Editor's note.

• Author: Kucukcan, Talip
• Position: Democracy in Turkey - Editorial

AS TURKEY prepares for local, presidential and general elections in the next two years, domestic and foreign policy issues are becoming central topics of public debate in the context of democratization, economic development, and regional stability.

Since the beginning of the Arab awakening and its aftermath, Turkey started to enjoy greater attention from international observers. Often, Turkey was touted as source of inspiration and an island of stability in turbulent waters. Democratic reforms, economic progress, diversification of its foreign policy relations and active engagement in regional politics are all frequently cited to explain how and why Turkey has a powerful potential role in the reconfiguration of regional power balance and restructuring of the Middle Eastern political culture.

Turkey's achievements were numerous: it struck a balance between Islam and democracy, raised the standards of human rights, empowered civilians over the military, through judicial and constitutional reforms, achieved economic success, and established closer relations with its neighboring countries. Once taboo issues such as the Kurdish question, rights of un-orthodox Muslims and non-Muslim minority citizens have been genuinely addressed.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan explicitly recognized the shortcomings of state policies towards the Kurdish citizens and apologized for state atrocities toward its own people in the past on behalf the Turkish state. Since 2002, The Justice and Development Party (the AK Party) governments introduced several initiatives to resolve deeply rooted political problems and conflicts in the country, including aggressive EU harmonization reforms culminating in 2005, a constitutional referendum in 2010, and more recently a democratization package in September 2013.

Announcement of the recent democratization and human rights package took place amidst claims that the AK Party government lost its reformist spirit, as its image was tarnished during the Gezi Park protests in May and June of this year. Handling of the Gezi Park demonstrations were extensively covered in the media and strongly criticized. However, promises of this new package indicated that the government was ready to listen to people and learn from its own mistakes.

In this special issue, Insight Turkey focuses on the AK Party decade with an emphasis on the transformation of domestic politics...