THE RISE OF TURKEY: ASPIRATIONS VS. REALITIES

Mehmet Gurses

DESCRIPTION:The rise of Islamist movements in the Muslim world has been the subject of heated debate among scholars and policy makers. Of these countries, the Turkish model has received much attention in that it sets an example of the integration of Islamic movements into a relatively democratic political system. Turkey, as the first Muslim-majority democracy, has a history of democratic practices along with an industrial market economy. During the popular uprising that started in Tunisia and later spread to the largest Arab country, Egypt, in January 2011, several observers pointed to the “Turkish Model” as a way of incorporating Islamist groups into the new regime. What is the “Turkish Model?” Can it help reconfigure the relationship between Islam and democracy? Can Turkey serve as a role model for the newly emerging democracies in the Muslim world or is it on the verge of turning into another Iran? What are the implications for the rise of Turkish power in the Middle East? These questions and more will be addressed in this lecture series. Professor Gurses will first present an overview of the demise of the Turkish Empire, the birth of a nation under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk, the ambivalent relationship between modernity and Islam, the birth and evolution of political Islam in Turkey, and then discuss lessons the Turkish Model offers. This lecture series aims to provide a coherent understanding of the challenges and opportunities the “Turkish Model” presents for the rapidly changing Middle East, as well as the United States and Israel.

EIGHT LECTURES:

1. The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire
2. The Birth of a Nation: The origins of the Turkish Republic
3. Transition to Democracy: The first Muslim democracy
4. The Birth of Political Islam
5. The 1980 Military Coup: Flirting with Islam
6. Curbing Political Islam: The Post-Modern coup of February 28, 1997
7. The Shifting Grounds: The rise of the AKP
8. The New Turkey: Friend or Foe?

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Dr. Mehmet Gurses joined the Department of Political Science at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in 2007, after completing his doctorate at the University of North Texas. An expert on Middle East politics, he specializes in ethnic and religious conflict, post-civil war peace building, democratization, and Islamist parties in the Middle East. Dr. Gurses frequently speaks to groups in several communities on a range of topics relating to the Middle East. His scholarly publications have appeared in International Interactions, Social Science Quarterly, Civil Wars, Defense and Peace Economics, Democratization, International Studies Perspectives and Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.