Symposium/Conference

International Symposium of July 15, The Insurgency for Democracy: Turkey and The Coups in the Middle East

Societies of Middle East were scattered across the region as the Ottoman Empire came to an end. Although they had become independent nation states in the aftermath of World War II, the scattered borders remained. In order to ensure that structure, the State of Israel was founded in the heart of the Middle East. Hence, coup d’etats have prevailed with no transition to democracy in order to sustain the economic and political dependency on Western states. Even the kingdoms in Middle East were unable to alleviate this dependency. Along with the wave of democracy in the last quarter of 2010, the autocratic regimes were overthrown by the public. Nevertheless, the influence of the public has been repressed simultaneously from domestic actors, those in favor of maintaining the status-quo, and several coups supported by a cluster of states against democracy in the region.

Military coup d’etats in Turkey have been an instrument of international dependency and tutelage in Middle East and disrupted the experience of democracy several times. As the Turkish military’s memorandum was denied by the civilian government in 2007 and the coups d’eats in Turkey have come to an end, Turkey was able to alleviate military tutelage after Turkish society had repelled the last attempt on July 15.

In order to address this remarkable achievement of Turkey in democracy in a comparative approach to the coup d’etats in the Middle East, a symposium will be held by Istanbul University and the ORSAM-Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

PROGRAM

Opening (11:00-11:30)

  • Greeting: Prof. Dr. Mahmut Ak (Istanbul University, Rector)
  • Opening Speech (11:00-11:30): Prof. Dr. Emrullah İşler (Member of Parliament (Ankara) and Secretary of the Prime Minister of the 61st Government)

First Session (11:30-13:00): Turkey and the Coup d’Etats in Middle East

  • Chair: Prof. Dr. Ahmet Uysal, Professor of IU Faculty of Political Sciences and Director of ORSAM- Center for Middle Eastern Studies
  • The Coup in Egypt, Dr. Ayman Nour (Al-Ghad Party)
  • Yemen: Multiple Coups Amidst the Intervention of Gulf, Atik Carullah (El-Fikr Center)
  • The Coup in Sudan, Serhat Orakçı (INSAMER)
  • The Semi-Coup in Libya: Gen. Yusuf El-Mengush (Former Chief of Staff)

Second Session (14:00-16:30): July 15, The Coup Attempt from a Theoretical Perspective

  • Chair: Prof. Dr. Haluk Alkan (IU, Dean of the Faculty of Economics)
  • July 15 From a Standpoint of Military Coup Tradition in Turkey, Dr. Murat Yılmaz (Presidency of Republic of Turkey, Board of Social Policies)
  • July 15 in the Context of International Relations, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Şahin (Police Academy),
  • FETO in the Context of Religion: Prof. Dr. Mürteza Bedir (Istanbul University)
  • A Sociological Analysis of July 15, Prof. Dr. İsmail Coşkun (Istanbul University)


Date: July 16, 2019
Time: 11:00 – 16:30
Venue: Istanbul University Rectorate, Ph.D. Hall

For registration please click here.