by Gareth Jenkins (vol. 6 no. 13 of the Turkey Analyst)

On July 3, 2013, it was announced that the First Administrative Court in Istanbul had cancelled the Taksim Square and Gezi Park redevelopment project that had triggered the unprecedented anti-government protests that have been sweeping Turkey since late May. The verdict has still to be ratified by the higher court known as the Danıştay, or Council of State. Whatever the Danıştay’s decision, there can be little doubt that the protests have already permanently changed the Turkish political landscape. 

by John Daly (vol. 6 no. 13 of the Turkey Analyst)

Iran is now subject to three differing sets of sanctions – the U.S., the European Union and the United Nations. The sanctions have caught the Turkish government in an awkward position, as imported energy is critical to sustaining the country’s soaring economy and left Ankara scrambling for alternatives. Iran currently provides 44 percent of Turkey’s oil imports and Turkey is Iran’s biggest natural gas customer.

by Svante E. Cornell (vol. 6, no. 12 of the Turkey Analyst)

The popular upheavals in Turkey, and the harsh government crackdown on them, have reshuffled the power struggle that was already ongoing within Turkey’s Islamic conservative movement. Prime Minister Erdoğan’s ambitions to remake Turkey into a presidential republic have been dashed for the foreseeable future. While he remains the undisputed leader of both the country and the movement, none of the options facing him are particularly appealing. Taksim may well mark the beginning of the end of Erdoğan’s single-handed domination of Turkish politics.