Secularism and Muslim Democracy in Turkey
In: Mezinárodní vztahy: Czech journal of international relations, Band 44, Heft 4, S. 128
ISSN: 0543-7989, 0323-1844
In: Mezinárodní vztahy: Czech journal of international relations, Band 44, Heft 4, S. 128
ISSN: 0543-7989, 0323-1844
World Affairs Online
This text deals with elections to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey held in November 2002 and particularly in July 2007. The text describes the electoral system and analyses the election results. It is focused on differences in territorial support for the main political parties. The results of the latest parliamentary elections are compared with those of the 2002 elections. The main continuities identified are a reduction in relevant political actors and the concentration of Turkish political formations, the position of the main political parties in the Turkish system and the dominance of national electoral preference components over local components. Discontinuity, by contrast, was identified in the absence of pre-election coalitions and the fragmentation of electoral preferences.
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In: Politologický časopis, Band 14, Heft 4, S. 304-320
ISSN: 1211-3247
Strengthening presidential powers in the Turkish parliamentary system has been the aim of many political actors since the beginning of discussions about the new constitutional framework in 1980. Direct presidential election, as one of the main features of the semi-presidential & presidential systems, has become especially salient with the turbulent events following the recent presidential election. Introducing direct presidential election is the main ambition of a new constitutional amendment which has already been passed in the Turkish parliament. In the case of a favorable result for the referendum, the amendment will bring about further strengthening of the Turkish president's position & possibly change the entire Turkish political system. The aim of my contribution is to analyze the existing powers of the Turkish president as well as the consequences of this prospective constitutional change. The analysis concludes that in the Turkish political system, the president has a stronger position than is usual in classic parliamentary systems, & the constitutional change would strengthen the semi-presidential features of the Turkish political system even more. Consequently, the advantages & disadvantages of both presidential & semi-presidential systems are briefly evaluated & applied to the Turkish situation. The aim is to predict how these systems might function in the specific conditions of Turkey, & to offer some optimal measures to support the stability of Turkey. Adapted from the source document.
In: Práce Historického ústavu Akademie věd České republiky sv. 21
This study is an attempt to deliver a comprehensive (geo)political analysis of the evolution of transit routes to supply Caspian oil and natural gas reserves to world markets using the territory of the South Caucasus. In the initial part of the study, a series of transit options prevailing in the two decades up to 2005 is scrutinized; in 2005, the highly debated Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline was eventually built marking the shift in interest from oil transit to natural gas transit. Emphasizing the peculiarities of geopolitical competition for the strategically important area of the post-Soviet South Caucasus that has been continuing between Russia, the United States, and to a certain extent also Iran and Turkey, the article seeks to explore the close interconnection of politics and economics, and on some key occasions also the prevalence of the former over the latter, reaching in this regard beyond Caspian projects.
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