By Halil Magnus Karaveli (vol. 1, no. 13 of the Turkey Analyst)

On September 12, 1980, the Turkish military staged a coup that was to have wide-ranging consequences. That date is indeed the defining point of recent Turkish history. The repercussions of the 1980 coup still reverberate. The dynamics of Turkish politics - the moderate Islamists assumption of power, the depreciation of secularism by the liberal intelligentsia and its alignment with Islamic conservatism - can only be properly grasped against the backdrop of what the generals accomplished during their dictatorship in the 1980s.

By M. K. Kaya and Svante E. Cornell (vol. 1, no. 12 of the Turkey Analyst)

Like most other states, Turkey was hard pressed to respond to the war in Georgia. For Turkey, the war threatened its position in the Caucasus, as well as its long-term objective of becoming a hub of European energy transportation. Prime Minister Erdogan chose to moment in order to promote a form of Caucasian alliance - a well-intentioned but somewhat surreal proposal in the middle of a raging war. The crisis exposed the government's lack of attention to the Caucasus, and the need for a serious rethink of Turkey's role there

By Halil Magnus Karaveli (vol. 1, no. 12 of the Turkey Analyst)

The conclusion of Turkey’s regime crisis calls for a revisal of the conventional way of interpreting Turkish political dynamics. Turkey has moved from confrontation over the nature of the regime to a systemic reconciliation in the making. Significantly, the split between the moderate Islamists and the military is about to be bridged. That should make it less difficult for observers in the West to discern and appreciate the reality of civilian secularism in Turkey.