CAUCASUS ACADEMY OF SECURITY EXPERTS E-LIBRARYDemocratization in Turkey Maia Manchkhashvili Student at the CAUCASUS ACADEMY OF SECURITY EXPERTS About this document This paper relies on personal opinions and publicly available documents. Author of this document is not liable for any kind of utilization of this document. All rights reserved/ Copying, dissemination, selling or any other unauthorized activity regarding this document or the part of it is strictly prohibited without of permit of the Caucasus Academy of Security Experts. http://www.globalcase.org Democratization in Turkey Abstract: The present work reviews the most important stages of legislation transition to the democratic principles in the Republic of Turkey; Taking of similar measures on the way of democratization of the country presents a foundation for building of European-type democratic state. For full and relatively complete illustration, as well as better understanding of the picture, we have discussed important moments from the history of constitutionalism; EU membership is one of the priorities of the foreign policy of Republic of Turkey. The country takes all measures for successful implementation of this policy. The present work shows the main achievements and the problems arisen while these processes; We have relatively briefly reviewed an interesting point of Turkish state, such as military theme and Islamic factor; though much more research is needed to be done in this direction; therefore we do not claim for perfection in this regard. The most important thing is that it has been a long time since the process of democratization in the country had irreversible character and the number of consequences are already evident. Keywords: Turkey, legislation, the Constitution, democratization, human rights, Europeanization; Introduction: Any country, deciding to reach a high level of democratic development, needs to carry out reforms in the frames of steady political will and dynamics of governmental leadership; The state development course of the country of Islamic culture has been directed westwards by the decision of the founder of the Republic of Turkey and the way of Europeanization has been declared to be unchangeable principle of the foreign policy; In the process of Europeanization and democratization of the country Turkey was made to overcome various internal and foreign problems and challenges. Almost complete reform of the legal sphere had been started; the amendments were made to the supreme law of the country – the Constitution, many articles of which were always severely criticized by European experts; the amendments were made to the court, mass-media, education, militants and etc; These processes became particularly active from the nineties of the twentieth century; In this regard one of the first “package of democratic reforms” was presented to the legislative body of the country by the leader of the coalition, the Premier Tansu Ciller. The commenced course of reforms was successfully continued in the period of A.N. Sezer being the Head of the Constitutional Court and R.T Erdogan being the Prime Miniter of the country, when not just scaling packages of amendments were made to the legislative body, but even the referendum was held 2 in the country in 2010, which is an expression of democracy and biggest trust in its own people. Democratization is a versatile process; According to the modern understanding, building of democratic state, along with many other measures, implies adjustment of legislation and its compliance with European law, so that the state had legal basis for further development, as well as an opportunity to share and devlop those values that are valuable for the whole mankind. Turkey met big challenges in this respect and you will find here below the particular consequences the country experiences currently; the present work aims to show exactly these processes more or less completely. History of Turkish Constitutionalism: Turkish Constitutionalism counts about two-century histroy, the origins of which could be found yet in the period of the Ottoman Empire; works on the first version of the Constitution were started at the times of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and it was published on December 23 of 1876 with the name of “Basic Law” (“Kanun Esasi”)1; The Constitution was based on the Constitutions of Prussia of 1850 and the Constitution of Belgium of 1831; it was prepared by Midhat Pasha and that is why it is often referred as “Midhat Pasha’s Constitution”. Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary order was established in the Ottoman Empire by this Constitution. It was recognizing Islam as a state religion. After revocation of Sultan authority and declaration of Republic, Kemalists launched radical reforms in order to strengthen political structure. One of the most important measure in this regard was adoption of the Constitution by the parliament; Works on new Constitution were commenced in 1921, at the time when monarchy had not been revocated yet. After the declaration of Turkish Republic2, on April 20, 1924 Great National Assembly of Turkey approved the draft of the constitution which was developed exactly in 1921; it is being referred as “The First Republican Constitution”. It stated that official religion of Republican Turkey was Islam. As we know Kemal intended to separate Islam from the state, however at that stage he was not supported, he managed to do so only in 19283. On May 27, 1960 the military made a coup in Turkey resulting in declaration of the Constitution in force to be abolished. Working on a new project of the Constitution 1 Anayasa; Turkiye, 2005 2 On October 29 of 1923 Turkey was declared to be a republic. 