[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

Coalition Scenarios

The Opposition Bubble Burhanettin Duran finds the opposition parties’ attitudes toward coalition negotiations irresponsible and accuses them of jeopardizing Turkey’s political stability.

Davutoğlu Starts His Rounds for a Coalition (1)-(2) İlnur Çevik analyzes Prime Minister Davutoğlu’s coalition talks with opposition parties.

Which Coalition Formula Is Correct? Nagehan Alçı argues that the most likely coalition scenarios are AKP-CHP and AKP-MHP governments, and that  the actors of these two options are indeed the representatives of the "old Turkey" and the status quo.

What Will Happen If We Go to Early Elections? Ali Bayramoğlu writes that Turkey is at a critical point where the AKP and the CHP will form a coalition or Turkey will go to early elections.

What Transpired in the Meeting Between AK Party and HDP Abdülkadir Selvi says that he is not hopeful for an AKP-CHP coalition and expresses his preference for an early election after which the AKP would form the government.

AKP Ponders What Went Wrong “While skeptics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Justice and Development Party are still not very vocal, reality seems to be on their side,” writes Mustafa Akyol.

Only Two Options Left in Turkish Political Scene Murat Yetkin argues that Turkey’s political scene is left with only two options in practice: either a Grand Coalition between the AKP and the CHP or going to another election.

The CHP’s Coalition with the AKP, Difficult but a Must According to Yusuf Kanlı, a strong AKP-CHP government might help Turkey restore its democracy, reinstitute distribution of powers, supremacy of law, improve the climate of freedom and return its foreign policy to normal.

Kurdish Politics

Internal Differentiation in Kurdish Politics Etyen Mahçupyan claims that there is a fragmentation of political strategies on the Kurdish question among HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, KCK leader Cemil Bayık, and PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

The Greed of Kurdish Nationalists According to Burhanettin Duran, “the only way to contain the greed of Kurdish nationalists” is to develop better policies on Syria in conjunction with the United States.

Peace Process Was the Real Issue Taken up at HDP-AK Party Talks İlnur Çevik contends that the end of the ceasefire proves that the HDP is a weak wing of the Kurdish movement, operating under the thumb of the PKK.

War Cabinet Yahya Bostan suggests that the formal ending of the ceasefire by the PKK/KCK is the most serious instance in a long history of their attempts to undermine the peace process initiated by the government.

You Will Get Stuck under the Dams İbrahim Karagül asserts that the Doğan Media Group was behind the rise of Selahattin Demirtaş and is now responsible for the end of the ceasefire and the violence advocated by the PKK and KCK.

Will the PKK Disarm? Writing that the Kurds’ and Turks’ shared history, culture, and geography, İbrahim Kalın argues that the PKK/KCK should lay down arms unconditionally in order for the peace process to continue.

PKK, Turkey Squabble over Same Dam Issue According to Mahmut Bozarslan, many believe that the dams being built across the Kurdistan region are an attempt to limit PKK operations, while the state maintains that the dams are a force for the economic development of the region.

Peace Between Turkey and Syrian Kurds? Verda Özer interviews Enver Muslim, co-chair of the Kobanê canton in Northern Syria, to show the cognitive dissonance between Turkish state claims about the threat posed by the PYD and the PYD’s commitment to the peace process in Turkey.

Kurds Change the Flow of Turkish Politics Once Again Murat Yetkin argues that the HDP’s call for the PKK to lay down arms has further damaged the prospect of an AKP-MHP coalition.

Freezing, Continuation, and Change in the Resolution Process Ergün Yıldırım appraises the current condition of the peace and reconciliation process given the end of the ceasefire and Demirtaş’ call on the PKK to lay down arms.

Policy on Syria and ISIS

Is the Islamic State Really a Terrorist Group? Turkey`s Lawyers Don`t Think So According to Metin Gürcan, despite the overwhelming public opinion in Turkey that ISIS is a terrorist organization, the state remains reluctant to officially list it as such.

Ankara Cracks Down on IS; But Is It Too Little Too Late? Noah Blaser interviews Turkish members of ISIS who decided to return to Turkey to show how the Turkish government’s earlier nonchalant approach to the group has changed in recent months.

Gül Calls Out Erdoğan at Iftar Semih İdiz writes about former President Abdullah Gül’s explicit critique of recent Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East.

Fatal Culture of Victimhood Discussing the appeal of ISIS as a political theology, Doğu Ergil criticizes the vehement anti-Western approach that characterizes many Islamist movements in the Middle East as destructive.

Other Pertinent Pieces

Prisoner Scores Small Victory in Struggle for Alevi Rights in Turkey Sibel Hürtaş argues that while a recent court decision allowed an Alevi prisoner to have religious counsel from an Alevi elder, it is nonetheless troubling that the Turkish judiciary had to decide whether or not Alevism is a valid faith.

As Companies Rush to Iran, Turkey Slow to Wake up to Opportunity According to Fehim Taştekin, Turkey’s potential economic gains from the end of the embargo on Iran are mired in Turkey’s clumsy foreign policy in the Middle East and its government corruption.

Is Turkey`s High Judiciary Squirming Out of Political Pressures? According to Yavuz Baydar, the recent court decision that allows the Gülenist prep schools to stay open is a blow to the authoritarianism of the AKP government.

Turkish Exports Plunge Commenting on the downturn of the Turkish economy, Mehmet Çetingüleç wonders why Turkish exports are in decline even as the Turkish lira is getting cheaper.

Turkey`s Women-Only Newspaper Melis Alphan profiles a newspaper called “Tunceli Labor” (Tunceli Emek), which is run only by women and emerged in the 1990s at the height of state violence against Kurds.

Turkish

Coalition Scenarios

CHP bu AKP’yle koalisyon yapmamalı! Cenk Sidar thinks a CHP-AKP coalition that brings central left and right politics together would not work well for Turkey as Turkish democracy is not a well-functioning democracy.

HDP artık bir karar vermeli According to Levent Gültekin, the HDP has to choose between being a party that speaks to the whole nation, and being part of a movement that sees armed struggle as a political option.

Görüşmeler başlarken AKP’de hal ve gidiş! İhsan Çaralan questions the basis of AKP politicians’ confidence in setting rules for a potential coalition, as the party has lost nine percent of its electoral support in the last elections.

Bayram arifesinde AKP çikolatası ve HDP kahve fincanları... Hakan Aksay comments on the AKP-HDP coalition talks meeting, hoping for an increased dialogue and collaboration regarding the peace process.

Koalisyonla dış politikada ne değişir? Soli Özel attempts to predict possible changes in foreign policy in different coalition scenarios.

Hem koalisyon önermiyor hem de şişman herkesten According to Veysel Sarısözen, the AKP needs to talk to the HDP to discuss and come to an agreement on the conditions of disarmament, not to render a call to the PKK for immediate disarmament.

AKP-CHP, ya da seçim gibi duruyor Murat Yetkin predicts early elections in case a currently probable AKP-CHP coalition is not realized.

Koalisyon olmuyor turları Murat Belge speculates that the AKP and Erdoğan do not aim for the successful formation of a coalition as they plan to derive support from the seeming political incapacity of other political parties in an early election.

Gül`ün ayak sesleri mi? Mustafa Ünal predicts the return of Abdullah Gül to politics based on his recent actions and public statements.

AK Parti, koalisyon ve dış politika Bülent Aras thinks the yet-to-be-formed coalition will determine the direction of the expected change in foreign policy.

“Green Road” Project Resistance

Yeşil Yol’da elle tutulacak bir şey varsa o da para Bünyad Dinç points out to the heightened danger for snow slides as a result of constructing the “Green Road,” a road that is planned to connect upland villages in eight Black Sea provinces.

Diren Ana Mehmet Kamış supports the locals’ resistance to the project as defending the nature and a century-old heritage against politicians whose ultimate aim is to make money under the name of “development.”

Kimdur devlet yaw? Suat Kınıklıoğlu calls for the halt of projects that show disregard of nature, questioning whose interests the state should protect.

