Tweet
The Toronto Star, Canada
July 10, 2011 Sunday
Turkey's peaceful revolution
A hugely popular democratic government is overturning decades of
authoritarian rule, curbing army power, delivering good governance and
presiding over a free market miracle
by Haroon Siddiqui
OPINION; Pg. A13
ISTANBUL
Just as Muslims and Muslim institutions are routinely and unfairly
maligned in the West these days, so is majority-Muslim Turkey.
The prejudiced portray Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as a neo-sultan
out to resurrect the Ottoman Empire. They accuse his ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) of having a secret Islamic agenda. Many
Europeans cite Turkey's "Muslimness" to oppose its entry into the
Christian-majority European Union, or argue that it's "too big and too
poor" to belong to the rich club.
This flies in the face of facts.
Whereas much of Europe is mired in the economic doldrums, Turkey is
booming. It has the second highest growth after China, prompting many
Turks to wonder why they'd want to join the PIGS - Portugal, Ireland,
Greece and Spain.
Whereas Europe's population is aging, Turkey's working age population
is Europe's largest (see sidebar).
Whereas Europe is freaking out over the hijab and niqab, Turkey is
becoming open and cosmopolitan. The day I went to Istanbul's famous
Istiklal St. - bigger and better than London's Oxford St. - it was
jammed with thousands returning from a Pride parade, sharing space
with hijabis and bearded men, amid the call to prayer from a mosque.
Whereas President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
kowtow to anti-Turkish reactionaries, Erdogan has stared down his
Europhobes.
We should be celebrating what's happening in Turkey - a peaceful
revolution brought about by a hugely popular democratic government,
which is overturning decades of authoritarian rule; corralling the
army back toward the barracks; delivering good governance; and
presiding over a free market miracle that has doubled per capita
incomes within a decade, drawn record foreign investment and posted
historic highs on the stock market.
A narrow nationalist society has been turned into an outward-looking
country, playing the peacemaker in regional disputes and serving as a
model for many in the Arab Spring. The only Muslim member of NATO is a
stable nation in an unstable region.
For bringing about this remarkable transformation, while maintaining
secularism, Erdogan has been hailed by some as the Barack Obama of the
Middle East.
"The AKP is not a religious party. There's not a single word about
religion in the party program, and after eight years in power, Erdogan
has not pursued any Islamist objective," Michael Thumann says over a
lunch of salad and fresh fish on the European side of the Bosporus
across which you can see the gently sloping hills of Asia.
He is the Turkish-speaking correspondent of the German weekly Die
Zeit. In his just-published book "DerIslam-Irrtum: Europas Angst vor
der muslimischen Welt" (The Delusion over Islam: Europe's Fear of the
Muslim World), he warns against seeing everything about Muslims and
Muslim societies only through the lens of religion.
Erdogan is an observant Muslim. His stylish wife wears designer
hijabs. Ditto for President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu and their wives. That doesn't mean they are not democratic.
Their AKP has been called the Turkish equivalent of Europe's Christian
Democrats. They are better defined as "Islamic Calvinists," writes
Kerem Oktem, in Angry Nation, Turkey since 1989.
A professor at Oxford University, he notes that the AKP largely
represents the merchant and professional class from the ranks of the
religiously conservative Fetullah Gulen group and the Naqshbandi Sufi
order.
Thumann: "Islam in Turkey is not so much experiencing an upsurge or
revival as it is coming out of the closet."
That was too much for the army and the old elite, the self-appointed
guardians of secularism as defined by Kemal Ataturk, founder of the
Turkish republic in 1923 amid the disintegration of the Ottoman
Empire.
But it's a secularism that's authoritative - restricting religion,
free speech and basic freedoms. It also does not let the elected
government run the state. That power is cornered by the army, the
security and intelligence services, the judiciary (both judges and
prosecutors) and the bureaucracy - supported by an academic and media
elite. This unelected "deep state" has long dictated to elected
governments, including toppling three in military coups.
A year after coming to power in 2002, Erdogan let parliament vote on
whether or not the U.S. could use Turkey as a land corridor for the
invasion of Iraq. The motion was promptly rejected, reflecting popular
will. This shocked the army, which alone used to decide such matters.