3 Svanidze M, History of Turkey, Tbilisi, 2007 page 427 3 was started. On June 9 of 1961, besing on the results of the referendum, the Great National Assembly of Turkey adopted a new Constitution. The Constitution of 1961 stated that Republic of Turkey is a national, democratic, secular, socio-legal state, where supreme authority “unconditionally belongs to people” and grounds on the basic human rights. The main principle difference between the Constitutions of 1961 and 1924 is that more power is given to the executive authority and changes are made to the structure of the parliament4 and constitutional court. This Constitution remained in force until 1982. After the next military coup on September 12, 1980 the Constitution was once again abolished in Turkey and on November 7 of 1982, as a result of the referendum, the Constitution of Turkey in force was adopted. Turkey made amendments to the Constitution several times, which is an indicator of progress and development in its turn; for example, in 1991 Turkish government decided to remove the articles from the Constitution according to which it was forbidden to study as a native language or have a publishing business in the languages other than Turkish. On July 26 of 1995 the parliament of Turkey, in terms of democratization and harmonization with European laws of the Constitution, made a number of changes (“package of democratic reforms”); One of the examples was the citizens of Turkey residing abroad were allowed to vote in elections. There was one more intereseting special resolution allowing teachers of the university to hold managing positions in the bodies5 of political partis. EU summit of 1999 in Copenhagen is a beginning of a new stage not only for Turkish-EU relations, but also for rapprochement of Turkish and western legislations; Essence of fundamental principles of Republican Turkey: Political, military and ideological leader of Turkish people, Kemal Ataturk developed six basic principles, which later became the foundation for economic and political system of Turkey. These principles derive from and complement each other. They are: republicanism, laicism, nationalism, populism, etatism and revolutionism. They are often referred as “Principles of Kemalism”. These principles represent an ideological support of Turkish republic and the whole political system of Turkey is based on them. The reason why we highlight the fundamental regulations is to better understand the essence of the processes of the whole subsequent period; 4 Turkish: Buyuk Millet Meclisi; 5 - Sordia G. Development of Constitutionalism and Human Rights in Turkey, Georgian Diplomacy, Year-book 9, 2002, pages 283-410 4 From the principles of Kemalism we will particularly emphasize nationalism; In his time Mustafa Kemal was sure that there is just one choice for the nation’s development – to reach modern level of civilization – this model is named Kemalism. One of the cornerstones of Kemalism is nationalism; it is risen to the rank of official politics in Turkey and is recorded in the Constitution as “Ataturk (Kemalismian) nationalism”. Ataturk nationalism was directed not only towards the creation of Nation-State, but he and his successors substantially leveled up the modernization process started one and a half century ago and were aiming at its further westernization. As noted by many Turkish authors, Kemal gave a new meaning to nationalism. Kemal nationalism is free of religiousness: it is mentioned in the very preamble of the Constitution of Turkish Republic that it is not permitted to “interfere religious feelings into the state affairs and politics” 6. For more explanation we would note that at the time of establishment of the republic, there was included in the main mission of Turkish military that, they should prevent Muslim parties from coming to power. In fact, while building a state, Kemal managed to find the right circle that would always guard republican structure in Turkey and democratic development of the state. Generally, in many countries influence of militaries refers to dictatorship; however Turkey is an absolutely different case. The thing is that in case of interference in the political affairs of the state, the militaries do not retain the opportunity to use this right permanently. It is a fact that the army along with the Constitutional Court, since the very establishment of Turkey, is a main guarantor of republican structure in the country. If we review history of the government changing by means of military interference, the army can not ever be blamed for establishment of dictatorship and fighting for power, as after every such a government change, as soon as the situation used to get relatively stable in the country, the militaries would start transferring of power to the civilians. A phenomenon of Military in Turkey, in comparison to other countries, is absolutely different. Here military activity is not the same as European understanding of military activity is; since the very establishment of the republic, Turkish government has been permanently and deliberately working on transferring the society of Islamic culture to the democratic norms; - There were different forms of nationalism in Turkish reality: Ottomanism, Islamism, Pan-Turkism, Anatolian nationalism (Anatolianism), also traditional moderate Turkish nationalism, Turkish-Islamic synthesis 6 Anayasa; Turkiye, 2005 ‐ The first Islamic political party in Turkey was founded in 1970. 