Directions of Turkey after 2011 Elections

In his speech on Directions of Turkey after 2011 Elections, Dr. Omer Taspinar mainly focused on the recent elections held in Turkey which gave a result of the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) victory by nearly %50. After giving a brief summary of the general elections in 2002, 2007 and 2011, in which AKP gained victory, Dr. Taspinar divided his speech into two separate parts concerning the newly elected Turkish government’s expected challenges. The first part of his speech was under domestic challenges and foreignchallenges. The main points he highlighted related to the domestic challenges were about the brand new Constitution that is expected to be more civil compared to the 1980 Constitution under military’s influence. Dr. Taspinar underlined that the brand new Constitution is not only good for an improved Turkish democracy but also for accessing European Union membership. The second domestic challenge Dr. Taspinar highlighted was the Kurdish question where he noted that the Kurds do not want to be Turkish citizens but the citizens of Turkey. In the foreign challenges, he pointed out the recent Arab Spring in the Middle East and Turkey’s role in the region. The recent developments in Syria regarding the refugees passing the borders of Turkey was another topic he talked about which he believes will be another challenge to Turkey’s foreign policy. In regard to Turkish American relations, Dr. Taspinar underlined the normalization of the relations on the Armenian-Turkish issue. Israel was a topic he touched upon under foreign policy challenges where he believed Israel and Turley seem no longer strategic partners by referring to the Gaza operation, Davos incidence, and the flotilla crises between Turkey and Israel.Dr. Taspinar’s speech was concluded by a question & answer session where he was mostly asked questions pertaining to Kurdish issues and the new Constitution.