Lale Kemal from Turkish Today’s Zaman touched upon Turkey’s identity forged in the recent years. Find full article below:
Turkey has long been in search of its identity. What is Turkey? European? Middle Eastern? A crossroads between East and West? Currently Turkey is the latter, a crossroads country that has no obstacle in adapting to both modernity and democracy.
Reforms initiated by the Justice and Development Part (AK Party) to both extend the rule of law and ensure individual rights in the context of a democracy, however, have ironically been slowed down by the ruling party itself. Initiatives directed at the Kurdish and Alevi communities have come to a standstill at the same time as a decline in respect to human rights compared with the achievements of the AK Party’s early years starting in 2002.
Against this background, Turkey under AK Party governance can be seen as having opted for modernization, as opposed to democracy, as the party enters its 10th year in power.
Turkey’s choice in becoming a modern rather than democratic country is also apparent as the NATO member nation drifts away from the European Union, failing to meet democratic criteria set forth by the bloc. Ankara and Brussels are both to blame for Turkey’s failure in going ahead with both military and civilian reforms to become a full member of the EU. Ankara has, however, had the choice to go ahead with democratic reforms regardless of the EU’s negative stance toward Turkish membership. But it has not.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, gave poor marks to Ankara in its annual progress report released on Oct. 10 due to a downward trend in Ankara’s meeting the democratic criteria of the bloc. The report states that the Kurdish issue remains a key challenge for Turkey’s democracy, criticizing Ankara for deficiencies in legislation preventing the use of torture and excessive force as well as a worsening situation concerning freedom of expression. In other words, Turkey has failed to make progress on democracy and the rule of law.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been making a considerable effort toward the modernization of Turkey. Under his rule, modern highways are being built and efforts are under way to provide high-tech upgrades for both the military and civilian fields. Access to and services of the health care system have dramatically improved, while the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) has enabled low income citizens to own their houses. TOKİ’s system has become an important social project in this sense. The degree of unaccountability for TOKİ to government oversight, however, is a matter of concern that I have to mention here while emphasizing its importance to the public.
The slowdown in democratic reforms amidst quickening modernization does not, however, mean that Turkish citizens will not one day opt for a full democracy.
Francis Fukuyama in his famous book “The End of History” states, “The desire to live in a liberal [society] democracy — a political order characterized by a sphere of individual rights and the rule of law — is, indeed, something acquired over time, often as a byproduct of — that is, technologically advanced — successful modernization.”
Prime Minister Erdoğan, seeking to become president in 2014, seeks robust powers for the presidency in the event of his election to the post. Thus, he is urging a semi- or full presidential system to be included in a new constitution, which is currently being rewritten by politicians, though at a slow pace. The constitutional committee composed of all four political parties represented in Parliament has not yet made advances in rewriting a democratic constitution, as they all differ from each other over the introduction of basic democratic principles. And except the ruling AK Party, all political parties oppose a transition to the presidential system.
The question then is whether Erdoğan will be happy as a president with fewer powers than he desired, hindering the full extent of the Turkish modernization project he outlined for completion in 2023. The late politician Turgut Özal was not happy with his limited powers as president. Regardless of whether Erdoğan will be happy as such a president, we can be sure he will seek the post.