Sakin ol ve kadınlara atfettiğin sıfatları yavaşça yere bırak Deniz Bayram and Bilge Güler criticize the sexist language used even by supporters of the Green Road resistance, which makes the agency of women who resist the destruction of the nature in the region invisible.

Yeşil mi, koyu gri mi? Dışarıdan mı, içeriden mi? Cem Kirazoğlu talks about how the government uses “foreign agents” discourse to legitimize local resistance against projects that serve the economical interest of specific power groups.

Burada sevdaluk olur yeşil yol olmaz! According to Nuray Sancar, women are no longer swayed by the glorification of motherhood as a state strategy to silence the dissent against the attacks on their rights and the environments they live in.

Kurdish Politics

Erken seçimden önce HDP`ye operasyon planı Oya Baydar argues that those who want to decrease the HDP’s support in an early election scenario will utilize the KCK’s latest public statement regarding the ceasefire.

Mutlaka barış! According to Filiz Koçali, the AKP has two choices: Continuing building dams and roads for military reasons, arresting HDP members, and therefore increasing the chances of war; or building a coalition with the HDP, thus opting for peace.

Kamu düzeni ve Kürt sorunu Tarhan Erdem criticizes the discourse that equates the solution to the Kurdish issue with public order, and calls on the AKP to take the peace process forward.

Barışın engeli Sezin Öney thinks the biggest obstacle to the solution of the Kurdish issue is Turkish nationalism’s lack of politics regarding Kurdish identity.

Barış Bloğu tamam da, ya “yeni yaşam”? Mehmet Sezgin purports that the HDP should build a new politics rather than engaging in passive politics against the AKP’s war agenda.

Endişeye gerek yok, yangın Cudi’de! Nurcan Baysal criticizes environmental activists’ apathy regarding the big fire in Cudi mountains as a continuation of the general disinterest among Turkish public for the destruction of eastern parts of the country during the 1990s.

7 Haziran’dan sonra HDP Murat Belge thinks the June elections victory has delivered the HDP a special mission to build the future of the country via conventional civil politics.

KCK birden niye patladı? Baskın Oran traces the KCK’s statement that announces the ending of the ceasefire.

Ateşkes bitti mi? According to Fehim Işık, the KCK’s statement did not imply the ending of the ceasefire, as has been portrayed by the media close to the AKP; it was aimed as a strong warning against power groups in the state who want to restart the war.

Ateşkes ve ‘koalisyon arayışı’ süreci Fatih Polat thinks the KCK’s declaration is aimed at preventing the state from stopping breaching the rules of the ceasefire, not at putting an end to it.

Other Pertinent Pieces

AKP İslamcılığı bozmadı, zaten `moral olarak çökmüş İslamcı döküntüleriyle` kuruldu (1) - (2) - (3) Ezgi Başaran interviews academics and a former Islamist activist regarding the recent debate on “Islamist agents of the state” with the background of social and political developments within Islamist and conservative circles during a decade of AKP rule.

Kirletmek güzeldir Mehmet Baransu argues that the authoritarian turn the AKP has taken was encouraged and implemented by the agents of the “deep state” but the founding politicians of the party, including Erdoğan, are not aware of this intrusion.

Bir öğretmenin haysiyet mücadelesi “[This is] a struggle for freedom of labor, thought, expression; for free and independent education, democracy, womanhood, and human dignity,” says teacher Melike Koçak, fired from her educational position at Notre Dame De Sion French High School.

Uzmanlardan istikrar dersleri Emrah Altındış unfolds the meaning of “stability” for power groups, experts, and the common people.

LGBTİ’lere saldırılar Commenting on the recent violent attack on LGBTI activist Kemal Ördek, Hüsnü Öndül calls for the implementation of equal rights and respect for LGBTI individuals as secured by the constitution.

Published on Jadaliyya

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Refugees in Turkey: Implications of Increasing Politicization

HDP’nin programina evet diyen muhafazakarlar, kadin, Alevi ve LGBTI’lerle esitlige de evet diyor