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Rethink Institute

RETHINK INSTITUTE
THE RETHINK INSTITUTE is a Washington, D.C. based think tank. The Rethink Institute is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution devoted to deepen our understanding of contemporary political and cultural challenges facing communities and societies around the world, in realizing peace and justice, broadly defined.

The Institute pursues this mission by facilitating research on public policies and civic initiatives centering on dispute resolution, peace building, dialogue development, and education. Toward these goals, the Institute sponsors rigorous research and analysis, supports visiting scholar programs, and organizes workshops and conferences.

Publications by Rethink Institute
RETHINKING TURKEY'S CONSTITUTION By Fevzi Bilgin

Summary: Recently, Turkey has embarked on a journey to draft a new constitution. A number of reasons precipitated this process. First, since the constitutional crisis of 2007, caused by the inconclusive presidential election by the parliament, the 1982 Constitution has become the locus of political conflict. Lessons were learned and there have been a number of political and constitutional developments since then—the referendum on the method of electing the president in 2007 and the constitutional reform of 2010—leading to calls to redraft the whole document. Second, there is no doubt that the current constitution drafted by the military regime in 1980s, is essentially a nondemocratic text that established a tutelary regime, failing to address growing demands of rights and freedoms. Third, sociopolitical changes since the 1980s have gone beyond the ideological purview of the constitution. Forth, the ongoing pains and grievances caused by hardline secularism and nationalism of the current constitution prove it to be less than a social contract. Fifth, the people of Turkey would like to draft their constitution on their own for the first time, as most other nations do. And last, Turkey, advancing politically and economically, needs a constitution that will enhance rather than stifle its progress. The proposed constitution differs significantly from the current 1982 Constitution. Below are the highlights of the proposed text (adapted from the Turkish version).

CENTRAL ASIA: FROM ETHNIC TO CIVIC NATIONALISM By Vladimir Fedorenko

Summary: Recently there was a wave of celebration of the 20th anniversary of independence in all Central Asian states, yet their nation building process is not complete and the perception of the national identity is still distorted. By its nature national identity should bring people together and unite them around common values and goals, in Central Asian states, however; national identity, conceived on ethnic basis, is a divisive force fragmenting people along the lines of ethnicity, religion, language, birth place, and social status. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asian republics— Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan— faced the difficult task of state- and nation-building. Although every Central Asian nation had its own challenges determined by its geography, ethnic and cultural composition, availability of natural resources and other factors, all of them faced same complexity that hindered the attaining of unity in those countries. As a result of abrupt dissolution of the Soviet Union, politically unstable, economically weak and interdependent, institutionally unprepared, and socially disorientated Central Asian states were in a serious crisis. In order to forge a new national identity, the political elites in all five Central Asian states decided to implement a nation building policy based on ethnicity. Ethnic nationalism was convenient and promising strategy capable of providing a sense of stability by uniting majority groups around the common and powerful link of ethnicity. In order to increase people’s attachment to these new national identities, attractive myths regarding ethnic identities were created. In all of the Central Asian countries, the strategy of creating a national myth was similar. It consisted of rewriting history in order to show a strong attachment of the majority group to the present geographical location of the country as well as of choosing a historical figure that boosted the national pride of the dominant ethnic group. Consequently, Uzbeks have been putting emphasis on being successors of the famous conqueror Tamerlane who established Timurid Empire, Kyrgyz have been promoting the image of the mythical hero Manas, and Tajiks have been rediscovering their history that was linked to the Samanid Empire ruled by Ismail Samani, Kazakhs have been promoting nomadic culture and traditions, and Turkmens have been focusing on the Turkmen spiritual leader Magtymguly Pyragy. However, an important barrier to the nation building process around single ethnicity is the fact that most Central Asian states are multiethnic and multicultural societies. Thus, while ethnic nationalism provides the majority group a sense of belonging to the nation, minority ethnic groups in Central Asia do not easily embrace this new national identity and feel excluded from the nation building process. Moreover, majority ethnic groups also realize their dominance and often treat minorities unjustly. This creates tension and conflicts among the different ethnic groups. This paper addresses the question of how Central Asian societies can move away from divisive to inclusive form of nationalism.