Erdogan's drive to enter the EU caused the next big friction. The
process involved improving Turkey's democratic practices - something
the "deep state" resisted, for it would entail a steady loss of power
and privileges.
Europeanization was also resented by right-wing narrow nationalists,
embedded both in the state apparatus and in radical Islamic circles.
In 2006, there was a series of political murders and the country
descended into violence, "organized and incited by the generals,"
according to Oktem.
In 2007, the army objected to the nomination of Gul as president. His
wife's hijab was going to undermine the state, said the army chief,
sounding a like a European right-wing Islamophobe. He threatened a
coup. Erdogan refused to budge.
In 2008, the chief prosecutor charged the AKP with "anti-secular
activities." The government barely survived.
Last year, it handily won a referendum to assert greater civilian
control over the army and the right to make some appointments to the
judiciary.
Last month, the AKP swept the election with an astonishing 50 per cent
of the vote in a multi-party contest.
"The era of the army staging a coup is over," says Eugene Schoulgin, a
Norwegian author who has lived in Istanbul for the last five years and
speaks Turkish.
"The 'deep state' is a clandestine fascist group that has fought
democratization every step of the way. It's also the one that's
principally responsible for censorship."
Authors, journalists, human rights activists, especially those
belonging to the Kurdish minority, are still being charged for
"insulting Turkishness." There have been dozens of absurd trials. More
than 60 journalists are in jail, a majority of them Kurds.
"The judiciary is still living in the Middle Ages," adds Schoulgin.
Meanwhile, shocking details have emerged in an ongoing trial of 200
people, former senior army personnel and others, on charges of
undermining the government.
They plotted the assassination of prominent Armenians and other
non-Muslims, bombing mosques and triggering a war with Greece. The
idea was to cause havoc and create the excuse for a military coup.
None of this is to say that the Erdogan government is perfect. He can
be arrogant, vindictive and nepotistic. But his sins are not what
we've often been told by our media that, out of laziness or
anti-Muslim malevolence, have acted as mouthpieces of anti-democratic,
indeed fascist, forces.
Thursday: The real challenges ahead
Haroon Siddiqui writes Thursday and Sunday. [email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
July 10, 2011 Sunday
Turkey's peaceful revolution
A hugely popular democratic government is overturning decades of
authoritarian rule, curbing army power, delivering good governance and
presiding over a free market miracle
by Haroon Siddiqui
OPINION; Pg. A13
ISTANBUL
Just as Muslims and Muslim institutions are routinely and unfairly
maligned in the West these days, so is majority-Muslim Turkey.
The prejudiced portray Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as a neo-sultan
out to resurrect the Ottoman Empire. They accuse his ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) of having a secret Islamic agenda. Many
Europeans cite Turkey's "Muslimness" to oppose its entry into the
Christian-majority European Union, or argue that it's "too big and too
poor" to belong to the rich club.
This flies in the face of facts.
Whereas much of Europe is mired in the economic doldrums, Turkey is
booming. It has the second highest growth after China, prompting many
Turks to wonder why they'd want to join the PIGS - Portugal, Ireland,
Greece and Spain.
Whereas Europe's population is aging, Turkey's working age population
is Europe's largest (see sidebar).
Whereas Europe is freaking out over the hijab and niqab, Turkey is
becoming open and cosmopolitan. The day I went to Istanbul's famous
Istiklal St. - bigger and better than London's Oxford St. - it was
jammed with thousands returning from a Pride parade, sharing space
with hijabis and bearded men, amid the call to prayer from a mosque.
Whereas President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
kowtow to anti-Turkish reactionaries, Erdogan has stared down his
Europhobes.
We should be celebrating what's happening in Turkey - a peaceful
revolution brought about by a hugely popular democratic government,
which is overturning decades of authoritarian rule; corralling the
army back toward the barracks; delivering good governance; and
presiding over a free market miracle that has doubled per capita
incomes within a decade, drawn record foreign investment and posted
historic highs on the stock market.
A narrow nationalist society has been turned into an outward-looking
country, playing the peacemaker in regional disputes and serving as a
model for many in the Arab Spring. The only Muslim member of NATO is a
stable nation in an unstable region.
For bringing about this remarkable transformation, while maintaining
secularism, Erdogan has been hailed by some as the Barack Obama of the
Middle East.
