Insight Turkey Annual Conference

“DEBATING NEW TURKEY”
Panel I: Turkish Politics: Quo Vadis? 
Panel II: Turkey’s New Regional Activism
Panel III: Turkish-American Partnership
Date: December 3, 2010

Venue: Washington, D.C. 
 

Insight Turkey Annual Conference: “Debating New Turkey”

When Friday December 3, 2010 from 9:45 AM to 5:00 PM EST

Where Dolley Madison Ballroom,The Madison, A Loews Hotel 1177 15th Street NW Washington, DC 20005-2701

Download conference report

Conference Program

9:45-10:00 – Registration

10:00-10:15 – Introductory Remarks

Ihsan Dagi (Insight Turkey)

Nuh Yilmaz (SETA DC)

10:15-12:00 – Panel I: Turkish Politics: Quo Vadis?

Moderator:

David Cuthell (Institute of Turkish Studies)

Speakers:

Levent Koker (Atilim University), “Why Turkey Needs a New Constitution”

Taha Ozhan (SETA Foundation), “Democratic Opening”

Dilek Cindoglu (Columbia University), “Women and Secularism: the Headscarf Ban in Turkey”

Ersel Aydinli (Bilkent University) , “Transformation of Civil-Military Relations in Turkey”

12:00 – 1:30 – Lunch Break

1:30 – 3:15 – Panel II: Turkey’s New Regional Activism

Moderator:

Kadir Ustun (SETA DC) Speakers:

Ibrahim Kalin (Chief Advisor to Prime Minister of Turkey), “Recent Developments in Turkish Foreign Policy: An Assessment”

Amb. Hajrudin Somun (Philip Noel-Baker International University), “The Balkan Interpretations of Turkish Regional Policy”

Trita Parsi (National Iranian American Council), “Turkey-Iran Relations post-Tehran Declaration”

Amjad Atallah (New America Foundation), “Turkey and the Middle East Vacuum”

3:15 – 3:30 – Coffee Break

3:30 – 5:00 – Panel III: Turkish-American Partnership

Moderator:

Saban Kardas (TOBB University)

Speakers:

Nuh Yilmaz (Director, SETA DC), “From Strategic to Model Partnership”

Omer Taspinar (Brookings Institution), “A Transactional Partnership?”

Stephen Larrabee (RAND Corporation), “A Troubled Partnership in Deeper Trouble?”

 
Opening Remarks
Ihsan Dagi, the Editor-in-Chief of Insight Turkey, emphasized the sense of novelty one feels about Turkey today. The “old Turkey”, he noted, was one “based on a notion of superiority of the state over the society.” The “new Turkey”, however, is one that is self-confident with a “yes, we can” attitude. Identifying the September 12^th, 2010 constitutional referendum as a turning point, Dagi said that the main difference between the “old” and “new” Turkey was the fact that democracy is becoming firmly established in an “irreversible” manner. Defining his vision of the “new Turkey” as a “post-Kemalist republic” based on virtues of “democracy, open society and market economy”, Dagi welcomed all conference participants by inviting them to the debate on the “New Turkey”.
 
Panel I: Turkish Politics: Quo Vadis?
Levent Koker, in his talk “Constitutional Referendum Debates in Turkey,” outlined the reasons why Turkey needs a new constitution. Emphasizing the undemocratic nature of the Preamble to the current Turkish constitution, Koker likened authoritarian tendencies and political party bans in Turkey