19-02-2021 – First session: Introduction and COVID-19 in Turkey

Presentation of the course, explanation of work methods and validation modalities

Distribution of oral presentations

Discussion of the politics of COVID-19 in Turkey

26-02-2021 – Second session: Crash course on Turkey

Reading: Bozarslan, Hamit. “Kemalism, Westernization and Anti-Liberalism.” In Turkey Beyond Nationalism: Towards Post-Nationalist Identities, edited by Hans-Lukas Kieser, 28–34. London: I.B.Tauris, 2006.

05-03-2021 – Third session: Birth and development of the AKP

Oral presentation: Is AKP an Islamist party?

Reading: Gülsah Çapan, Zeynep, and Ayşe Zarakol. “Turkey’s Ambivalent Self: Ontological Insecurity in ‘Kemalism’ versus ‘Erdoğanism.’” Cambridge Review of International Affairs 32, no. 3 (May 4, 2019): 263–82.

12-03-2021 – Fourth session: Military coups and Turkish politics

Oral presentation: 2016 military coup attempt

Reading: Esen, Berk, and Sebnem Gumuscu. “Turkey: How the Coup Failed.” Journal of Democracy 28, no. 1 (2017): 59–73.

19-03-2021 – Fifth session: Turkey’s road to presidentialism

Oral presentation: 2017 constitutional referendum

Oral presentation: Presidential regime a la turca?

Reading: Ertekin, Orhan Gazi. “The Rise of Caesarism, or Erdoğan’s Way.” South Atlantic Quarterly 118, no. 1 (January 1, 2019): 61–80. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-7281600.

26-03-2021 – Sixth session: New political parties

Oral presentation: The Good Party (Iyi Parti)

Reading: Celep, Ödül. “How Can Akşener’s İyi Parti Contribute to Turkey’s Democracy?” Turkish Policy Quarterly 16, no. 4 (2018): 109–18.

02-04-2021 – Seventh session: Media, censorship and freedom of expression

Oral presentation: The Cumhuriyet trial

Oral presentation: The closure of Zaman and Özgür Gündem newspapers

Reading: The Ahmet Altan case, online: https://www.expressioninterrupted.com/ahmet-altan/

09-04-2021 – Eighth session: Kurdish movement in Turkey

Oral presentation: Co-chairing system (eşbaşkanlık)

Reading: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Report on the Human Rights Situation in South-East Turkey, July 2015 to December 2016.” Report. Geneva: United Nations, February 2017.

16-04-2021 – Ninth session: Women in politics

Oral presentation: Did AKP open the door to politics for women?

Reading: Yaraş, Sezen. “The Making of the ‘New’ Patriarch in Women’s Self-Narrations of Political Empowerment: The Case of Local Female AKP Politicians in the Aftermath of 2009 Elections.” Turkish Studies 20, no. 2 (March 15, 2019): 273–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2018.1543026.

23-04-2021 – Tenth session: Social movements from 1968 to Gezi

Oral presentation: The Gezi trial

Reading: Bee, Cristiano, and Stavroula Chrona. “Youth Activists and Occupygezi: Patterns of Social Change in Public Policy and in Civic and Political Activism in Turkey.” Turkish Studies 18, no. 1 (January 2, 2017): 157–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2016.1271722

30-04-2021 – Eleventh session: The Midterm Exam

Open book format

Online

07-05-2021 – Twelfth session: Turkey in the EU & Turkey in the world

Oral presentation: The balance sheet of Trump-Erdoğan relations

Reading: Yilmaz, Gözde. “From Europeanization to De-Europeanization: The Europeanization Process of Turkey in 1999–2014.” Journal of Contemporary European Studies 24, no. 1 (January 2, 2016): 86–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2015.1038226.

14-05-2021 – Thirteenth session: General discussion & Concluding remarks

General discussion: key elements from the course