"The AKP is not a religious party. There's not a single word about
religion in the party program, and after eight years in power, Erdogan
has not pursued any Islamist objective," Michael Thumann says over a
lunch of salad and fresh fish on the European side of the Bosporus
across which you can see the gently sloping hills of Asia.
He is the Turkish-speaking correspondent of the German weekly Die
Zeit. In his just-published book "DerIslam-Irrtum: Europas Angst vor
der muslimischen Welt" (The Delusion over Islam: Europe's Fear of the
Muslim World), he warns against seeing everything about Muslims and
Muslim societies only through the lens of religion.
Erdogan is an observant Muslim. His stylish wife wears designer
hijabs. Ditto for President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu and their wives. That doesn't mean they are not democratic.
Their AKP has been called the Turkish equivalent of Europe's Christian
Democrats. They are better defined as "Islamic Calvinists," writes
Kerem Oktem, in Angry Nation, Turkey since 1989.
A professor at Oxford University, he notes that the AKP largely
represents the merchant and professional class from the ranks of the
religiously conservative Fetullah Gulen group and the Naqshbandi Sufi
order.
Thumann: "Islam in Turkey is not so much experiencing an upsurge or
revival as it is coming out of the closet."
That was too much for the army and the old elite, the self-appointed
guardians of secularism as defined by Kemal Ataturk, founder of the
Turkish republic in 1923 amid the disintegration of the Ottoman
Empire.
But it's a secularism that's authoritative - restricting religion,
free speech and basic freedoms. It also does not let the elected
government run the state. That power is cornered by the army, the
security and intelligence services, the judiciary (both judges and
prosecutors) and the bureaucracy - supported by an academic and media
elite. This unelected "deep state" has long dictated to elected
governments, including toppling three in military coups.
A year after coming to power in 2002, Erdogan let parliament vote on
whether or not the U.S. could use Turkey as a land corridor for the
invasion of Iraq. The motion was promptly rejected, reflecting popular
will. This shocked the army, which alone used to decide such matters.
Erdogan's drive to enter the EU caused the next big friction. The
process involved improving Turkey's democratic practices - something
the "deep state" resisted, for it would entail a steady loss of power
and privileges.
Europeanization was also resented by right-wing narrow nationalists,
embedded both in the state apparatus and in radical Islamic circles.
In 2006, there was a series of political murders and the country
descended into violence, "organized and incited by the generals,"
according to Oktem.
In 2007, the army objected to the nomination of Gul as president. His
wife's hijab was going to undermine the state, said the army chief,
sounding a like a European right-wing Islamophobe. He threatened a
coup. Erdogan refused to budge.
In 2008, the chief prosecutor charged the AKP with "anti-secular
activities." The government barely survived.
Last year, it handily won a referendum to assert greater civilian
control over the army and the right to make some appointments to the
judiciary.
Last month, the AKP swept the election with an astonishing 50 per cent
of the vote in a multi-party contest.
"The era of the army staging a coup is over," says Eugene Schoulgin, a
Norwegian author who has lived in Istanbul for the last five years and
speaks Turkish.
"The 'deep state' is a clandestine fascist group that has fought
democratization every step of the way. It's also the one that's
principally responsible for censorship."
Authors, journalists, human rights activists, especially those
belonging to the Kurdish minority, are still being charged for
"insulting Turkishness." There have been dozens of absurd trials. More
than 60 journalists are in jail, a majority of them Kurds.
"The judiciary is still living in the Middle Ages," adds Schoulgin.
Meanwhile, shocking details have emerged in an ongoing trial of 200
people, former senior army personnel and others, on charges of
undermining the government.
They plotted the assassination of prominent Armenians and other
non-Muslims, bombing mosques and triggering a war with Greece. The
idea was to cause havoc and create the excuse for a military coup.
None of this is to say that the Erdogan government is perfect. He can
be arrogant, vindictive and nepotistic. But his sins are not what
we've often been told by our media that, out of laziness or
anti-Muslim malevolence, have acted as mouthpieces of anti-democratic,
indeed fascist, forces.
Thursday: The real challenges ahead
Haroon Siddiqui writes Thursday and Sunday. [email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress