Istanbul, learning and enjoying an old city

Here is a first overview of multiple journals of what I have learned from my trip so far :

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/14/2014

The lectures started with the background information on EU negotiations with Turkey and lead us through the years of progress since its beginning. It also provided historic background on Turkey, how Turkish revolution was more successful than Russian revolution because it was a political change, change of administration, rather than changing peoples' minds. I was able to better understand the issues regarding Turkey and it’s EU candidacy.

I particularly better understood Germany’s views on Turkey being in the EU. Some said that Germany would not benefit from Turkey having membership in the EU. German interest seems to be self serving and motivated more by German national interest. Former German Chancellor in 1999 wanted Turkey in for other reasons than current German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In the second lecture, it was interesting to learn about the Copenhagen criteria, the requirements for EU membership. First criterion is geographic, a country must be in Europe. Second criterion requires a functioning democracy, a stable market economy, and adoption of  Acquis (EU law). Third criterion is about reasons for admittance to EU. These are the requirements to join the European Union and if a country fail to meet any of these three criteria then they can't join the EU. 

Geographically Turkey has challenges because most of Turkey's land is in Asia, Anatolia.  Turkey also faces challenges in terms of freedoms, such as freedom of press. The lectures helped me to understand why a European Union was needed and how it grew and expanded, and the process and requirements for joining EU.

Countries like Turkey experience challenges. These challenges range from geographic to economic, social, and political.  Challenges come from both sides. Most EU countries do not perceive Turkey as a European country with its geographic location and  Muslim population. It is perceived more as a Middle-Eastern country. Majority of Turks also  believe that EU countries are anti-Muslim and don't want Turkey because of that. Turkey also has its own interests in the world and these interests may not coincide with the European interests, such as the foreign policies that Turkey pursues, especially in the Middle-East.

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/15/2014

Today's lectures started with an introduction to Turkey, its political and economic development, and its social structure. Instability in the surrounding areas such as the Balkans, the Caucuses, and the Middle-East cause problems  for Turkey. In the country the urbanization has caused social, economic, and political problems. Istanbul is being the most populated city with a population of 15 million. Unemployment rate is about 40% among college graduates. Ethnic problems with the Kurdish population and associated terrorism killed thousands in Turkey. 

After the World War II, Turkey received Marshall Plan funds to build its economy and military. This was to stop Soviet expansion and to keep Turkey as a buffer zone. Turkey was not involved in World War II, however, severe economic hardship was experienced during that period. 

Since passing of Ataturk, Turkey experienced several military coupes. 1994 World economic crises lead to the rise of current Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Islamist party. In 1900's, the empires started breaking up, the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary Empire and Ottoman Empire. Turkey formed alliance with the United States and blamed Germany for losses in World War I.  

Since the formation of EU, many countries joined the Union, including the break up nations from former Soviet Union after the Cold War. Turkey is a NATO member and a US ally. Turkey tries to stay integrated in Europe to improve its international and domestic status. Turkey has to have good relations with Russia as well because it is dependent on Russian natural gas, receiving 42% of its natural gas from Russia.

Turkey is involved in Syria, especially with anti-Assad groups; may have sponsored some of these groups by providing weapons. Becoming an EU member will help Turkish people to have access to better education, job opportunities, and better health care. However, issues remain for full membership on both sides. Turkish people are skeptical of the European sincerity and intentions. Germany may see Turkey as a threat due to it size and economic strength.

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/16/2014

This is our third day in Turkey. Today we did institutional visits. We visited Democratization and Civil Society, an interest group to change and influence policies in Turkey. This advocacy group is privately funded, have strict criteria for research they produce. They have ability to bring together policy makers with civil society. There are several areas they focus: Kurdish minority issues, internally displaced people (IDP), Turkish democratization process, political prisoners, and EU accession process.

Turkey has a parliamentary system. Some Kurdish leaders want a decentralized system. This will require constitutional changes and this may happen after the 2015 general elections. The ruling party will have to lead the constitution process. This group monitors constitution making process from day one. The group focuses on judicial reform as well. Judicial problems originate from being a state-oriented and not having democratic institutions administering the judiciary. This is a big area where Turkey will struggle in the coming decade for EU accession. 

Another area they focus is security sector reform. EU requires democratic oversight of security institutions including the police, the military, the intelligence, and the village guards, etc.  Overall, what I have learned from this presentation is that although Turkey is a democracy, changes must take place to be fully democratic. The power is from the executive to the people, but it should be from the people to the executive. 

We also visited with Community Volunteer Foundation which focuses specifically on the development of young people. Turkey has a young population. High unemployment, gender inequality, access to quality education and health care, and lack of social and political participation are some of the problems the Turkish youth are facing. This foundation organizes clubs and 3 day training programs to encourage youth to involve in community. I thought something like a Big Event would be a wonderful way for Turkish youth to involve in their communities.

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/17/2014

Today, it is our last day in Turkey. I am sad to leave Turkey tomorrow, but excited about going to Berlin. 

Today we focused on energy security in the EU, the wider Eurasian region and Turkey. Turkey serves as an important bridge that connects the East to the West. Turkey has been that bridge in transferring natural gas resources from oil and natural gas rich Central Asia to the EU countries. This is important for EU because EU doesn’t want to rely on entirely Russian energy resources. EU also wants to diversify not only energy supply routes but also the energy resources. Germany, for example, is putting emphasis on renewable energy resources and the protection of the environment. Turkey holds everyone together, the East and the West, Turkey is the “belly button of the world” where people go through for energy. 

EU developed ENP,  the neighborhood policy, to influence reforms in the neighboring countries. Participating neighbor countries agree to do certain reforms and in return get benefits from EU (not full membership), a key difference between enlargement and neighborhood policies. Other rewards include access to European market, visas, etc. The two neighboring countries Ukraine and Turkey have similarities and differences. Both have large populations and both are divided countries. Turkey’s division is between the secularists and the pro-Islamist conservatives, the supporters of the current ruling party. 

The difference is that Ukraine has the Russian factor and Turkey doesn’t. In Ukraine the protests were about democracy, whereas in Turkey, the Gezi movement, which had started to protect the trees in the Gezi Park, turned into a major anti-government protest of urban population demanding personal freedoms and accountability from the government. Turkish media, especially government controlled TV, blacked out most of the protests. The role of social media was instrumental in spreading the awareness.