5 Islam does have quite a big influence within vast masses of the republican Turkey. By the way, in the period of Necmettin Erbakan rule7, military activity made country evade from legalization of Islamic norms. It is well known that Erbakan was going to make amendment to the Constitution in this regard. In 1991 Article163 of Criminal Law, forbidding use of Islam for political and personal purposes, was abolished. Religious orders, communities and Tariqa movement had been legalized, thus enabling so called “People’s Islam” to be partially controlled. Despite the fact that coming of the pro-Islamic power into the political life of Turkey in 1990 could not change secular political course, still this step was a certain concession to Islam. However, on the other hand this step is understandable as it is difficult to avoid this factor in the country of Islamic culture; A very interesting case took place in 2002, when Turkish security services declared that they have identified and closed underground courses of sharia existing under “Caucasus-Chechen solidarity Committee”. According to Turkish and foreign agencies the courses were opened in the European part of Istanbul and children from Daghestan and Chechnya were being trained there in a farm, which was rebuilt in Mosque and where school and dormitory were also provided. Fundamental preparation was provided for 60 children with the age of 8 to 17 years old. The center was closed and its leader was detained. Working of security services was under direct supervision of former Premier-Minister B. Ecevit. Closing of Sharia courses was in compliance with the fundamental principles of Turkish Constitution, strictly controlling that the country remains secular state and does not deviate from Ataturk course8. We will revert to the importance of this issue in the process of democratization below; Amendments to Turkish legislation: One of the primary criteria the EU applies against any membership candidate country is the legislation to be in compliance with the western norms. The same way Turkey is demanded to adjust its legislation; Notes were made in regard with the number of articles of the Constitution. Turkey was called to lift censorship on the press and television, to reject deliberate persecution due to free political opinions and etc. 7Necmettin ERbakan: in office from June 28, 1996 to June 30, 1997. Governmental party – Welfare Party Refah Partisi. 8 Sordia G. Development of Constitutionalism and Human Rights in Turkey, Georgian Diplomacy, Year-book 9, 2002, pages 283-410 6 Important changes were initiated in this regard on July 26 of 1995, when almost two-year efforts of the coalition government resulted in approval of so called “Package of Democratic Reforms” by the Turkish parliament. It was presented to the parliamnet by the Premier Tansu Ciller9. Package of Democratic Reforms was approved by an obvious advantage of votes – 360 against 31 votes. The “Package” was supported by the governmental coalition representatives (“True Path Party” under leadership of Tansu Ciller and “Republican People’s Party” led by the Vice-Premier Hikmet Cetin) as well as MPs from the opposition “Motherland party” (under leadership of Mesut Yilmaz). It was noted in Turkey that the first time in the history of the country, the era of Civil Constitution was started, as all the predecessor basic laws – the Constitutions of 1924, 1961 and 1982 years were adopted by participation of the military. Amendments were made to the following resolutions: the law prohibiting trade unions, associations, public organizations and cooperatives from political activity was abolished. The court’s decision became necessary for prohibition of the public organizations. The parliament decreased the voting age from 20 to 18 years old and agreed to adopt a special law enabling citizens of Turkey residing abroad to vote in the elections. Age limit was decreased to 18 years old for those as well who were entering political parties. According to the law, students had right to become members of the party. The parliament lifted bans concerning arrangement of political party abroad, creation of youth and women’s branches of political parties. Women were given right to create political parties. Then the Prime-Minister T. Ciller regarded the amendments and was stating that, from that time on, the Constitution of Turkey became far more democratic. The norms about rights and basic freedoms, mentioned in it, were getting closer to the Constitutions of the EU countries. The president of Turkey, S. Demirel (19932000) in his special address to people, noted that amendments to the main legislation of the country is a success of the whole country and a great achievement of 9 Tansu Ciller has formed the government three times: The first Ciller government: June 25 of 1993 – October 15 of 1995; the second government of Ciller:October 15 of 1995 – November 5 of 1995; the third government of Ciller: Novmber 5 of 1995 – March 12 of 1996. 7 democracy; The parliament approved that it remains important multi-party institution of the state, leading it forward towards progress. These amendments were really strengthening democratization course in the country. In his speech in the parliament, after the vote, the Premier-Minister T. Ciller declared:”During the last 100 years, in fact it was the first time whenCivil Government exercised its rights by making amendments to the Constitution. In terms of political development we have reached absolutely new legal stage. Turkey has become more democratic. Vast majority of people started to take part in social life of the country. We have managed to approve substantitally new Constitution where civilians acquire important rights” 10. Yet in the beginning of nineties Turkish government tried to prove that it respects identity of non-Turkish minorities and in 1991 Kurdish language was legally allowed as language for social communication. As per decision of 1992, the paragraphs forbidding languages other than Turkish to be studied or used in publishing, were removed from the Constitution. After the coup on September 12, 1980 high education was under the control of militaries. As per new law, management of high institutions is implemented by civilians. These changes will lay a good foundation for further development of education and science. However, basing on my own experience I can say that the results are already impressive. All governments of Turkey permanently emphasize that they respect the citizens of their country, regardless their nationality or religious confession; for instance, on December 24 of 2005 the president of Turkey Ahmet Necdet Sezer wished Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the Christian citizens of the country. His congratulatory address stated: “We share joy and happiness of our citizens – Christian Holidays. It is of a special importance for historical connections of our society, integrating different religions and symbolizing new hope, peace and brotherhood” 11. From 2003-2004 absolutely new stage of strengthening of democratic institutions and legislation improvement was started. Ahmet Necdet Sezer (the president: 2000-2007) 12 was its main initiator and protector. He was a Head of the Constitutional Court before being elected the president of Turkey, therefore every advancement in this respect is associated with his name. 10 Machitidze E., Amendments to the Constitution of Turkey, Oriental Researches V (Collected Works), Tb, TSU publishing house, 1996. page 406. 11 http://www.regnum.ru.news/turkey/26.12.2005 12 He was the last president, whose term in office lasted for 7 years; 8 The changes concerned the Court System, to be more exact, the State Security Court has been abolished. Recommendations in this regard have been prepared by the European Court; Liberalization of law on mass information and publishing activities has been done; Article 30 of the Constitution has been changed, it concerns freedom of printing. According to this article it is not allowed to close, confiscate or put a ban on publishing activity. Control on movie, video and musical production has been eased. Censorship on literature and scientific works has been forbidden. It is allowed to express individual, subjective, critical opinion about public state servant and it will not be punished by the law. The law, adopted yet in early nineties has been exercised, enabling private and state channels to broadcast in Turkish as well as in languages of ethnic minorities. Turkish central channel (TRT-1) also allocated certain period of time for them. Procedure of prohibition and closure of political parties has significantly got complicated. So far military has exercised this right several times. At present, in order to do so it is necessary to have decree of the president, as well as appeal of the council of Ministers and Minister of Justice to the court. Besides, any decision about closure of political party can be appealed in the Constitutional Court. The above mentioned package of changes considered amendments in total to 7 different articles of the Constitution; including Article 10 of the Constitution with the title: “Equality before the law” – there was added the following phrase: “Man and Woman have equal rights”. One of the paragraphs of the same article was given the following formulation:» every citizen of the country, regardless their language, race, color, gender, political opinion, philosophy or religious belief, is equal before the law”. By making these and other amendments, Turkish side gave up certain rights and recognized primacy of international law in relation with its legislation. Parliament of Turkey has long been discussing reduction of President’s term. It involved 7-year period in Turkey. In the majority of countries of the world the term is determined by 5 years (and it is allowed to vote for the second term). Turkey has shared practice of world leading democratic states in this regard too; inter-party conciliation commission of Turkish parliament reached agreement and determined the President’s term in office by 5 years. Majority of Turkish parties considered that 7-year administration term is quite a long period. Experts approved the changes implemented by the initiative of Ahmet Necdet Sezer concerning improvement of the conditions in the penitentiary institutions. Turkey was frequently reproved for unbearable conditions in the prisons and used to be given recommendation to prevent torture of prisoners and etc. Present administrative elite of Turkey continues improvement of the legislation; The next initiative of huge changes in the main law of the country is proposed by the Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Turkish people settled this issue on September 9 12 of 2010 by the referendum; 77% of the population was participating in the referendum, where 58% supported making of amendments to the Constitution13; R. Erdogan named it “Victory of Turkish Democracy” and noted that new era was started in the life of the country: “Support of the referendum, held today is a result of the society’s striving for democracy. In the name of the party of justice and development I consider this result to be a general public support to the changes and democratization” – stated Erdogan14. The reforms concern Labour laws, civil rights, privacy, MP term, enhancement of women and trade union’s rights and etc., totally 26 amendments. Amendments to the Constitution is a beginning of a new stage in the life of the country, but not only for this country; it influences the relations with neighboring countries as well. In the changing geopolitical environment, Turkey’s formation as a strong democratic state, will make Georgia face range of positive challenges… One thing is clear, by constitutional changes this country will make one more step forward on the way of legislation development. However, it is noteworthy that changing of laws is not enough, it is necessary that mentality of the society was changed as well and each change was echoing lifestyle of the society, otherwise we will get a façade democracy, which is doomed to collapse. The Prime Minister of Turkey and 58 % of his country believe that the referendum in the republican Turkey is a beginning of the bright future. So, a lot of changes occur in Turkey on the way of democratic system inculcation. Improvement of the legislation and inculcation of western values in the real life present a solid foundation for building of a civil society. The government of Turkey headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan supports more tight relations with the West. The referendum results had positive response from the USA and EU countries. “This is a step taken to the right direction” – stated Stefan Fule, EU commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy. The current changes, which Europe perceives as democratic is at odds with the traditional secular forces of Turkey. Confrontation between these two powers has a long history; the thing is that the reform, along with the many other changes, concerns weakening of military influence as well in the country. As per opposition forces, governmental party, having Islamic roots (“Party of Justice and Development”), tries to remove devoted defenders of secularism from the power, thus enabling Islamic forces to increase their influence; - The date itself was selected symbolically – September 12; On September 12 of 1980 there was a coup in Turkey 13- USAK Analysis: Evaluation of the Referendum, http://www.usak.org.tr 13.09.2010 14PM Erdoğan discusses new constitution, elections with media representatives. http://www.turkishweekly.net. 27.09.2010 10 the army, for its part, along with the Constitutional Court, as mentioned before, was considered to be the main guarantor of republican structure since the establishment of Turkey and weakening of its influence is seen as very dangerous; Though, the Premier of Turkey has been mentioning several times that Turkey was administered by military government and that it had to be changed. Together with many other measures, aiming institutional strengthening of Turkey, reforms concerned the Constitutional Court itself too. According to the new package of reforms, it consists of 17 members, 3 out of which will be assigned directly from the parliament. Opponents of the Premier are emphasizing the fact that according to these changes, the courts will occur under the influence of ruling political party, which will prevent the process of democratic development in the country and create danger of Islamisation strengthening in Turkey. The military in its turn is concerned about the fact that from now on, military officers can be convicted by a civil court, meaning that military power will be controlled by civil authority. The issue, which can not be avoided: When discussing the internal politics of Turkey, we can not