This article examines the socio-economic background of the parliamentary deputies serving during the years of the national struggle (1920–1922) and the single-party era (1923–1946) and provides new statistical data collated from recently published, detailed biographical information. I will provide a critical analysis of the socio-economic background of the deputies elected to represent the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey and offer localism—defined as being born in the and from the constituency one represents—as a key concept to allow a better understanding of the nature of the electoral process at that time. Although localism—which can be regarded as one of the important indicators of authentic representation—was extensive during the years of the national struggle, it was replaced by bureaucratic representation during the single-party era, especially starting with the 1927 elections held right after the Sheikh Sait Rebellion. The article relates the Kurdish rebellions to the problem of representation in parliament and shows that in the rebellions' aftermath the number of the local representatives rapidly decreased. It further documents that, with the introduction of multi-party politics and democratic, free, competitive elections after the World War II, a return to localism can be observed for the eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey.

The rapid industrial growth accompanied by even more rapid export growth of such Far East economies as South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan has drawn due attention from students of economic development. Economists with a Neo-classical ideological stance, favoring a perfectly free market economy, tend to attribute the industrial growth of these LDCs to the phenomenal increase in their exports. They argue that export expansion will be conducive to growth and the problems that might arise on the way will be taken care of by market forces. They identify the export sector of the economy as the “leading sector” and label the growth strategy patterned after this model as “export-oriented growth.” Over the last decade this growth strategy has been effectively “recommended” to a large number of LDCs facing debt servicing difficulties.

The past to which a society refers in search of clues for self-identification and confirmation for its hopes and aspirations is not an objective reality. It is a myth that can be defined as “a (preferably narrative) reference to the past in order to shed light from there on present and future” (Assmann 1997, p. 78). However, the function of myth is not generally to legitimize the present order or to continue it into the future. It may also work as a counter-principle of the present, contrasting it with a better past and betraying the experience of a fundamental deficiency in present society. Assmann thus distinguishes several functions of the myth collectively termed mythomotoric: It can either serve the present (präsentisch, fundierend) or criticize it (kontrapräsentisch, in its extreme forms revolutionary) (Assmann 1997, pp. 80-86).

Many specialists in comparative farming systems and agrarian social structures have recognized in recent decades the resilience and vitality of non-capitalistic family farming (Harriss, 1982; Shanin, 1987). For Turkey, both the general characteristics and many regional variations were well established by Aresvik (1975). Recent work by Çağlar Keyder (1983) has traced the genesis of modern Turkish rural society back to the Ottoman period and outlined the different trajectories that particular types of community may undergo, utilizing an explanatory framework grounded in political economy. The main thrust of Keyder's argument is that the free peasantry which played an important role throughout Anatolian history has been emphatically consolidated in the Republican period. In particular, the dramatic changes of the 1950s ushered in an era of petty commodity producer domination.

In this paper I will discuss the options of political identity the Lebanese have at their disposal against the background of the German experience. Germany and Lebanon, states at first glance completely different from each other, show some similarity in their historical experience. In the context of this comparison I will discuss constitutional patriotism, a political concept in circulation in Germany over the last fifteen years or so, and its potential application in the Lebanese case. Constitutional patriotism, unlike many other concepts originating in the West, has yet not entered the political vocabulary of the Middle East. The debate on democracy and the civil society is widespread in the whole of the Middle East, including Lebanon. Lebanon's political culture, polity and national identity, however, show some peculiar traits that might justify the introduction of the term constitutional patriotism into the Lebanese political debate.

For governments in power during periods of war, securing the food supply of the urban areas and the military has been one of the most important economic problems. The expansion of the armed forces and the necessity to feed them better inevitably leads to increases in the demand for foodstuffs. In the more developed economies, the more mechanized and more flexible agricultural sectors have often been capable of responding to increased demand. The pressures of an emergency situation, however, have a much more severe impact on the agrarian structures in an underdeveloped economy, often leading to decreases in the levels of production. Under these circumstances, the food supply policies of the governments will have far-reaching implications for different strata of the peasantry and for the urban classes.

On 17 August 2000, the somber first anniversary of the Marmara earthquake, the mainstream Turkish media found a sole reason for celebration. Alongside lengthy reports of vigils in remembrance of the dead and protests of the state's anemic relief efforts, the media celebrated its partnership with civil society and all but declared an end to a state that was at once heavy-handed and ineffectual. Amplifying this theme, an article that compiled a list of the earthquake's “winners” and “losers” placed the media and civil society in the former category and a host of state agencies charged with disaster response in the latter one. Hürriyet, a high-circulation mainstream newspaper, described this praise as well deserved, stating that journalists had effectively “exposed all the naked truths” of the state's inability to provide for its population.

