TPQ Condemns the Coup Attempt

Turkish Policy Quarterly (TPQ) strongly condemns the coup attempt in Turkey on 15 July 2016. We stand on the side of all of those who defend democracy.

TPQ Covers the Pivotal Greek Cypriot Elections

Georgios Stavri and Ljijana Jakovlevic, Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Institute of Geopolitics in Nicosia and political psychologist, respectively, recently published two blog posts on the May 22nd Cyprus elections. In the first blog piece, titled "The 22 May 2016 Parliamentary Elections in Cyprus: The Most Disparate Political Picture in Years!" Stavri and Jakovlevic illustrate the political atmosphere leading up to the Parliamentary elections in Cyprus. While elections in Cyprus have historically garnered high voter turnout, the authors observe that the dangerously high level of discontent among the public, and disillusionment with the Cypriot political class will impact voting patterns. They argue that a crippling economy coupled by political scandals revolving the two biggest parties – right wing Democratic Rally (DISY) and communist AKEL – have shifted popular support from the two main parties to a number of smaller ones..

"A mini revolution has – at first quietly and now more loudly – been taking place among voters, with large numbers appearing to be shifting from the two biggest parties to the smaller opposition parties. This trend is tipping the balance of the big parties' total vote from a staggering near 70 percent to less than 57 percent, thus receiving a well-deserved punishment for their political games and excesses."

"Should the five parties, some of them new kids on the block, find a way to build a common platform of policies against the DISY and AKEL, it could mean that President Anastasiades' aspirations for a second five-year term in February 2018 could prove to be just a pipe-dream"

In their follow-up analysis, titled "Post-Election Analysis of the Greek Cypriot Parliamentary Elections of 22 May 2016," Stavri and Jakovlevic explain that the election saw a substantial increase in absentee voting with 33.51 percent, and a record number of eight political parties coming into play. The authors point out the the political map has been reshuffled entirely, with the two biggest parties – DISY and AKEL – declining by 3.7 and 7.1 percent respectively. The election results will have long-term consequences for internal Greek Cypriot politics, as well as for the future of the Cyprus negotiations, posit the authors.

"22 May 2016 was expected to deliver surprises for a host of reasons, but what came about was the total redrafting of the political map in the Greek Cypriot community with all resultant repercussions promising to reverberate for some time to come"

"The recent parliamentary elections in Cyprus effectively ended the long grace period President Anastasiades had been enjoying."

Ambassador Marc Pierini on Brexit: What's Next?

Following the United Kingdom's shock decision to leave the EU, Ambassador Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, outlines the possible foreign policy consequences of Brexit. The new EU Global Strategy, EU enlargement policy, and the UK's contribution to the EU-Turkey refugee deal, are a few of the casualties Pierini points to in the short-term. In the long-term, populist waves and rising xenophobia across the EU27 are trends to watch closely. While Pierini acknowledges that there may be some positive fallouts of Brexit, he argues it is too soon to tell how the EU's foreign policy instruments will be impacted.

"In the immediate future, can the EU enlargement policy and the association agreements with neighboring countries do anything else than go into 'survival mode,' with little room for progress or innovations?"

"From what we hear today from many of the EU27 governments, there might be a 'revival' reflex in terms of foreign policy. It is premature to speculate on what such a political decision might include. But this could mean that, perhaps on a case-by-case basis, the EU would want to demonstrate that its relations with third countries are alive and developing."

TPQ Has Moved!

TPQ has moved its offices to a new location. We would like to thank Kadir Has University for generously providing us with a home base for six consecutive years. Throughout the years, we have closely collaborated with the University's administration, professors, and students, and we look forward to its continuation.

Upcoming ATC Event at Harvard University

TPQ copies will be available at the American-Turkish Council (ATC) US-Turkey Innovation Summit, on July 21st at Harvard University's Knafel Center. International companies such as GE, Inovent, Roketsan, DFA Engineering, Sikorsky, Harvard University, MIT, TUBITAK, and others will attend the Summit. In addition, important Turkish-American figures such as Dr. Faruk Özlü, Minister of Science and Technology, Nicholas Negroponte, Co-founder of MIT Media Lab, and Daron Acemoğlu, Kilian Professor of Economics at MIT will be attending. TPQ is pleased to be represented at this prestigious event.

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