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Turkey Struggling Mightily With Freedom

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  • Turkey Struggling Mightily With Freedom

    TURKEY STRUGGLING MIGHTILY WITH FREEDOM
    By Howard Eisenstat

    Topeka Capital Journal (subscription), KS
    Nov 3 2006

    At first glance it might seem that the Turkish government under Prime
    Minister Tayyip Erdogan, once so determined to join the European
    Union (EU), has had a change of heart. With an overwhelming majority
    in Parliament, Erdogan's Justice and Development (AK) Party pushed
    through a series of liberalizing reforms early in its administration
    that went far beyond those contemplated by previous governments.

    Taken as a whole, they seemed to promise a new, more democratic and
    pluralistic country. In those heady days in 2003 and 2004, it seemed
    that Turkey was poised to achieve its long-term goal of membership in
    the European Union and -- given Erdogan's moderate Islamist base --
    a potential place of leadership for reforms within the Muslim world,
    as well.

    For the past year or two, however, such hopes have seemed increasingly
    Pollyannaish as reforms have stumbled. Most dramatically, a steady
    stream of Turkey's most prominent intellectuals, journalists and
    authors have been brought to trial under infamous "Article 301" of
    the Criminal Code, which makes it a criminal offense, punishable by
    as many as three years in prison, to "denigrate Turkishness." Should
    a citizen be found guilty of doing so while abroad, the time served
    may be increased by one-third.

    The result has been a serious blow to Turkey's reputation. The
    international stature of many of the accused has ensured widespread
    media coverage of the trials and a steady decline in national stature
    abroad. For example, Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's most celebrated novelist
    and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature, was brought to
    trial in 2005 for saying "Thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians
    were killed in these lands and nobody dares to talk about it." The
    case against Pamuk was eventually dropped, but new cases are brought
    up on a regular basis. No intellectual can write confidently on the
    wide range of issues that considered "hassas konular," or "sensitive
    issues," without the fear of possible prosecution. These issues range
    from the role of minorities in history and society to the rights
    of conscientious objectors. Turkish democratization - and Turkey's
    international reputation -- are dying from a thousand small blows.

    In fact, this public embarrassment appears to be part of a concerted
    effort by members of the old elite within the bureaucracy and military
    and their allies to sabotage both the Erdogan government and Turkey's
    European aspirations. The liberalization promised by the Erdogan
    government -- and demanded by the EU -- placed elements of the old
    elite in a dilemma. Many in the bureaucracy -- and particularly within
    the military -- believe it is their right and duty to shepherd Turkey
    toward modernization. Elected officials are seen as too corrupt, the
    populace as too ignorant and fickle to be trusted with stewardship of
    the nation. When legal limitations are insufficient for maintaining
    control, a murky system of patronage, strong-arm tactics and outright
    violence that the Turks refer to as the "Deep State" can be relied
    on to keep both politicians and ordinary citizens in line. The
    liberalization demanded by the EU and the reforms implemented early
    on by the Erdogan government all seemed to threaten this monopoly on
    real power.

    Thus early reforms went only half way. Though many were courageous,
    there were significant concessions to the powerful old guard. Since
    then, the enemies of liberalization have been busy, exploiting these
    weaknesses. They play on nationalist sentiment, giving ammunition
    to enemies of Turkey's bid to membership in the EU and making the
    government look far weaker than its strong majority in Parliament
    would suggest.

    Article 301 has become a weapon for Turkey's most retrograde
    elements: a weapon against the government, against Turkey's EU
    ambitions, against further reforms and against the burgeoning civil
    society. If recent media reports are correct, the Erdogan government
    is considering addressing the question of Article 301 again in the
    near future. Government officials need to do so quickly. And this
    time, they need to avoid the half-measures that have burdened them
    so far. This time, they need to cut out the root and branch, the
    anti-democratic language that Article 301 represents.

    Howard Eissenstat teaches Middle Eastern History at Seton Hall
    University in New Jersey and is a Turkey Country Specialist with
    Amnesty International USA. Founded in 1961, Amnesty International
    is a Nobel Prize winning grassroots activist organization with over
    one-million members world wide -- www.amnesty-usa.org

    http://cjonline.com/stories/1 10306/opi_eisenstat.shtml
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