avoid issue of Kurdish people; We will refrain from making predictions here and will discuss those progressive steps, the Turkish government has taken in order the process of democratic development concerned the ethnic minority of Kurdish people as well; By the decision of yet former president of Turkey Turgut Ozal15, Kurdish people were given right to speak their national language and use Kurdish music under certain circumstances. He was supporting the issue of Kurdish people to be resolved by political means. Then the Premier-Minister Suleyman Demirel was stating that Turkey accepts “Kurdish reality” and turns a blind eye. In early nineties of twentieth century Ankara set a range of benefits in the rights of Kurdish people: Turkish side admitted that according to EU commitments it is necessary to have a dialogue. One of the expressions of concession was creation of center of “Political Psychology” under the Council of Ministers. The center initiated to lift restrictions from education and publishng on Kurdish language. The only way the center saw for problem solving was preservation of Kurdish cultural identity. The center has highlighted psychological aspect of the issue: “when humans’ identity is threatened, they search for psychological shelter and unite under their own national shell, which enhances awakening of nationalism and separatism, oppression 15The only president of Turkey having Kurdish origin (1989-93 ). 11 and prohibition of the cultural minorities will make them much more stronger”16. The following example is proving this, when Turkish government put a ban on Kurdish language in 1980, Kurdish separatism was much more strengthened. Putting a ban on sale of Kurdish musical discs also had a reverse outcome, as the sales increased by 100 %. “Center of Political Psychology” also agreed to arrange Kurdish TV programs and schools: “If Kurdish people were given the right in their time to make TV program in Kurdish language, PKK would be unable to use MED-TV for its propaganda. There is no danger in starting education in Kurdish. Researches show that in case of Kurdish schools opening, Turkish language will still remain the most demanded language”17. Turkey has adopted a program for development of Kurdish districts – “Project of South Anatolia” (GAP), implementation of which was presumed as a solving of economical problems. It would support regulation of Kurdish separatism. Later on, government of Turkey continued to make real steps again and in 2004 four women MPs of Kurdish origin: Orhan Dogan, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and the Sakharov prize winner Leyla Zana18, were released from jail after 10-year imprisonment. Before their release, these four women were considered by EU as a symbol of Turkish illegality. Therefore the taken measures were duly appreciated. By managing to see one of the actual issues of modern Turkey’s internal politics – issue of Kurdish people - from absolutely different angle Turkey endured the greatest challenge. Basing on EU criteria, Turkey awarded a range of benefits to them and instead of restrictions and persecution, gave them opportunity to reveal their identity. Thus, despite the fact that representative of any ethnic minority has right to preserve his/her cultural identity, still when talking about similar issues, we should not forget about national interests of Republic of Turkey and should consider this issue in the context of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, just like government of any other state, caring about unity an security of it country, would decide to do so. Conclusions: The background of legislation development history demonstrates how deliberately Turkish government needs to work in order to reach the high 16Sordia G., Development of Constitutionalism and Human Rights in Turkey, Georgian Diplomacy. Year-book 9, Tb. TSU publishing house, 2002. page 404. 17Ibidem, pages 404-405 18 - Newspaper “Kviris Palitra” June 14-20, 2004 12 benchmark of democracy for constitutional and general legislative improvements; During the recent twenty years Turkey has laid a foundation to huge legislative changes and entered absolutely new stage on its way of building of democratic state. Reforms of legislation can be divided into several conditional stages: 1) before republican period; when a progressive opinion originated in the bosom of the empire was given a little chance to be developed and when there was very difficult time for development of constitutionalism; 2) period of republicanism; when Kemal Ataturk laid a foundation for country’s westernization (Ataturk period reforms are characterized by a word “Westernization”); 3) Beginning of democratization; when the necessity of secular protecting/supervising military circle has been reviewed and Turkey started to take bold steps; Thus, the country in fact has proved that it is ready to continue its own way of development without any protector/supervisor military circle; “its own way” is a choice made not merely in favor of democracy, but the whole country made a choice no to be an addition to the international system, but to be a regional leader within it; This issue is thoroughly discussed by