Kerem Oktem
Hello and welcome to my webpage!
I am an Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at Ca' Foscari University, Venice.
I am interested in the intersections between global power, domestic politics, and minority politics. My primary case is Turkey in the context of its immediate neighbourhood, that is the Balkans, the Black Sea, and the Middle East.
My core expertise in research covers the politics and international relations of Turkey, Turkey-EU relations and nationalism studies as well as the study of Muslim communities in the Balkans and Western Europe and their relations with Turkey.
I am the founding Chair of the Consortium of European Symposia on Turkey (http://cest-turkey.org). With Turkish Studies colleagues from leading universities in Europe, we seek to create a space for critical inquiry into the society and politics of Turkey at a time of multiple crises and unprecedented state interference.
In summer 2023, I am organising a summer school on Turkey in the Balkans with my colleague Elise Massicard (SciencesPo). There are still places available: http://cest-turkey.org/cest-summer-school-in-venice-6-14-august-2023/
I am also an active member of several professional organisations, including the Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA), Gesellschaft für Turkologie, Osmanistik, und Türkeiforschung (GTOT), and Südosteuropagesellschaft (SOEG).
If you are searching for my website at Ca' Foscari, here it is: https://www.unive.it/data/people/25127050
Thank you for your attention and feel free to be in touch with feedback, queries, or project proposals!
Phone: 0043 660 6327 027
Address: DSLCC, Dorsoduro 3199, Calle Bernardo, 30123 Venezia
I am an Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at Ca' Foscari University, Venice.
I am interested in the intersections between global power, domestic politics, and minority politics. My primary case is Turkey in the context of its immediate neighbourhood, that is the Balkans, the Black Sea, and the Middle East.
My core expertise in research covers the politics and international relations of Turkey, Turkey-EU relations and nationalism studies as well as the study of Muslim communities in the Balkans and Western Europe and their relations with Turkey.
I am the founding Chair of the Consortium of European Symposia on Turkey (http://cest-turkey.org). With Turkish Studies colleagues from leading universities in Europe, we seek to create a space for critical inquiry into the society and politics of Turkey at a time of multiple crises and unprecedented state interference.
In summer 2023, I am organising a summer school on Turkey in the Balkans with my colleague Elise Massicard (SciencesPo). There are still places available: http://cest-turkey.org/cest-summer-school-in-venice-6-14-august-2023/
I am also an active member of several professional organisations, including the Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA), Gesellschaft für Turkologie, Osmanistik, und Türkeiforschung (GTOT), and Südosteuropagesellschaft (SOEG).
If you are searching for my website at Ca' Foscari, here it is: https://www.unive.it/data/people/25127050
Thank you for your attention and feel free to be in touch with feedback, queries, or project proposals!
Phone: 0043 660 6327 027
Address: DSLCC, Dorsoduro 3199, Calle Bernardo, 30123 Venezia
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Papers by Kerem Oktem
“to the extent that we can safely assert the country is now in the process of exiting the most basic provisions of a democratic regime, i.e. a level playing field for incumbents and challengers in electoral campaigning, the safe transfer of power after a loss of elections and a minimum consideration by those in power for society as a whole rather than exclusively for their clients”.
The article’s title ‘Exit from Democracy’ alarmed the journal’s editor, who was concerned that it may be perceived as polemical or biased. Thankfully, we were allowed to keep the title at a time, when many authors were trying to make sense of Turkey’s political transformation with reference to the literatures on the ‘decline of democracy’ or ‘competitive authoritarianism’. Yet these literatures, based as they are on decades of surveys and case studies of democratisation and concerned with issues of nomenclature and ideal typologies, face formidable constraints in explaining cases of semi-revolutionary regime change as has been the case in Turkey at least since the repeat elections of November 2015.
Turkey is often seen as an external actor in the discussion of the Arab uprisings. This paper suggests otherwise and argues that it is the interplay between the Arab uprisings and Erdogan’s Islamist project for power that explains Turkey’s recent exit from democracy. The uprisings, therefore, mark the end of Turkey’s contested democratic path dependency of more than sixty years. They also signal a new family resemblance with the
authoritarian systems of the Middle East.
“to the extent that we can safely assert the country is now in the process of exiting the most basic provisions of a democratic regime, i.e. a level playing field for incumbents and challengers in electoral campaigning, the safe transfer of power after a loss of elections and a minimum consideration by those in power for society as a whole rather than exclusively for their clients”.
The article’s title ‘Exit from Democracy’ alarmed the journal’s editor, who was concerned that it may be perceived as polemical or biased. Thankfully, we were allowed to keep the title at a time, when many authors were trying to make sense of Turkey’s political transformation with reference to the literatures on the ‘decline of democracy’ or ‘competitive authoritarianism’. Yet these literatures, based as they are on decades of surveys and case studies of democratisation and concerned with issues of nomenclature and ideal typologies, face formidable constraints in explaining cases of semi-revolutionary regime change as has been the case in Turkey at least since the repeat elections of November 2015.
