On April 16, Turks are set to vote “yes” or “no” on a package of 18 constitutional reforms that would abolish the current parliamentary system of government in favor of a strong executive presidency. The only politician who stands to gain more from the reforms’ passage than President Recep Tayyip Erdogan—who sees them as the flagship project of his political career—is Davlet Bahceli, the long-time leader of the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP. Bahceli has decided to throw his full support behind Erdogan and the “yes” campaign. Indeed, without his support, Erdogan’s allies in parliament from his Justice and [...]
Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the status of women’s rights and gender equality in various countries around the world. Last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called women who work “half persons” and “deficient,” sparking outrage among many liberal Turks, though his statement resonated with the country’s conservative majority. In an email interview, Melinda Negrón-Gonzales, an associate professor at the University of New Hampshire, discusses women’s rights and gender equality in Turkey. WPR: What is the current status of women’s rights and gender equality in Turkey? Melinda Negrón-Gonzales: Generally, Turkey lags behind its [...]
The harrowing image last month of a Turkish police officer standing over the Russian ambassador he just shot, while blaming Moscow for the devastation in Syria, captures a key foreign policy challenge for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump: How can he attempt to stabilize the Middle East by bringing conflicts to a close, rather than letting Russia and Iran lead the region into further cycles of repression and violence under the rubric of fighting terrorism? Trump’s current defense priority—“to crush and destroy” the so-called Islamic State—plays right into Russian and Iranian machinations, with their selective definitions of terrorism and scorched-earth tactics. [...]
