Turkey Media Roundup (July 9)

[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Turkey and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Turkey Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week`s roundup to turkey@jadaliyya.com by Sunday night of every week.]

English

Trouble in Paradise Slavoj Žižek doesn’t see the “Turkish protests merely as a secular civil society rising up against an authoritarian Islamist regime supported by a silent Muslim majority.”

Uprisings Here, There, and Everywhere Immanuel Wallerstein writes on the similarities among the uprisings of Turkey, Brazil, and Bulgaria, suggesting that we are in “the midst of a structural transition.”

Subjects of Past Empire Are Becoming Citizens of Modern Nation Nur Yalman criticizes the political tradition inherited from the Ottoman empire that regards people as subjects of the state.

Turkey After Taksim Though the Turkish words for pluralism (çoğulculuk) and majoritarianism (çoğunlukçuluk) seem quite similar, Dimitar Bechev warns that “they point at two alternative paths."

Tear Gas Is a Symptom of Turkey’s Weak Democracy Claire Berlinski argues that the tear gas is nothing but the symptom of a disease, in this case Turkey’s “democratic deficits.”

The Secret Behind the Turkish Protesters’ Social Media Mastery Alex Kantrowitz writes on the Gezi protesters’ widespread use of social media, focusing on a form of Turkish social media called “sozluks.”

Bulldozing Through Journalism Yavuz Baydar addresses the drastic media transformations in Turkish media.

Gezi Park Protests Resonate in Turkish Academe Asli Igsiz reports on and analyses the reflections of the Gezi uprising that emerged from Turkish academe.

Erdogan Doesn`t Have Luxury of Suspending PKK Negotiations Fehim Taştekin says that the government’s approach to the Gezi uprising has increased doubts as to whether it can solve the Kurdish issue.

Can Erdogan Keep PKK Peace Process on Track? As Erdogan continues to present the Gezi uprising as detrimental to the Kurdish peace process, Tulin Daloglu asks whether Erdogan can keep the peace process on track.

The BDP’s Demands and the AKP’s Objections Göksel Bozkurt shares the “Ankara whispers” about the PKK peace process.

Gezi Park and the Kurds—The Final Act of Turkey’s Post-Ottoman Melodrama? Simona de Marco points out that Turkey is in turmoil with or without the PKK peace process because Erdogan has played his cards wrongly.

To the Press and the Citizens 29 Haziran 2013 Taksim Solidarity`s press release after the attack on people of Lice who were protesting the construction of additions to watch houses.

Gezi Protests and Further Curbing Military Power in Politics Lale Kemal claims that the government`s submission of a draft law to prevent the military from justifying coups highlights the government’s fear that the protests were an orchestration by deep-state elements.

The Gezi Awakening and the Conservative "Founding Philosophy" Suat Kınıklıoğlu asks conservative figures what is the “founding philosophy” that they are referring to.

Turkish

Mısır’da darbe ve devrim üzerine birkaç not Foti Benlisoy argues that those who discuss Egypt in terms of “an abstract dichotomy of coup d’état and civilian politics” wrongly condemn the historic uprisings of Egypt within Turkey’s own limited political vocabulary.

Müslüman Kardeşler`in izdüşümü... Cengiz Çandar explains the failure of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Turkey as being the failure of AKP.

"Olay" biter izi kalır Ergin Yıldızoğlu underlines the need to surpass the “failure-success dichotomy” in talking about Gezi events in order to discuss the “truth” that the resistance has exposed.

Rancière’i Selamlayarak; Gezi Parkı’na “İmkânsız Kimlik” Yakışır! Ziya Kaya cites Jacques Rancière and contends that his "impossible identification" applies to Gezi Park.

Pasif duruşun karşı konulamaz estetiği Nilüfer Göle writes on Turkey’s "Standing Man" protests and underlines “the irresistibility of the aesthetics of the passive action.”

Gezi’deki patlamanın kökenleri (1) Mücahit Bilici explores "the roots of the Gezi explosion," in which "the secular state has broken down yet the overman state is not sustainable."

Beyaz yakalıların isyanının ardında ne var? Tanıl Bora calls the Gezi uprising the revolt of the white-collar workers, resulting from the proletarianization of the intellectual labour.

Fragmanlar ya da muktedirin eşekliği Osman Özarslan analyzes the Gezi uprising in light of of Marx`s and Nietzsche’s social theories.

