Turkey Media Roundup (May 26)

[Turkish metal workers on strike. Image by Fatih Pinar.] [Turkish metal workers on strike. Image by Fatih Pinar.]

Turkey Media Roundup (May 26)

By : Turkey Page Media Roundup Editors

[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

June Elections

Erdoğan’s Chance of Becoming a Super-President is Diminishing Serkan Demirtaş reports that sixty percent of the Turkish public is against the adoption of a presidential system.

Political Tension Rising Ahead of Turkey’s Election Commenting on the rising tension before the elections, Murat Yetkin relays that both President Erdoğan Prime Minister Davutoğlu have started to hit out at the Doğan Media Group due to its coverage of opposition parties, and the HDP’s election offices in Adana and Mersin were bombed.  

Turkey as ‘the Land of Islam’ against ‘the Land of Infidels’ Nuray Mert criticizes the “extreme use and abuse of religion” by the governing AKP and President Erdoğan as their main political weapon against the opposition during the election campaign.  

Platform Calls for Solidarity among Women Deputies While it was expected that four political parties would participate in the “Rightful Women Platform” in order to increase gender equality during elections, Gila Benyamor writes that there was no participation from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Erdoğan’s Dwindling Presidential Hopes Semih İdiz notes that the latest opinion polls indicate that rather than increase its vote, the AKP is likely to lose support in these elections, and it may even end up forming a coalition government.

The Race of Future Dreams Etyen Mahçupyan argues that the AKP will get most of the votes because its future vision goes beyond identity politics, and its dream is both more realistic and more authentic.

65 Percent Favor Single-Party Gov`t According to İhsan Aktaş, sixty-five percent of the electorate wants a one-party government instead of a coalition one; second, the overwhelming majority of the electorate believes that the opposition parties cannot administer the economy well; and third, due to the promises made by those political parties concerning retirement pensions and the like, the electorate also leans toward the opposition.

Will the HDP Ne Able to Pass the Election Threshold? Examining the result of different opinion polls, Yahya Bostan tries to understand whether the HDP will pass the ten percent threshold.

Metal Workers’ Strike

Thousands of Renault Metal Workers Strike in Turkey Thousands of metal workers stopped production at the Renault factory to demand better wages and a union that represents the needs of the workers, and workers from various factories have joined in the strike.

The Real Labor Starts Here Celebrating the labor uprising in Turkey’s auto industry hub, Bursa, Ahu Özyurt reports that factory workers in the automotive and parts industry demanded their fair share in the glowing balance sheets of the car industry, and Türk Metal, the union in charge of negotiations, has failed to meet the needs of workers in the other factories.

Turkish

June Elections

Sensiz olmuyor, yerin dolmuyor Levent Gültekin calls on everyone to participate in the independent “Oy ve Ötesi” (Vote and Beyond) platform in order to monitor votes, given that there is an increasing unrest in society about the possibility of the AKP rigging the elections.

Ya HDP’ye barajı geçirtmezlerse? Berxwedan Yaruk reports that with three weeks to go until the 7 June general elections, three hundred HDP members were detained, seventy-eight of them were arrested, sixty-two HDP election offices were attacked, shot, set on fire, and finally, two of them were bombed.

Provokasyon siyasetinin de bir sınırı var Fatih Polat writes that the ruling AKP and President Erdoğan are implicated in the attacks against and bombing of the HDP’s election offices, because they have provoked the society against the HDP by pointing to it as a target during their election campaigns.

Seçimler, şiddet ve umut Esra Arsan suggests that many people who have never voted for a pro-Kurdish party before will consider voting for the HDP in this election because the HDP does not appeal to violence, “dirty propaganda,” and extortion like other parties.

HDP’ye saldırının arkasında ne var? Fehim Işık argues that President Erdoğan himself lies behind the violent attacks and aggressive language against the HDP.

HDP’ye saldırılar geri tepecektir Joost Lagendjik suggests that the AKP’s tactics to threaten and intimidate the opposition will not work this time.

CHP yaşama, AKP ölüme odaklı Osman Ulugay argues that the AKP is doomed to die, whereas the CHP’s new “mega project” presents a futuristic vision.

HDP korkusu, AKP`yi dinden imandan çıkardı! Celal Başlangıç points out that the AKP has been increasingly relying on religious discourse and symbols in order to attract more voters.

İzmir performansı sandığa yansırsa HDP barajı rahat aşar (1)-(2)-(3) Rusen Çakır argues that if the success of the HDP’s election meeting in Izmir translates into votes, then the HDP is very likely to pass the election threshold.

Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan`ın başı sağ olsun Baskın Oran discusses the similarities between Erdoğan and his “spiritual father” Kenan Evren, the head of the 1980 military coup in Turkey.

Demirtaş`a suikast mı? Mapping the attacks against the HDP’s election offices, Emrah Altındiş highlights the state and security officials’ neglect of their duty to investigate the attacks and punish assailants.

Kürt bölgesindeki seçmenle ilgili müthiş araştırma (1) Ezgi Başaran presents the results of recent research on the electoral behavior and demographic profile of the electorate in the Kurdish regions.

Bombaların patladığı, `Türk askeriyle polisinin çatıştığı` bir seçim! Pointing to the alleged clashes between police and military in Yuksekova, which resulted in the death of five sergeants and three police officers, Ezgi Başaran criticizes the government-supported violent provocations before the June elections.

Metal Workers’ Strike

Metal fırtınası sarsıyor: Deniz bitti, sendikalar için ders alma zamanı Aziz Çelik points out that metal workers are resisting not against employers but also against Türk Metal Union, which fails to meet their needs and demands.

Metal Işçileri Ayakta – Bir Tofaş Işçisi Anlatıyor: “Şu An Türkiye’de Işçinin Sigortası, Birlikten Doğurabildiği Güçmüş. Ben Bunu Anladım.” Emek and Adalet (Labor and Justice) Platform interviews a Tofaş worker who has been participating in the strike.

Diren Tofaş The metal workers’ strike can be followed from the “Resist Tofaş” Facebook page.

Haydi kadınlar, Bursa’ya dayanışmaya! Feminist labor activist Necla Akgökçe calls on all women`s groups to show solidarity with metal workers.

TOFAŞ: Kolay zafer beklentisi, moral bozukluğu, tatlısu solculuğu A detailed analysis of metal workers’ strike.

Devrimci İşçi Partisi’nden metal grevi için uluslararası dayanışma kampanyası The Revolutionary Workers Party’s international call for solidarity with the metal workers` strike.

Metalciler öğretiyor ve çağırıyor Ahmet Yaşaroğlu emphasizes that the metal workers’ strike is one of the most significant labor movement of the last twenty-five years and that it can open up new possibilities for future workers’ movements.

Metal direnişinin gösterdikleri Erkan Aydoğanoğlu suggests that the metal workers’ strike presents the struggle of fifteen thousand metal workers against employer-labor union collaboration in the metal sector.

Renault işçisi ne öğretiyor? According to Nuray Sancar, the metal workers’ strike is threatening labor unions such as Türk Metal, which favor employers and the government over the rights and demands of workers.

Metal direnişi sınıfa emanet  Nilgün Tunçcan Ongan notes that metal workers are still struggling despite the AKP’s unlawful ban on labor strikes, as well as Turk Metal Union’s labeling of the metal workers who went on strike as “terrorists.”

Other Pertinent Pieces

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The Armenian Genocide and the Politics of Knowledge

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Soykirimla yargilanmayi arzuluyorum...

Turkiyeli Ermeniler’den Cagri: Bak Kardesim

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NEWTON 2014 Year in Review

Once again this year, as the editors of the New Texts Out Now (NEWTON) Page, we have been honored to have the opportunity to feature an astonishing range of books, articles, special issues of journals, and films for Jadaliyya readers in 2014. With authors generously agreeing to discuss their new works, offer background information on their research, and allow us to post excerpts from their books and articles, we have been able to offer first looks at some of the most important new work in the field, from established names and rising stars alike.

Here on the eve of 2015, with a new set of texts on the horizon, we have an opportune moment to look back at the previous year on NEWTON. The work below spans disciplines, regions, and methodological and theoretical approaches. We offer it for scholars working in the field, as well as teachers and students looking for recently published sources in Middle East studies.

As always, if you wish to recommend a book to be featured in New Texts Out Now, or if you have just published a book, a peer-reviewed article, or the special issue of a journal, please email us at reviews@jadaliyya.com. See you in 2015.

