THIMUN 2013
Researching your country
SUDAN or TURKEY
A/ IDENTITY
1. Insert a picture of the country’s flag: |
2. Geography
a. Where is the country located? i. What continent?
Anatolia (Western Asia), East Thrace (South-eastern Europe). ii. Bordering countries?
Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Syria. iii. Landlocked? Seas?
Mediterranean Sea (South), Aegean Sea (West), Black Sea (North).
b. What is the climate like?
Temperate Mediterranean climate.
3. People and Culture
a. Population?
75,627,384
b. Ethnicities and predominant religion?
Turks (70-75%), Kurds (18%), Others (7-12%).
Predominantly Islam. c. Are there any racial or ethnic issues? If so, what are they?
None.
d. How are women treated in your country?
Women are treated as the same as men.
4. Government and Politics
a. Leader? How long have they been in power for? Are they popular?
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister since 2003, not popular.
b. Current government system? Are there free elections?
Parliamentary representative democracy, there are free elections.
c. Stability or situation of the country’s political system today?
Unstable political system, there have been violent protests in May and June.
d. Any geo-political considerations?
Syrian Civil War, Cyprus dispute.
5. Education a. What is the education system like? (i.e. literacy rates, girls education, common length of time in school)
Literacy rate: 94.1%
Girls education same as males.
Common length of time in school: 14 years.
6. Health a. What is the health system like? (i.e. infant mortality rates, HIV/AIDS infection rates, disease)
Infant mortality rate: 22.23 deaths/1000 live births
HIV/AIDS infection rates: less than 0.1%
7. Economy a. Dependent on any other country?
Self-dependent.
b. Debt issues?
None.
c. Membership of economic and trade organisations?
WTO.
c. Who is your country allied with? Give a brief explanation of the length and purpose of these alliances.
USA – economic, defence purposes.
10. Is the country a more developed country (MDC) or a less developed country (LDC)? How do you know?
More developed country, high Human Development Index, and high Gross Domestic Product.
B/ INTERNATIONAL POSITION
1. When did your country join the United Nations?
26 June 1945.
2. List three UN conventions that your country has ratified. * International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights * Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide * Convention on the Rights of Child
3. List three UN conventions that your country has not ratified.
None.
C/ BRINGING IT ALTOGETHER – A HISTORY
4. In around 300 words provide a overview of the history of your country in the past 50 years
Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II, but entered the closing stages of the war on the side of the Allies on 23 February 1945. On 26 June 1945, Turkey became a charter member of the United Nations. Difficulties faced by Greece after the war in quelling a communist rebellion, along with demands by the Soviet Union for military bases in the Turkish Straits, prompted the United States to declare the Truman Doctrine in 1947. The doctrine enunciated American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and Greece, and resulted in large-scale U.S. military and economic support. Both countries were included in the Marshall Plan and OEEC for rebuilding European economies in 1948, and subsequently became founding members of the OECD in 1961.
After participating with the United Nations forces in the Korean War, Turkey joined NATO in 1952, becoming a bulwark against Soviet expansion into the Mediterranean. Following a decade of Cypriot intercommunal violence and the coup in Cyprus on 15 July 1974 staged by the EOKA B paramilitary organization, which overthrew President Makarios and installed the pro-Enosis (union with Greece) Nikos Sampson as dictator, Turkey invaded Cyprus on 20 July 1974. Nine years later the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognized only by Turkey, was established
The single-party period ended in 1945. It was followed by a tumultuous transition to multiparty democracy over the next few decades, which was interrupted by military coups d'état in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997. In 1984, the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group, began an insurgency campaign against the Turkish government, which to date has claimed over 40,000 lives; however, a peace process is currently ongoing. Since the liberalisation of the Turkish economy during the 1980s, the country has enjoyed stronger economic growth and greater political stability. In 2013, widespread protests erupted in many Turkish provinces, sparked by a plan to demolish Gezi Park but growing into general anti-government dissent.
5. In around 200 words explain what the biggest problems are that your country faces?
It is proving a long, turbulent summer for Turkish democracy. The chaos of Gezi Park may have abated after judges conveniently stopped building work there; but the fundamental reasons for protest haven't gone away – just as tourists, alarmed by demonstrations spreading far beyond Istanbul, haven't come back. And the crisis of Turkish journalism – too many reporters in prison, far too many sacked for telling their readers what happened in Taksim Square – grows worse, not better, in a climate of fear where even the most distinguished professionals, such as Yavuz Baydar, ombudsman of the daily Sabah, or Derya Sazak, editor of Milliyet, can suddenly find themselves out of a job.
Europe may have tactfully delayed negotiations on the next chapter of Turkey's entrance drive until much later in the autumn. It cannot, though, hide the rot of respect that now dogs Ankara's hopes of EU admission, nor the widespread disillusion with Prime Minister Erdogan's unflinching rhetoric.
Turkey can do better than this; indeed, Turkey was doing much better until Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided to tackle the demonstrators head on. Worse, the tainting of TV and press leaves his AKP government without the credibility it needs to argue its case.
Media baronies are short of trust right round the world; even MPs and ministers in Britain's post-Leveson months lay claim to a higher reputation.
Yet in Turkey, normality is stood on its head. The entrepreneurs and conglomerates who own newspapers and television stations don't pretend to wield independent power. To the contrary, they wriggle quietly under Erdogan's thumb. They own other businesses, too; they need government blessing for development plans, tax treatments, sales permits and the rest. So they know when to keep their heads down – and when to keep their editors in line.
There's no heavy boot of repression here, more a secondary twist from some hidden stiletto. Democracy appears in working order as visitors to the country turn on a television or pick up a paper, but down below trust is gone – and that is a potentially lethal problem.
Mr Erdogan's government has mountainous difficulties of its own: Syrian refugees and instability pouring over its borders; faltering efforts to solve the Kurdish (and terrorist) problem; an economy slowing; a country chronically uncertain whether to find a secular or Islamic future.
In many ways, the AKP and its leader, now elected three times, have much to boast about. Erdogan's Islamic vision has often seemed mild and non-ideological, exactly the blend of hope and pragmatic that Europe and the Middle East need.
But that vision is fading fast as his country creaks at frail seams and the prime minister relies on his electoral mandate (58% last time round) to insist that everything must be done his way.
Functioning democracy depends on far more than ballots in a box. It needs a respect for the rule of law and for a free flow of information. Locking up journalists by the score does not foster that respect.
Seeing 30 brave writers and columnists thrown out of work after Taksim breeds only cynicism. This isn't what Europe means by democracy; and it is not what Turkey should mean by it either.
6. Describe your country in 5 words
Tropical, Muslim, wealthy, hypocritical, undemocratic