the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, professor A. Davutoglu in his fundamental research “Strategic Depth”. Mr. Davutoglu not just expresses his will about his country to be the regional leader state, but also thoroughly justifies why his country deserves it and what it is based on. (Further discussion of this issue is not our purpose in this case). Achievements of the third stage in relatively shorter time, is much more visible and scaling in comparison to the other two stages; Here very interesting point is that the drive and tendency are originated in the bosom of the nation, demonstrating vivid willingness of th society to enter higher level of development and do not stay in the past; This fact was proved by the results of the referendum; Turkey is the only country from the Islamic world, which always attributed great importance to the relations with EU. In 2007, after accepting Bulgaria and Romania, EU declared that it does not plan to accept more new members in the union and European community would take a “rest” from expansion for approximately 10-15 years. Applying this logic and reviewing character of Turkish-European relations, it will be clear that positive changes in this regard are less expectable. However, on the other hand it is noteworthy to mention that it does not diminish strategic importance of Turkey for Europe an not only for it; References: Turkey has quite a long and interesting history of constitutionalism and what is most important it already has tangible results in terms of legislation approachment to European one; While discussing Kemal Ataturk reforms, we wanted to remind all those main principles, which Republic of Turkey is based on and would keep an eye, as far as possible, on how the changes, implemented during the whole 13 period of legislation improvement, followed already selected path, which according to Ataturk’s strong belief, would level the country up on the higher step of the development. We have seen that quite a scaling changes were implemnted. There is no alternative to the taken course and the reforms should be continued. It is not easy to implement legislative base improvement in the country, where population have had different habits and values for centuries; That was what we were referring to when emphasizing that Kemal Ataturk needed to impose absolutely different mission to the militants, together with their traditional one, putting them at protection of secularism; Time to time, when society recognizes benefits of democracy and assumes liberal values, it would be possible/preferable not to use this lever any more, as it is less possible that society having experienced free choice and high standards of life, would ever want to go back to the old system, which regardless the criticism, was having its own benefits as well. Besides, if we search for democratization supportive impulses in Islam itself, the results will be far more impressive; Sunni direction of the religion of greatest wisdom and truth has a huge potential of it; One thing should however be underlined, how attractive the European model of the country may seem, none of the countries should lose their identity, start to implement new system automatically and lose connection with its cultural and civilization roots; It is desirable the country found its individual way of development in the bosom of itself. By the way, Turkish civilization is not so far from Christian/European civilization; on the contrary, Christian civilization was blooming on Asia Minor, where Turkman tribes were settled for a certain period of time. It does not disappear without a trace and will be precipitated in the layers of culture. We would like to say that Turkish/Islamic culture has a lot taken from Christian/European civilization and besides the fact that it is an important and necessary country for Europe, it has also many interesting things to offer to European civilization too; A huge amount of natural recourses coming from Central Asia are delivered to Europe exactly through Turkey; Europe needs Turkey, its Bosphorus-Dardanelle straits, controlled by Turkey and secured and trusty way for transportation of raw materials; The next nearest decades of XXI century will have answer on the question whether or not it is possible for the country of Islamic culture to be adapted with the western civilization and how the negative/positive outcomes of it will look like. Maia Manchkhashvili Student at the CAUCASUS ACADEMY OF SECURITY EXPERTS 14 █ CAUCASUS ACADEMY OF SECURITY EXPERTS ADVANCING SECURITY AS A PROFESSION Caucasus Academy of Security Experts (CASE) is the only think-tank and educational institution in Caucasus region focusing exclusively on intelligence, cyber security and anti-terrorism issues. In the era where espionage and other security challenges, significantly of a technological character, are considerably difficult to manage, the risk of new threats’ emergence is very high, consequently security of the information becomes vital for the whole nation, should it be private or public sectors. Academy is founded by the managing team of INFORMATION http://www.globalcase.org SECURITY STUDIES AND ANALYSIS CENTER. 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