Post - Tutelage Regime and 2002 Revolution

The 1990s were Turkey’s lost years: Terrorist incidents skyrocketed, the number of unsolved murders increased, the Kurdish Question turned into a quagmire, ill-equipped coalition governments jeopardized political and economic stability, polarization between secularists and devout Muslims placed social harmony at peace and the grievances of religious social groups became aggravated. In light of these developments, the military-bureaucratic guardianship regime seized the opportunity to consolidate its power through the postmodern coup of February 28, 1997.

The above-described political, economic and democratic wreckage remained unaltered until the November 2002 parliamentary elections, when Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, which had been established just 15 months prior, won a landslide victory to form a single-party government. The party, which remains undefeated to this day, came to be known as a reformist movement in Turkish politics. The AK Party years thus marked a period of major ruptures and transformation in key issues.

A number of key issues represented the main items on the nation’s agenda during the 13 years of transformation between 2002 and 2015. This book includes several articles engaging the 2002 revolution in chronological and logical order In this sense, the study entitled Turkey and the Crisis of Sykes-Picot Order: From Foreign Relations to Foreign Policy attempts to provide a multi dimensional account of Turkish foreign policy during the thirteen years of AK Party rule.