This course presents and analyzes the political and social organization of modern Turkey on the basis of the following "axes": Society, Culture, Internal Affairs, Foreign Policy, Religion: Position and Role in Modern Turkey, Economy. (Note: the list of topics is indicative and may include the discussion of current affair issues).

The participants are expected to develop: ability of analysis of the most important political events in the history of the Turkish Republic, ability of understanding, commenting and analysis of the basic elements and the way of operation mode of political life and the ideologies, generally, in Turkey, the ability of recognition of the ideological characteristics that are projected in election campaign, ability to explain the reasons, the procedures of appearance of the big cities and their results, ability to discuss and commenting regarding the dominance or the non-dominance of the media in the political life of Turkey and finally the ability of understanding the daily routine in Turkish society. Moreover, the students are expected to develop an ability of detecting, commenting and discussing the elements that define “identity”, the “Other” and the social “divisions” and also the ability of understanding the various ideologies. So, the students could discover and evaluate new cultures when they get in contact with them.

Syllabus: 

Week 1:

Presentation of the Turkish Republic (the period covering its establishment until today)

Week 2:

SOCIETY (Urbanization, Societal structure and trends, the issue of “identity”, social classes) I

Week 3:

SOCIETY (Urbanization, Societal structure and trends, the issue of “identity”, social classes) II

Week 4:

CULTURE (Cinema, Media, Civil Society)

Week 5:

INTERNAL AFFAIRS (Ethnic issues, Military and Politics, the “New Turkey”, The AKP governance, Political parties, The “Gezi Park”incident) I

Week 6:

INTERNAL AFFAIRS (Ethnic issues, Military and Politics, the “New Turkey”, The AKP governance, Political parties, The “Gezi Park”incident) II

Week 7:

INTERNAL AFFAIRS (Ethnic issues, Military and Politics, the “New Turkey”, The AKP governance, Political parties, The “Gezi Park”incident) III

Week 8:

INTERNAL AFFAIRS (Ethnic issues, Military and Politics, the “New Turkey”, The AKP governance, Political parties, The “Gezi Park”incident) IV

Week 9:

RELIGION: ITS PLACE AND ROLE IN MODERN TURKEY

Week 10:

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Week 11:

ECONOMY  

Week 12:

Video(s) covering issues presented, discussion

Week 13:

Video(s) covering issues presented, discussion

• Abrams, Philip. (1988). ‘Notes on the Difficulty of Studying the State’. Journal of Historical Sociology, 1(1): 58–89.
• Ahmad, Feroz. (1988). (1993). The Making of Modern Turkey. London: Routledge.
• Aktürk, Şener. (2015). ‘Religion and Nationalism: Contradictions of Islamic Origins and Secular Nation-Building in Turkey, Algeria, and Pakistan’. Social Science Quarterly, 96(3): 778–806.
• Bardakoğlu, Ali. (2008). ‘The Structure, Mission and Social Function of the Presidency of Religious Affairs’. The Muslim World, 98(2–3): 173–181.
• Bourdieu, Pierre. (1994). ‘Rethinking the State: Genesis and Structure of the Bureaucratic Field’. Sociological Theory, 12(1): 1–18.
• Buğra, Ayşe and Savaşkan, Osman. (2012). ‘Politics and Class: The Turkish Business Environment in the Neoliberal Age.’ New Perspectives on Turkey, 46: 27–63.
• Göle, Nilüfer. (1997). ‘Secularism and Islamism in Turkey: The Making of Elitesand Counter Elites in Turkey’. Middle East Journal, 51(1): 46–58.
• Gürsel, Kadri. (18 November 2013). ‘AKP, Gulen Community in Open War’. Al-Monitor
• Kuru, Ahmet T. (December 2017). ‘Islam and Democracy in Turkey: Analyzing the Failure’. The Montréal Review. themontrealreview.com/2009/Islam-And-Democracy-In-Turkey.php
• Özkan, Behlül. (7 December 2016). ‘The Failure of a Neo-Ottoman Foreign Policy’. New York Times. nytimes.com/2016/12/07/opinion/turkey-ottoman-foreign-policy-iraq-syria-failing.html
• Taşkın, Yüksel. (2008). ‘AKP’s Move to “Conquer” the Center-Right: Its Prospects and Possible Impacts on the Democratization Process’. Turkish Studies, 9(1): 53–72.
• Toprak, Binnaz. (2005). ‘Islam and Democracy in Turkey’. Turkish Studies, 6(2): 167–186.
• Zürcher, Erik J. (2004). Turkey: A Modern History. London: I. B. Tauris.
• Μιχαλακόπουλος, Γ. (2012). Κάτω από την ίσαλο γραμμή-Προσεγγίζοντας την Τουρκία που αγνοούμε. Αθήνα: Οσελότος.
• Μούδουρος, Ν. (2012). Ο Μετασχηματισμός της Τουρκίας. Αθήνα: Αλεξάνδρεια.

Face to Face/ Visual material, professor’s notes. The course comprises of a combination of lectures – presentation of audiovisual material – discussion and comment on this material. Specific material (opencourses lectures) is provided to students regarding the lectures for further research and analysis.

The use of new technologies is focused on the presentation of powerpoints, videos and interviews relevant to the material taught.

The course is examined, mainly, through written examination -without excluding the oral examination or the writing of project, if required by the circumstances- that regard the promotion of a component type text on the basis of questions that include specific elements given to them. It is constantly referred in the lectures, the discussion and studying of the curriculum, that it is expected by the students to develop a first level of critical ability.