By Halil Karaveli

May 2,  2018

It is not President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “power hunger” that accounts for Turkey’s snap presidential and general election. Instead, raison d’état is behind this event, which will enshrine presidential rule. The abolition of parliamentary rule and the concentration of all executive powers to the presidency are designed to neutralize the Kurdish challenge. It is also intended to refurbish the authority of the state and lend it a renewed aura of strength after it was torn apart by the Gülenists. Reactions to Turkish developments should not be based on interpretations that neglect the primacy of the state’s interests and the impact of the Gülenist threat and Kurdish challenge.

By Thomas Helm

March 8,  2018

A “neoliberal” consensus has reigned in Turkish politics since the 1980s.  Yet far from being rolled back, the state has in fact been actively “rolled forward.” Various aspects of neoliberalism have been assimilated into an authoritarian system. The system features a combination of a liberalized economy with weak trade unions, poor workers’ rights and a strong state with a pervasive, centralized crony-capitalism. It has come at a significant social cost and relies on potentially unstable growth.

By Halil Karaveli

February 22,  2018

Turkey is at an historical juncture: the need to try something new has acquired urgency. The right, in secular or Islamic shape, that has dominated Turkey throughout its history has demonstrated that it perpetuates authoritarian rule. Can the left provide a democratic hope? Ideally, a “Progressive front” would coalesce to challenge the ruling "Nationalist front" and the hold of authoritarianism. However, the war against the Kurds in Syria boosts the right-wing nationalist parties, and also the Turkish social democrats support it. To provide an exit out of Turkey’s impasse, the mainstream Turkish left needs to reinvent itself. It must emancipate from its father figure, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.