TURKEY AND EUROPE: LOOKING TO THE FUTURE FROM A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE by Ismail CEM

An ongoing process of interaction with the West and the East has moulded Turkish history. As a country and people, we are at the crossroads of civilisations, religions and trade. Therefore, the external environment and its dynamics, and interaction with Europe – sometimes confrontational, sometimes harmonious – are among the decisive factors in our historical development. Thus, the Ottoman Turkish presence in Europe during the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries brought forward new ideals and new patterns of social relationships, introducing human values and a highly egalitarian, efficient and sophisticated organisation in an era when feudalism, a lack of tolerance and exploitation of the people prevailed.

TURKEY IN THE ENLARGEMENT PROCESS:  FROM LUXEMBOURG TO HELSINKI * by Atila ERALP

Turkey's application to the European Community in April 1987 for full membership and the response of the Community triggered a reassessment of Turkey's Europeanness both in Europe and Turkey and resulted in the rise of anti-European feelings in Turkey.1 The changes in the post-Cold War climate and the decisions of the Luxembourg Summit of the Union reinforced this tendency. In this climate, the issue of Turkey's full membership became a contentious one in the present enlargement process of the Union. This paper argues, however, that this problematic situation was neither to the advantage of the European Union nor to Turkey. 

A EUROPE FOR ALL by Esra ÇAYHAN

"The quest for peace and prosperity has been the driving force of European integration. In fifty years we have come a long way towards these goals. We live in a Union where citizens and businesses can freely move and settle regardless of national borders. People from all walks of life benefit from the Single Market, Economic and Monetary Union and common policies fostering competitiveness and social inclusion.  

TURKEY'S INTEGRATION WITH EUROPE: INITIAL PHASES RECONSIDERED by Saban ÇALIS

It is an established fact that the turning point in Turkey's integration with the West is the declaration of the Truman Doctrine. However, we should note that despite this well-known fact, many people overlook the operational meaning of the Truman Doctrine and the events following it in terms of Turkey's integration process with the West in general and with Europe in particular.

THE LAW OF INTERNATIONAL WATER COURSES AND THE MIDDLE EAST by Yüksel INAN

Due to the rising population and its growing needs, the demand for water is inevitably increasing, not arithmetically but geometrically. While new technological innovations improve our ability to meet the new demands on water resources, it also plays an important role in increasing the need for water for production and creates new and additional problems for people and for the environment, e.g. sea pollution.

CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES IN MIDDLE EASTERN CONFLICTS:AN EGYPTIAN PERSPECTIVE by Mohammed El- Sayed SELIM

The concepts of Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) and their variants, Confidence and Security-Building Measures (CSBMs) have been increasingly suggested in the post-Cold War era as the main mechanisms of conflict resolution and peace building, not only in the Middle East, but also in virtually all regions. 

DOES ISLAM POSE A THREAT TO THE WEST? by Yüksel SEZGIN

Few if any issues in international relations have generated as much myth as that of the alleged ‘Islamic Threat'. Since the late 1970s, and more particularly, since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the issue of Islam and of its supposed challenge to the West has become a matter of enduring international preoccupation and one which politicians within Western European states, as well as a number of Islamic leaders, have chosen to highlight. 

THE CYPRUS QUESTION A Concise Guide to the History Politics and Law of the Cyprus Question by Seymen ATASOY

Michael Stephen's The Cyprus Question is a rigorously documented and comprehensive survey of the historical, legal, political, economic and cultural aspects of the Cyprus problem. The study convincingly demonstrates that the world community generally perceives the Cyprus issue in a strongly biased fashion, which clearly favours the Greek side while doing serious injustice to the Turkish one. 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN A CHANGING WORLD:  A NEW DIPLOMACY? by Edward FINN

The revolutionary power of technology to change reality forces us to re-examine our understanding of the international political system. On a fundamental level, we must begin with the classic international relations debate between realism and liberalism, well summarised by Stephen Walt.1 The third paradigm of constructivism provides the key for combining aspects of both liberalism and realism into a cohesive prediction for the political future.

THE NEW SILK ROAD: A GEORGIAN PERSPECTIVE by Archil GEGESHIDZE

Today, the discussion on building new relationships between the East and West has become increasingly intense. In the literature of political science, East and West have once more assumed geographical connotations, unlike the times of the Cold War, when, with the exception of school textbooks, they had political meaning and were identified with the two competing blocs in the world order.

THE SEVEN SINS OF GLOBALISATION: A PERSPECTIVE FROM SMALL DEVELOPING STATES by Petru DUMITRIU

In the extensive debate on the concept of globalisation, one can hardly describe the views of small states as positive. The few most optimistic of them can, at best, acknowledge the opportunities globalisation offers to the majority of countries in the world. However, most small states believe that the boot is on the other foot and that globalisation is a new name for the old game of all-encompassing domination by the developed countries.

THE ENLARGEMENT PROCESS: SHAPING A NEW EUROPE by Günter VERHEUGEN

For Europe, enlargement is a political imperative and part of our European vocation. Just ten years ago, the Berlin wall came down and Communist regimes collapsed shortly after. The division of Europe has always been artificial. The failure of the liberal revolutions in the nineteenth century, the devastating wars Europe has witnessed in the twentieth century and the Communist regimes created two separate Europes, which we must now unite.