and this led to the beginning of the advent of a new political geography. By getting into power, Turkish Islamists caused a new era in the region’s political geography in 2002. New neo- ottoman idea with the aim of changing the political geography of the region is included to be one of the most important political events of the region. In this paper, by having a quick look at the record of Ottoman Empire, we are going to focus on the new strategy of Turkish AKP and inspect the effect of the strategy on changing the political geography of the region.

The first paragraph of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) recognizes the right to freedom of expression and prohibits party states from any arbitrary interference. The second paragraph, emphasizing that exercising this right comes with certain duties and responsibilities, authorizes the party states to restrict this right for their citizens if the specified conditions are met. One such condition is achieving one of the legitimate aims listed therein. The courts of Turkey, as a member state bound by the ECHR, have invoked these goals to justify their decisions regarding the restriction of citizens' right to freedom of expression. Nevertheless, convicted individuals who appeal these rulings before the European Court of Human Rights argue that no such legitimate aim existed, and that their right to freedom of expression has been violated. This study investigates the primary challenges faced by Turkish courts in invoking legitimate aims as justifications for restricting freedom of expression. It also elucidates the precise meaning and conditions for the eligibility of these goals based on the interpretation provided by the European Court of Human Rights.

The Ummah's unity has been shattered by the divide-and-rule machinations of the US through its "Global War on Terror", seemingly rendering the dream of pragmatic geopolitical cooperation between the world's majority-Muslim states a political fantasy. The so-called "Clash of Civilizations" hasn't just been weaponized to provoke inter-civilizational conflicts, but also intra-civilizational ones too, which in the Ummah's case took the form of violent sectarianism. While "conventional knowledge" would suggest that there's no surmounting these obstacles in the near future, Iran might actually be able to pioneer a breakthrough if it revives and reforms the Old Cold War-era CENTO alliance of itself, Pakistan, Turkey, and Iraq in order to symbolically contradict the sectarian trend and enter into mutually beneficial strategic relations with its three most important neighbors.

Gulen and Nursi present different images of the combination of Islam and modernity. This article seeks to evaluate the similarities and differences of Nursi and Gulen’s political thought. According to Gulen's claim that Nursi has been his professor, it seems that there is not much difference in their thoughts, but this article show that despite the influence of Gulen's ideas from Nursi and some similarities in their theoretical approaches, there are obvious difference in their thoughts. This article by applying a historical analysis, attempt to examine a comparative study on the religious and political ideas of Gulen and Nursi. The finding if this article shows that the central point of their theories is reliance on science education, Islam minus politics, combination of tradition and modernity, emphasis on democracy, compromise with other religions and Sufi tendencies, but they have many differences in the fields of ethnicity, methodology, etc.

SummaryThis article first examines Erdogan's intellectual views against the background of his Muslim Brotherhood and then analyses the reasons for the change in Turkish strategies in the Middle East. The Middle East has always played an important role in the regional security strategies of Turkey and the Erdogan government. In the last two decades, Erdogan's special perceptual psychological characteristics as well as his personality and ambitions have led to the strengthening of Turkey's position in the Middle East region. In 2021-2023, Turkey faces new economic, security and domestic challenges that need to be analyzed. In this article, we have analyzed this topic using secondary data in an explanatory-analytical way. The main question is: What influence does Erdogan's Muslim Brotherhood have on Turkey's strategic policy in the Middle East region?The results of the study show that Erdogan's personality cult and the Muslim Brotherhood's desire to lead the Islamic world have led to the promotion of Turkey's position in the Middle East region on an abstract level. On a concrete level, this has led to a chaotic domestic political and economic situation as well as national security crises that have forced him to adopt a new policy towards Middle Eastern countries, particularly Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Erdogan's new policy is in contrast to his policy following the developments in the Arab world. The evolution of Erdogan's views in the Middle East promises a return to the principle of "zero problems with neighbors".Keywords: Erdogan, Turkey, Middle East, Justice and Development Party, Muslim Brotherhood and foreign policy.