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<DIV align=justify><FONT face="Palatino Linotype"> THE FOURTH WORKING DAY
OF THE GROUP OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES AND RESEARCH ON TURKEY
(GERIT)<BR> ______________________________<BR> "Turkey in the
European Union, the European Union in Turkey"<BR> 13 june 2006, IISMM,
EHESS, Paris<BR> _______________________________<BR>
"Turkey in the European Union, the European Union in Turkey" will be the topic
of the Fourth Working Day of GERIT, the Group of interdisciplinary studies and
research on Turkey. The objective is to bring together on this occasion doctoral
students and young researchers who work on various aspects of Turkish-European
relations. <BR> <BR> This Fourth Working Day of GERIT thus
aims at carrying out the following objectives: <BR> - think upon the
Turkish-EU relations within a larger framework and to find out a new problematic
beyond the "Is Turkey European?" question;<BR> - analyze the
transformation of public space and political realm within Turkey from the point
of view of the process of membership; <BR> - underline the impact of the
EU on the determination of Turkish public policies. <BR> <BR>
By this means, the purpose of the Fourth Working Day is to associate the public
discussions in Europe, particularly in France, on the candidacy of Turkey to the
EU to the public discussions in Turkey on this matter on the basis of scientific
research. By bringing together studies in various disciplines (history,
sociology, political science and economy) the Fourth Working Day of GERIT
proposes to privilege empirical and comparative contributions that underline the
neglected aspects of the Turkish candidacy to the EU. <BR>
<BR> The Problematic<BR> <BR> Current debates on the
candidacy of Turkey to the EU pertain mainly on two aspects: European identity
in construction and European character of Turkey. The weight of the identity
aspect and the historical load of such a candidacy make us often forget to
identify other dimensions like the transformation of public space,
reconfiguration of the political field, impact of the EU on the formation of the
public policies, formulation of a new political agenda, diversification of the
repertories of strategy with respect to the EU from one actor to another or from
one institution to another, emergence of a new civil society, standpoint of the
intellectuals, appearance of new political cleavages, mobilization and the
reinforcement of euro-skepticism etc. The relations between Turkey and the EU
are largely studied in a perspective of occidentalization and democratization.
The complex relationship maintained between Turkey and the EU found their
framework of research at the same time<BR> in a matrix of occidentalization
inherited from the historical studies relating to the 19th century and in a
matrix of democratization relating to the republican period. Thus, Europe has
been used as mirror for Turkey. Since the European Council of Helsinki in 1999
during which the candidacy of Turkey to the EU has been stated, Turkey is
questioning itself as she also does it for the European Union. The image send to
her by the European mirror is not homogeneous, it has even become illusory. This
vast topic leads us to reflect upon Europeanization. <BR> <BR>
1) Culture-Identity: Horizontal Europeanization / Societal Europeanization
<BR> <BR> The recent events have revealed the identity crisis
of the European Union during the debates Constitutional Treaty for Europe and
the candidacy of Turkey to the EU. The identity dimension of the "Turkish
question" gave rise to clashes on question such as "Which identity for Europe?"
and "Which place for a country of Muslim culture in a political space of
Christian culture?" By horizontal or societal Europeanization we mean the
emergence of Europe as the reference point in the construction of social reality
and a common sense in European public space. In other words, the interiorization
of Europe appear as an essential element of identity construction. Two ambitions
arise from there: on the one hand, the process of the formation of a mutual
perception framework between Turkey and the European Union, and on the other
hand, the questioning of the national identity in Turkey and that of Europe in
the Member States. Which are the attitudes of the public opinion with respect
to<BR> the candidacy of Turkey? Can one speak of a European public space
challenged by the "Turkish question"? <BR> <BR> 2) Public
Space-Political Space: Vertical Europeanization or Political Europeanization
<BR> <BR> We understand from the vertical or political
Europeanization the increasing tendency of the impact of the European Union on
political space of the member or candidate states via the 'acquis communautaire'
or by other means. First of all, political Europeanization pertains to the
effects of European integration on the national administrative structures of the
member states in order to coordinate the relationship with the European
institutions and on the national political actors like the political parties and
trade unions. Secondly, it underlines the impact of European integration on the
way the public policies of the member states is shaped and the public policy
agenda is set. From this point of view, the following questions need to be
asked: How is the transformation and the reconfiguration of Turkish political
space is realized when challenged by the European question? Is it similar to the
other candidate countries? Which are the motivations for the political
actors<BR> with regard to the candidacy of the country to the EU? Can one
speak of the emergence of new political cleavages around the EU? If so, how do
the actors respond to it? How is the administrative structure organized in front
of the European bureaucracy? Which stakes and which strategies for the national
institutions when these are confronted with the European integration? Is the EU
a new source of legitimacy for the various domestic actors? How does the
legislative reform influence the political and administrative culture? Which
European reference will be used in the formation of the national public
policies? Which is the role for the media in the construction of a European
discourse and a new framework of European perception? Will a new type of
Europeanized civil society be confronted to the tradition of the strong state?
<BR> <BR> <BR> The the Fourth Working Day of GERIT
will take place at the IISMM (Institute of the Studies of Islam Muslim
Societies) of EHESS (School of High Studies in Social Sciences) in Paris on June
13th, 2006. The Working Day will be organized in two thematic sessions. The
paper proposals should include the object of study, in particular the research
problematic, without exceeding 750 words. The deadline of sending the abstracts
is fixed at May 15th, 2006. The written contributions should be available on
June 1st. The travel expenses should be undertaken by the participants or their
institutions. However, a limited budget will be reserved to those participants
who lack any financial means. The working languages will be French and English.
A publication joining together the communication texts is considered. The
proposals for a communication accompanied by your curriculum vitae must arrive
at the following electronic address: </FONT><A
href="mailto:gerit_paris@yahoo.fr"><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">gerit_paris@yahoo.fr</FONT></A><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype"> <BR><BR><BR><BR>Umit YAZMACI<BR>Centre de Recherces
Politiques de la Sorbonne <BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>