Democratization Discussed at the School of Politics!

In the fourth week of the School of Politics program, organized for the eighth time this year by the Bahçeşehir University School of Government and Leadership, the topics of Türkiye-EU Relations, Perceptions and Realities in Foreign Policy, the Perception of Nationalism in the 21st Century, Democracy and Foreign Trade, and Democratization or Authoritarianism were addressed with the participation of Anadolu University Faculty of Economics Dean Prof. Dr. Sadık Rıdvan Karluk, Istanbul Member of Parliament Umut Oran, Nationalist Movement Party Deputy Group Chair Dr. Oktay Vural, Istanbul Member of Parliament Metin Külünk and Istanbul University faculty member Prof. Dr. Mehmet Altan.

Highlights from the program are as follows:

Prof. Dr. Sadık Rıdvan Karluk
"Economic integration with the Turkic Republics was previously attempted through a payment system and by establishing a bank, but it was not successful; therefore, no alternative to the EU can emerge from there. The EU is an integration project. Cooperation projects such as BSEC have been implemented in other regions, but an integration process like the EU cannot be created."

Umut Oran
"It is very important that perceptions and realities overlap. Americans think that perception is reality because they believe people act according to perceptions. The data that create perceptions, however, can change. In this respect, the media is a weapon of mass persuasion. That is why the media must be independent; if the media comes under influence, it has the power to persuade entire masses."

Dr. Oktay Vural
"Nationalism is an idea; where there is a nation, there is nationalism. Seen from this perspective, nationalism means keeping the idea of the nation alive and, within this framework, understanding international orders and developing solutions in line with interests. We do not interpret nationalism on an ethnic basis. We define nationalism in terms of pleasure, benefit, common culture and common interest."

Metin Külünk
"When you look at the top 20 and bottom 20 countries in terms of national income in the world, you will see the relationship between freedom and democracy and exports, imports and foreign trade. There is also a strong relationship between exports and the development of a country's prosperity. The relationship between economy-trade and democracy is directly proportional. A functioning democracy increases trade. Trade, in turn, consolidates democracy. Whenever Türkiye has received a small share of the world economic system, look at the state of democracy in terms of freedoms in that period."

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Altan
"Türkiye is normalizing sociologically within itself, and military tutelage is being exposed, but it stops there. The individual still cannot come to the fore, politics still cannot democratize, and those who govern still come first. Yes, we cannot deny that progress has been made, but compared with the world we are still behind because the regime cannot transform. Taking over the 12 September Constitution is not democratization, and the biggest example of this is the Political Parties Law. Politics means carrying the masses into the present age, and this is not possible as long as this law remains; the current political structure needs to change."