Turkey is often seen as an external actor in the discussion of the Arab uprisings. This paper suggests otherwise and argues that it is the interplay between the Arab uprisings and Erdogan’s Islamist project for power that explains Turkey’s recent exit from democracy. The uprisings, therefore, mark the end of Turkey’s contested democratic path dependency of more than sixty years. They also signal a new family resemblance with the
authoritarian systems of the Middle East.
The centenary of the Genocide, however, constituted a turning point in witnessing a clear proliferation in cultural production on this theme, including these four books. Each is important
in its own right and remit, and each contributes to the field and reflects the achievements in genocide scholarship over the last decade.
denial and nationalist mobilization. Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with a group of Armenians and Turks in London, their paper explores how the members of this group experienced a transformation of their subject positions by facing each other’s stories, gradually overcoming insecurities and fears of the Other.
This dynamic process precipitated a shift of position, individually and collectively, enabling the formation of a community that acted beyond the confines of the reigning logics of nationalist projects. They argue that, in the relatively level playing field of the
transnational, political and other friendships can develop to the point of becoming ‘moral communities’ that challenge established status quos and unequal power relations. Friendship and interpersonal relations that transgress these boundaries
undermine reigning discourses and are, ultimately, political acts. However, these ‘low’ politics interactions still face the reality of ‘high’ politics, structured by the actions of
an overbearing and semi-democratic Turkish state, the political expedience of third countries and a factious Armenian diaspora.
Viele der Beiträge reagieren direkt oder indirekt auf die gewaltsame Niederschlagung der Gezi-Proteste im Juni 2013 und beleuchten aus einer interdisziplinären Perspektive das Scheitern des neoliberalen Arrangements sowie die vehement geführten Auseinandersetzungen um Geschlechterrollen und ethnische und religiöse Identitäten.
Introduction:
World War I and the End of the Ottomans: From the Balkan Wars to the Armenian Genocide
Hans-Lukas Kieser, Kerem Öktem, Maurus Reinkowski
Part I: Toward War
1. The Ottoman Road to Total War (1913–15)
Hans-Lukas Kieser
2. Seferberlik: Building Up the Ottoman Home Front
Yigit Akin
Part II: Demise of Ottomanity in the Balkans and Western Anatolia
3. “Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!” “Awakening a Nation” through Propaganda in the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars (1912–13)
Y. Do?an Çetinkaya
4. “Macedonian Question” in Western Anatolia: The Ousting of the Ottoman Greeks before World War I
Emre Erol
Part III: Ottoman Perspectives in Palestine
5. “The Ottoman Sickness and Its Doctors”: Imperial Loyalty in Palestine on the Eve of World War I
Michelle U. Campos
6. Palestine’s Population and the Question of Ottomanism during the Last Decade of Ottoman Rule
Yuval Ben-Bassat
Part IV: Reform or Cataclysm in the Kurdo-Armenian Eastern Provinces?
7. Land Disputes and Reform Debates in the Eastern Provinces
Mehmet Polatel
8. The German Role in the Reform Discussion of 1913–14
Thomas Schmutz
9. Building the “Model Ottoman Citizen”: Life and Death
in the Region of Harput-Mamu¨ retu¨ laziz (1908–15)
Vahé Tachjian
10. Explaining Regional Variations in the Armenian Genocide
Ugur Ümit Üngör
Afterword
Hamit Bozarslan
The conceptual avenue of critical inquiry, which the editors of Another Empire propose is particularly helpful in the study of Turkey’s relations with its key allies, as well as with its western and eastern neighbourhoods. The country’s relations with both the United States (Walker) and the European Union have been stormy over the last decade, stretching from passionate moments of mutual engagement and enthusiasm over strategic partnerships to mutual frustrations and allegations that “Turkey might be changing axis”. Indeed, it makes a lot of sense to ask “[w]hat went wrong in the Turkey-EU relationship” (Arısan-Eralp and Eralp), considering that Turkey seems to be in limbo now, in a liminal state forever one step short of the prospect of full membership. Certainly, the European Union has lost much of its appeal in the last couple of years, as the financial crisis and nationalistic responses of European publics have had detrimental effects on the overall project of integration. Yet, Turkey’s relations with the Balkans and Greece have nevertheless developed well over the last decade, largely within the institutional and legal framework set by the European Union and the international community (Bechev), (Anastasakis). Cyprus, of course, is one of those conflicts, which have not been defused over the last decade, let alone resolved.
