Turkey “between East and West”

منو

" Turkey “between East and West” "
Heper, Metin

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	899295
Doc. No	:	LA7vg0d9tk
Title & Author	:	Turkey “between East and West” [Article]\ Heper, Metin
Date	:	2004
Title of Periodical	:	UC Berkeley
Abstract	:	Metin Heper discusses the formation of Turkey’s identity, which came to encompass both an "Eastern" and a "Western" (or European) dimension. Against this background, Heper discusses three main issues within the politics of Turkey that have remained problematic from the perspective of the EU: Islam in politics, nationalism and the consideration of Turkey’s ethnic minorities, and the political role of the military. Based on the "identity history" of Turkey, Heper puts forward some suggestions about how the alleged divide between East and West, and Islam and Europe, may be bridged. The paper concludes by exploring the possibility that an intellectual departure from the concept of a "shared civilization" towards the idea of "sharing a civilization" may contribute to the construction of a Euro-Mediterranean region.