Turkey Divided

Issue Date January 2008
Volume 19
Issue 1
Page Numbers 55-69
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The period leading up to the July balloting exposed a key fault line in Turkish society. On one side of the divide were those who supported the economic and political reform process that the AKP had undertaken since coming to power in the elections of November 2002. The main objective of the second of the “two Turkeys” is the preservation of the Republic as a unitary, strictly secular, and nationalist country rather than one which adopts federal or confederal arrangements to accommodate the Kurds, permits Islam to make its weight felt in the public sphere, and opens itself up decisively to transnational influences.

About the Author

Zeyno Baran is senior fellow and director of the Center for Eurasian Policy at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. A native of Turkey, Baran writes and speaks widely on Turkey and Turkish affairs. She has done extensive work on the compatibility of Islam and democracy and is currently writing a book on Muslim integration in the West.

View all work by Zeyno Baran