Transnational Rivalries and Left Politics: an Amsterdam School Perspective on Turkey’s “ergenekon” Trials

Abstract

The Ergenekon trials were among the most controversial issues in the recent political history of Turkey. It is still worth reconsidering the liberal, nationalist, and socialist-left circles’ variegated responses to the subject matter. The first two were doomed to fail since each attached itself to one side of the intra-state struggles. Although the socialist left’s approach was enlightening in many ways, there is a significant shortcoming in its theoretical references to explain the inherent transnational rivalries. An alternative research agenda offered by the Amsterdam School could enrich its conceptual toolkit in more comprehensive ways. To evaluate this potentiality, we need to engage in two conceptual problems regarding the theory: 1) Could the concept of state–class be helpful to analyze the political economy of Turkey’s Ergenekon trials? 2) Could any key social/class force be distinguished to shed light upon the transnational aspect of the process? © 2022 Guilford Publications. All rights reserved.