Where does Turkey’s performance in the health dimension of the Preston Curve stand with regard to comparable countries on the development ladder? When one observes the chronological progression of health and wealth values embedded in the Preston Curve for developing countries, one sees a near monotonic increase across the board, with only a very small number of downwardly mobile countries. In the face of this near-universal increase in health and wealth values, it is necessary to adopt a more comparative perspective in order to situate the Turkish state’s choices and performance within the general story playing out for developing countries in the second half of the 20th century. Utilizing just such a comparative framework, this article uses China’s experience between 1960 and 2010 as an alternative through which to understand Turkey’s development experience.

The Free Republican Party (FRP; Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası), founded and dissolved in 1930, represented the second attempt to transition to a multi-party system in Turkey, following the formation of the Progressive Republican Party (Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkası) in 1924. In contrast to the oppositional establishment of the latter, the FRP seemed to be a state-originated project whose establishment was decided upon by the elites of the day, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Its representation in contemporary cartoons is deemed important today given the political cartoon’s ability to simplify complex political messages into understandable symbols and metaphors and to address or reach those who may not be literate. Taking into account the social structure of society during this period, this aspect of the reach of cartoons becomes particularly important. Political cartoons’ ability to both support the text in a newspaper and penetrate historical memory through stereotypes is also significant in terms of the representation of personalities and events. This article will attempt to analyze the formation of the FRP and the depiction of its elites through newspaper cartoons. Three prominent and pro-Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) newspapers of this period—namely Cumhuriyet, Milliyet, and Vakit—will provide the material for the content and thematic analysis of the study.

Present-day Iskenderun (Alexandrette) is a purely modern city. Throughout the pre-Tanzimat period, settlement in this locality was insignificant, and the name of Iskenderun denoted a landing stage (iskele), rather than a town or city. When the traveller Evliya Çelebi passed through Iskenderun in the middle of the seventeenth century, he noted the fact that there was no business district or even shop-lined street, no khan and no public bath (Evliya Çelebi, 1314/1896-97 to 1938, Vol. 3, pp. 46-47; Vol. 9, p. 367 ff.). Moreover, since the few inhabitants were all non-Muslims, there was no mosque, but Evliya did not notice any churches either. Thus seventeenth-century Iskenderun belonged to a very specific category of settlement found in other parts of the Ottoman Empire as well as in medieval northern Europe or seventeenth-century Mexico: very few people lived there permanently, but during the seasonal arrival of ships, the settlements came to life, only to empty again during the “dead season.” In the present study, we will attempt to sketch the commercial activity that went on in Iskenderun during the second half of the seventeenth century and explain why the place, in spite of an advantageous geographical location, did not develop into a town.

In Turkey there is currently a widespread public desire to narrow the extent to which parliamentarians are immune from the law. That desire is largely motivated by the perception that political corruption is widespread and that parliamentary immunity only serves to obstruct the fight against it. As a result, a number of political parties have based their electoral platforms on the promise to limit the scope of parliamentary immunity once in office. As of yet, none have carried through their promise and this has only served to reinforce the public view that parliamentarians see their immunity as a personal privilege. Irrespective of the merits of that charge, there is a genuine concern that confronts Turkish deputies, which means that they will be less likely to limit the immunity once elected. Their concern is that current law does not adequately protect civil and political liberties and that the judiciary is not yet sufficiently evenhanded in its treatment of political cases. In effect, the fight against political corruption has been frustrated in part because of the risk to free speech that exposure to the law might entail.

Est-ce donc vers le passé qu'il regardait, plutôt que vers l'avenir? Il n'est pas facile de trancher. Après tout, l'avenir est fait de nos nostalgies, de quoi d'autre?

Cet âge où les hommes de toutes origines vivaient côte à côte dans les Echelles du Levant et mélangeaient leurs langues, est-ce une réminiscence d'autrefois? est-ce une préfiguration de l'avenir? Ceux qui demeurent attachés à ce rêve sont-ils des passéistes ou bien des visionnaires? Je serais incapable de répondre. Mais c'est en cela que mon père croyait. En un monde couleur sépia oû un Turc et un Arménien pouvaient encore être frères.

Maalouf 1996, p. 49