Recent developments in EU-Turkey relations are revealing. The EU-Turkey high level meeting of May 2015 gave the green light for upgrading bilateral trade. Less than six months later, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered a military crackdown on the Kurdish region, causing hundreds of civilian deaths and the destruction of cities, towns and livelihoods. […]
EU-Turkey ‘Agreement’ On Syrian Refugees: An Illegal And Shameful Deal
I used to enjoy researching European integration because the subject struck me as a rich laboratory for distilling evidence on the dark undersides of national governments. I have learned quite a bit about how the governments of my original and adopted countries (Turkey and the UK) defended the ‘national interest’ in Europe. My reading of […]
Turkish Elections Or Political Economy Of State-orchestrated Violence
The results of the snap elections in Turkey have taken everybody by surprise. This is not because observers with a critical eye have failed to read the script. Rather, it is because of the extent to which state-orchestrated fear has proved effective in cajoling the electorate to give the oppressor a mandate to rule in […]