Klasik sosyalizm bitti komünizm alır mısınız? Erdal Partog makes a categorical distinction between socialism and communism, and associates the Gezi uprising with the latter.

Barış, çözüm süreci, Gezi`den Lice`ye... Cengiz Çandar argues that the government’s “incompetence” in handling both the Gezi and Lice protests compromises the peace process.

“Bir yanım Taksim, bir yanım Lice” Oya Baydar argues that the recent protests in Taksim in solidarity with Lice create new hopes for the peace process.

Kopuş ile komplo arasında Ali Bayramoğlu argues that Gezi protests uncover three breaking points: the increasing demands for a pluralist democracy, the power of urbanites’ relationship to public space in a “socially and economically stable” society, and the increasing authoritarianism of those in power.

Siyaset kenetler de... Murat Belge reminds us that the uprisings of the masses cannot be explained by conspiracy theories; they are rather the breaking points of years of accumulation.

Gel yavaş, yerler yaş! Ahmet İnsel argues that PM Erdoğan is “on the offensive” because he can feel “the rug being pulled from under his feet,” yet he does not know that he is the one who made the floor slippery, rather than the “internal and extenal enemies” he keeps blaming.

Sivil ha(l)k hareketleri niçin yenilmezler? To the question “Why don’t civil people’s (rights) movements fail?” Zafer Yılmaz responds: because they embody “real” demands of freedom and equality.

Yerel seçimlerde ortak aday Ahmet Saymadi elaborates on the people’s assembly discussions in Istanbul to propose nominating a joint candidate in the next local elections who could challenge the AKP’s hold on the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

İstanbul için halkın adayı: "İşbilirliğe" karşı yerelde örgütlenmek K. Mehmet Kentel also touches on the issue of local elections, and argues that the resistance that started in Gezi Park shows that the current municipal system has failed in its approach to the city.

Tarihe tanıklık etmek, gençlerden öğrenmek In his editorial, Gürsel Göncü dedicates the current issue of NTV’s monthly history journal to “history as it is made while being lived.”

Devletin babalıkla imtihanı: Gezi direnişi Fatih Doğan argues that “in Turkey, the relationship between state and society resembles the structure of a patriarchal nuclear family.”

Gençliğin masumiyeti ve bir takım hikayelerin savaşı 5Harfliler blogger “Oşu Bubu” analyzes the “fight” of competing yet incompetent voices from the older generation seeking to tell the story of the Gezi resistance by over-relying on their inadequate, pre-existing frameworks.

Ay, resmen devrim! Yıldız Tar argues that the LGBT struggle has been in solidarity with the demands of all oppressed people in Turkey since its inception, although the “bourgeois media” tries to reduce its radical demands for freedom to “colorful images” of protest.

Türkiye’nin Çay Partisi Bobby S. Sayyid weirdly associates the Gezi uprising with the racist Tea Party movement of the US.

Demokrasinin yalnız kalabalıkları Ali Yaşar Sarıbay interprets the Gezi uprising through Christopher Lasch’s assertion that “homo economicus” gave way to “homo psychologicus.”

Gezi Parkı sakinlerinin ruh hali Hatem Ete claims that the motivations behind the Gezi uprising are “elitism,” “defeat-loss,” “despair-hopelessness,” and “fear-paranoia.”

#direndemokrasi Yıldıray Oğur asserts that the Gezi uprising is a “counter-revolutionary attempt” of Kemalists, leftists, liberals and even a group of religionists who are politically and sociologically dependent on the “First Republic.”

Published on Jadaliyya

The Visual Emergence of the Occupy Gezi Movement, Part One: Oh Biber!

The Visual Emergence of the Occupy Gezi Movement, Part Two: Every Day I’m Capulling

The Visual Emergence of the Occupy Gezi Movement, Part Three: Democracy`s Workshop

Gulenism: The Middle Way or Official Ideology?

Ist uberall Taksim? Offentlicher Raum und mogliche Offentlichkeiten

The Gezi Resistance as Surplus Value

Gezi hareketinin ortak paydalari ve yeni orgutluluk bicimleri

Can the `Spirit of Gezi` Transform Progressive Politics in Turkey?

Sex, Love, and Worship in Classical Ottoman Texts: An Interview with Selim Kuru

Kahireli Yoldaslar grubundan mektup

Statement by Comrades from Cairo: We Can Smell the Tear Gas from Rio and Taksim to Tahrir