Myriam Ababsa, Atlas of Jordan: History, Territories, and Society

Rula Jurdi Abisaab and Malek Abisaab, The Shi‘ites of Lebanon: Modernism, Communism, and Hizbullah’s Islamists

Maha Abdelrahman, Egypt`s Long Revolution: Protest Movements and Uprisings

Niki Akhavan, Electronic Iran: The Cultural Politics of an Online Evolution

Abdullah Al-Arian, Answering the Call: Popular Islamic Activism in Sadat’s Egypt

Anthony Alessandrini, Frantz Fanon and the Future of Cultural Politics

Anthony Alessandrini, Nazan Ustundag, and Emrah Yildiz, “Resistance Everywhere”: The Gezi Protests and Dissident Visions of Turkey

VJ Um Amel, “A Digital Humanities Approach: Text, the Internet, and the Egyptian Uprising”

Zayde Antrim, Routes and Realms: The Power of Place in the Early Islamic World

Hani Bawardi, The Making of Arab Americans: From Syrian Nationalism to US Citizenship

Claire Beaugrand, Amélie Le Renard, et Roman Stadnicki, Villes et dynamiques urbaines en péninsule Arabique / Cities and Urban Dynamics in the Arabian Peninsula

Rawia Bishara, Olives, Lemons & Za’atar: The Best Middle Eastern Home Cooking

Shampa Biswas, Nuclear Desire: Power and the Postcolonial Nuclear Order

Laurie A. Brand, Official Stories: Politics and National Narratives in Egypt and Algeria

Edmund Burke III, The Ethnographic State: France and the Invention of Moroccan Islam

Melani Cammett, Compassionate Communalism: Welfare and Sectarianism in Lebanon

Sheila Carapico, Political Aid and Arab Activism: Democracy Promotion, Justice, and Representation

Reem Charif, Mohamad Hafeda, and Joumana al Jabri, Creative Refuge

Jean-Claude David et Thierry Boissiere, Alep et ses territoires. Fabrique et politique d’une ville (1868-2011)

Muriam Haleh Davis, The Afterlives of the Algerian Revolution

Ahmed El Shamsy, The Canonization of Islamic Law: A Social and Intellectual History

Gulcin Erdi-Lelandais, Understanding the City: Henri Lefebvre and Urban Studies

Abir Hamdar, The Female Suffering Body: Illness and Disability in Modern Arabic Literature

Adam Hanieh, Lineages of Revolt: Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the Middle East

Linda Herrera, Revolution in the Age of Social Media: The Egyptian Popular Insurrection and the Internet

Linda Herrera, Wired Citizenship: Youth Learning and Activism in the Middle East

Annika Marlen Hinze, Turkish Berlin: Integration Policy and Urban Space

Valeska Huber, Channelling Mobilities: Migration and Globalisation in the Suez Canal Region and Beyond

India: Wounded States (Special Issue of Warscapes)

Jacobin Magazine, Special Section on the Gulf Cooperation Council

Rebecca Joubin, The Politics of Love: Sexuality, Gender, and Marriage in Syrian Television Drama

Mohammad Ali Kadivar, “Alliances and Perception Profiles in the Iranian Reform Movement, 1997 to 2005”

John Tofik Karam, “On the Trail and Trial of a Palestinian Diaspora: Mapping South America in the Arab–Israeli Conflict, 1967–1972”

Paul Kelemen, The British Left and Zionism: History of a Divorce

Andrea Khalil, Crowds and Politics in North Africa: Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya

Andrea Khalil, Women, Gender, and the Arab Spring

Lina Khatib, Dina Matar, and Atef Alshaer, The Hizbullah Phenomenon: Politics and Communication

Kurdish Studies, Volume 1, Issue 1

Reinoud Leenders, Spoils of Truce: Corruption and State-Building in Postwar Lebanon

Mark LeVine, The Arab Uprisings of 2011 (Special Issue of Middle East Critique)

Elisabeth Longuenesse et Cyril Roussel, Developper en Syrie. Retour sur une experience historique

Sunaina Maira and Piya Chatterjee, The Imperial University: Academic Repression and Scholarly Dissent

Nazan Maksudyan, Orphans and Destitute Children in the Late Ottoman Empire

Kamran Matin, Recasting Iranian Modernity: International Relations and Social Change

Pascal Menoret, Joyriding in Riyadh: Oil, Urbanism, and Revolt

Palestine, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Primer (Revised and Updated Edition)

Leila Piran, Institutional Change in Turkey: The Impact of European Union Reforms on Human Rights and Policy

Erin Runions, The Babylon Complex: Theopolitical Fantasies of War, Sex, and Sovereignty

Kimberly Wedeven Segall, Performing Democracy in Iraq and South Africa

Nimer Sultany, “Religion and Constitutionalism: Lessons from American and Islamic Constitutionalism”

Lisa Wedeen, “Ideology and Humor in Dark Times: Notes from Syria”

Isabelle Werenfels, “Beyond Authoritarian Upgrading: The Re-Emergence of Sufi Orders in Maghrebi Politics”