tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91434469574976677092011-08-03T00:21:02.801+02:00A vision on links between the heartland of the antic world - Turkey and EuropeFrancois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.comBlogger141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-50962475753695435542010-01-24T18:23:00.011+01:002010-03-01T18:10:30.737+01:00

Most europeans think of people placing observance of religion above observance of law as a bad fact. Read more ... However when looking at the details what they mean is that they are disturbed at immigrants of various backgrounds expressing their beliefs which can potentially contradict Western Laws. Were a law of their own country to contradict with their religious faith, few european would

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-4633702959714526862009-11-08T15:41:00.007+01:002009-11-18T15:45:38.876+01:00

The Turkish army has been paradoxically the most respected institution in Turkey while it has been at the heart of most of its problems. Read more ...At the establishment of Turkey (1923), the army was staffed with a foreign-oriented elite speaking fluently English or French. These officers were seeking to belong to European circles and were accompanying the reforms of Ataturk (sometimes called '

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-10429205805163510782009-08-08T20:18:00.006+02:002009-11-11T14:20:40.413+01:00

The troubles with Turkey in facing the world is lying in its own identity. In the end no one really understands what is Turkey. Read more ...While Turkish history is in part starting in the steppes close to the Ural Mountains for a part, another story starts with the first settlements in Anatolia. On one side, if Modern Turks are descendant of Nomadic Turkish Tribes that converted to Islam en

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-67986104181123574912009-03-15T14:26:00.017+01:002010-01-09T00:39:20.074+01:00

So now the entangled Turkey I have described in my last post is set to fight back the economical crisis. The economic leverage Turkey is looking at is lying as much in politics as in macroeconomics.Read more ...Turkey is a country born lonely in the cold of the battlefields. Its ennemies ranged from the western colonial powers to its more immediate neighborhood enraged with the frustration of

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-41276001239359453582008-06-08T15:49:00.011+02:002008-06-08T17:08:34.090+02:00

While there are more and more troubles that Turkey imposes to itself, the lack of progress in major matters is everyday more obvious. Read more ...No possibility to alter constitution because constitutional court doubts on the ruling party's intentions, no possibility to get closer to Europe because of one French politician, no move on Cyprus before the Greeks act, no closing of any chapter on

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-44505336811139565612007-12-09T02:01:00.000+01:002007-12-14T00:54:44.350+01:00

Can Turkey once again act as the brake to the expansion of russian sphere of influence? There is no easy answer to this butRead more ... we can see that the hotspots of active diplomacy more and more threatens turkish renewed interests in its own historical sphere of influence. Promises of better relations with Russia surface in many countries all around Turkey and it is necessary to act before

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-12205016108745524932007-11-15T20:20:00.000+01:002007-12-14T00:50:55.585+01:00

As Turkey integrates in its geopolitical surroundings with a strong hand, it seems to forget its strategy.Read more ...Positive developments on the Kurdish issue, on cooperation with Israel, Syria, Iran or Georgia should not make Turkey bet on making a pause in its accession process. It is exactly the right time to take bold measure to catch up with the pace of reforms that once amazed the EU

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-76005932203813407352007-11-11T23:27:00.001+01:002007-11-16T19:48:56.216+01:00

Turkey has a lot of problems with the words used for labeling political matters linked with the fall of the Ottoman empire.Read more ...First is the use of "Kurdistan" by the terrorists of the PKK organization or also by the Kurdistan Regional Government. This upsets turkish politicians and nationalists since there is no way they may accept that a Turkish Kurdistan exists (like an Iraqi Kurdistan

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-29756425824410182362007-01-31T09:28:00.000+01:002007-11-16T19:47:58.649+01:00

After the murder of Agos editor in chief Hrant Dink, the place has opened for renewed exchanges between Turkey and Armenia. His sound approach to the problems in Turkey wether they are related to his armenian descent or not should be highlighted. He was in no doubt that Read more ... his beloved country was engaged on a much better way for the respect of his thoughts and writings than Armenia

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-8950399624417288492007-01-03T23:32:00.000+01:002007-01-31T09:28:13.895+01:00

(and of course to the one hundred sixty something other countries)Two more countries have joined the EU, adding more than 30 millions people and hundreds of new problems to the already clogged EU enlargement process. Politics are betting on keeping a low profile Read more ...for hiding the risks inherent to this fast integration of a big and poor chunk of the Balkan. More precisely the least

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-9934450026567171332006-12-13T00:27:00.000+01:002007-02-01T10:49:43.483+01:00

On Cyprus, Turkey has learned to move more smoothly across the troubled EU waters. Previously, on the path to EU, when issues were faced by Turkey, the classical situation was an escalation of Read more ...incomprehension, the definition of red lines and the accusation of unfair or unbalanced treatments. Turkey is moving more easily and is getting experienced with the tough process awaiting it.

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-56677633052446508552006-12-02T10:35:00.000+01:002006-12-19T01:30:17.300+01:00

One month ago, the European Commission the core of the European machinery, criticized Turkey for its slowing pace of reforms and ...Read more ...for a change in its will to move forward. The recommendations issued at that time were in order to avoid the 'train crash' between the EU and Turkey, meaning a stop of the harmonization process and of the integration of Turkey in the EU.Under political

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-31406060252743690152006-11-29T02:53:00.000+01:002006-12-19T01:30:45.750+01:00

The position of France on what is considered here as the periphery of Europe, i.e. Ukraine, Turkey and Maghreb is somewhat ...Read more ...a hope of strenghtening a shield from the instabilities of some emerging economies and of political difficulties. The creation of this buffer zone also called privileged partnership or neighborhood politics is merely a hope for an alternative to the structural

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143446957497667709.post-63583156864853785722006-11-27T23:06:00.000+01:002006-12-19T01:40:34.517+01:00

How to resume the core of the strong cultural links that always existed between Turkey and Europe. How to bring a simple picture on the fact that who we are does not necessarily clash with who are the Asia Minor inhabitants. The concept of the turks being the 'Other' is so recent and so vague that it only shows a way forward until a merge of the Black Sea neighboring countries in the European

Francois Bourcierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718067252791833376noreply@blogger.com0