Nor has Turkey’s key symbolic and historic conflict in the eastern neighbourhood been successfully addressed: The borders with the Republic of Armenia remain closed, as a global campaign for genocide recognition gathers pace, and relations continue to serve as a “litmus test for Turkey’s new foreign policy” (Görgülü) and its good-neighbourly intentions. Turkey’s relations with Iran are “a delicate balancing act” (Akkoyunlu), and Arab publics and decision makers, reinvigorated by the revolutions of 2011, waver between “cautious engagement” (Abou El-Fadl) and concern over an increasingly assertive Turkey with regional ambitions that benefits from the current phase of uncertain leadership in the Arab world.
So, are Turkey’s new hegemons, the conservative elites of the Justice and Development Party and their allies following a ‘neo-Ottoman’ foreign policy geared at recreating the empire? Is Turkey steering away from the “West” and into the troubled waters of Middle Eastern conflict politics? How seriously do we need to take the allegations of Turkey’s “change of axis”? And what does this mean for Turkey’s neighbours in the West and East? The authors of Another Empire offer provisional answers, inspirations and starting points for further inquiry from a wide range of disciplines and regional backgrounds. Their answers are varied, but they do agree on one thing: There is certainly no reason to panic, and no “change of axis”, even though there is a need for a critical discussion of the current state of affairs! And this, precisely, is Another Empire’s contribution to the debate.
"
This book gives an overview of the last three decades of Turkey's transformation and asks a set of questions on the structural patterns of politics: What is the role of non-accountable parallel power structures, what is the dep state and how has it shaped the country's democratic transition? How do we have to understand aspects pertaining to political culture and what is the role of societal authoritarianism? And what has the impact been of Turkey's relations with the European Union?
Angry Nation seeks to give answers these crucial questions.
The SEESOX report Western Condition. Turkey, the US and the EU in the New Middle East lays out the backdrop to this unfolding story. Launched today, the report has been prepared by Karabekir Akko-yunlu, Kalypso Nicolaidis and Kerem Öktem at the European Studies Centre of St Antony’s College, Uni-versity of Oxford. The authors analyse in particular the last decade of Turkey’s international relations under the government of the conservative Justice and Development Party, building on the series of SEESOX publications on the politics and foreign policy of Turkey such as Another Empire? A Decade of Turkey's Foreign Policy under the Justice and Development Party (cf. http://www.anotherempire.info).
Rather than detecting a shift to the East, they see three different logics of interaction with the West at work, which also overlap with three distinct phases of foreign policy making in the last decade: Europe-anization and a ‘liberal moment’ of reform lasted from 2002 – 2007; the pursuit of an increasingly au-tonomous foreign policy and of ‘strategic depth’ from 2007 – 2011; and most recently, with the AKP government’s third term and in response to the Arab uprisings, Turkey’s foreign policy has come largely into the fold of US policy on the Middle East, increasingly under the logic of a Sunni axis in the region. While this phase has seen a proliferation of debates on Turkey as a model for the haltingly emerging new Arab polities, the authors stress the government’s dependence on the Western security regime, especially in its border region with Syria, suggesting that Americanisation is augmented by the over-stretch of its foreign policy capabilities.
It is the interplay of these three logics of Europeanisation, Americanisation and Autonomization, the authors argue, which has shaped Turkey’s foreign policy since the Cold War era and that shapes Tur-key’s foreign policy now. The question today is whether Turkey can turn back to Europeanisation, while retaining now entrenched elements of Autonomization and Americanisation.
Mutual Misunderstandings seeks to contribute to this debate by questioning the widespread assumptions that permeate it: That there is a clearly delimited ‘Europe’, that this ‘Europe’ is opposed to a bounded ‘Muslim world’, and that conflict is written into the history and present of all interactions between these two supposedly distinct ‘worlds’. And finally, that the media therefore has to reflect this deep-seated enmity in its coverage.
This volume therefore attempts to unpack these highly aggregated, yet ultimately unhelpful categories. It explores the historically and politically contingent ways in which ‘Islam’ has come to be the major frame of reference for debates on Muslims and Europe, and highlights the role of the media in this process.
The collection does so by suggesting a novel geographic scope of inquiry. It looks from Europe to the Muslim world, but also from Muslim majority countries to Europe: From France and Germany to Bosnia Herzegovina, Turkey and Egypt. This choice reflects an intention to decentre the conventional focus on the Arab Middle East and Iran, by considering cases from South East Europe such as Turkey and Bosnia, as well as looking at Egypt, rather than at the more specific but over-reported case of Saudi Arabia.
With this focus, Mutual Misunderstandings provides a fascinating exploration into five very distinct cases of media systems dealing with their respective internal and external others.
Brings together leading voices on Sephardi Jewish history and Turkish studies,
Offers a critical contribution to the debate on the Turkish Republic as a project of modernity.