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The New York Times
November 2, 2013 Saturday
The International New York Times
Is Erdogan a Democrat?
By MUSTAFA AKYOL
CONTRIBUTING OP-ED WRITER; Pg.
ISTANBUL -- There is a heated debate in Turkey these days over whether
the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Enhanced
Coverage LinkingRecep Tayyip Erdogan -Search using:Biographies Plus
NewsNews, Most Recent 60 Daysis furthering democracy or rolling it
back.
Optimists argue that, thanks to the defanging of the long-dominant
military, Turks now enjoy real democracy for the first time. Others,
however, argue that Mr. Erdogan is becoming increasingly authoritarian
after a decade in power and that Turkey is less free every day.
Either of these opposing views can be persuasively substantiated -- if
one carefully cherry-picks facts, which is what both Mr. Erdogan's
supporters and detractors regularly do while ignoring all evidence to
the contrary.
If one looks at the rights of Kurds or of Christian minorities, for
example, one will find plenty of reasons to praise Mr. Erdogan. He has
carried out the most liberal reforms Turkey has ever seen on these
issues, such as reopening historic churches, launching talks between
government representatives and Kurdish militant leaders, and
permitting schools and television stations to teach and broadcast in
the formerly banned Kurdish language. In addition, laws have been
amended many times to advance women's rights and the protection of
minorities to conform with European norms. The recent lifting of the
ban on the Islamic head scarf, which was forbidden in public
institutions, should also be seen as a step forward for religious
freedom.
But if one looks at the freedom of the press, the picture turns dark.
As documented by various international organizations, the Turkish
media has become less and less free in recent years. A few
anti-government papers still exist, but in the established mainstream
media, whose owners feel obliged to please the government, dozens of
writers who were too critical of the notoriously thin-skinned Mr.
Erdogan have lost their jobs. As Bulent Kenes, the editor of Today's
Zaman, a conservative-leaning paper that used to support the prime
minister, wrote in a scathing column last week, there is a ''new media
order'' in which criticizing the government is becoming more and more
unsafe.
The simple fact, that neither side wants to accept is that Mr.
Erdogan's government Enhanced Coverage LinkingErdogan's government
-Search using:Biographies Plus NewsNews, Most Recent 60 Daysis
advancing democracy on some levels, while curbing it on others.
This is happening because while Mr. Erdogan is a passionate defender
of electoral democracy (he keeps winning), he is not terribly fond of
liberal democracy. Some key principles of political liberalism, such
as limited government, checks and balances, and a fully independent
press, do not seem to count for much in his political vision. In fact,
some members of his team have openly described these as unnecessary
constraints on the ''national will,'' which is represented by whoever
wins at the ballot box. (They might have been further persuaded by the
American government's recent shutdown, which didn't exactly cast the
system of checks and balances in the most glowing light.)
Mr. Erdogan's patriarchal personality plays a role in all this as
well. He sees himself as a loving, caring father to his nation -- an
attitude that resonates here. The upside of this vision has been 10
years of enormous advances in the economy, health care, education and
transportation. The downside is that when his opponents don't
universally praise his achievements, he perceives them as disobedient
children who deserve to be reprimanded. This has led to public
outbursts about critical newspaper columnists and this summer's
heavy-handed police crackdown on anti-government protesters.
The irony is that despite many liberals' opposition to his rule, the
Erdogan era has in fact advanced a number of unmistakably liberal
causes. His Justice and Development Party, known as the A.K.P., came
to power in 2002 with a bold message of change. The ''Old Turkey'' was
too militaristic, too nationalist and too oppressive. The A.K.P. vowed
to liberate not just its own voting base -- the religious
conservatives who feel they have been humiliated by a zealously
secularist elite -- but also all marginalized groups, such as the
Kurds, Armenians and Greeks.
This is why much of Turkey's intelligentsia -- which always dreamed of
liberal democracy but never had the mandate to build one -- supported
Mr. Erdogan. That is also how the ''Islamist-liberal alliance'' became
the bête noire of the old elite, which includes former army generals
who are now in jail for planning a coup against Mr. Erdogan.
Some Turkish liberals still support Mr. Erdogan for dismantling the
''Old Turkey,'' but others have abandoned him, arguing that his ''New
Turkey'' has created new problems that are piling up as the years pass
and as power corrupts those who wield it.
At a time when no major opposition party seems capable of offering a
better vision, it is naïve to hope that liberal democracy will emerge
from any single party or some revolutionary moment. Rather, it will
come through gradual reform. When Mr. Erdogan takes steps like the
''democratization package'' he announced on Sept. 30, he should be
supported. When he takes illiberal steps like cracking down on
peaceful protests or demonizing opponents with extravagant conspiracy
theories, he should be criticized. The recent Turkey Progress Report
by the European Commission is a good example of such balanced,
objective analysis.
And for all the A.K.P.'s illiberal tendencies, it is worth remembering
that the staunchly secular pre-Erdogan era, which some nostalgic Turks
still portray as a bygone democratic idyll, was in fact much less free
in almost all respects.
Contrary to the alarmism of those who long for the old days and attack
the current government at every opportunity, Turkey is not on the path
to becoming another Iran or Saudi Arabia -- or something like Vladimir
Putin's Russia. But it certainly is not a fully liberal democracy yet.
To make it one, Mr. Erdogan and his allies must accept that they can't
advance democracy merely by taking pride in correcting the misdeeds of
their predecessors. They also have to look hard at their decade-old
rule, recognize their mistakes and then correct them.
Mustafa Akyol is the author of ''Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case
for Liberty.''
INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/02/opinion/akyol-is-erdogan-a-democrat.html
November 2, 2013 Saturday
The International New York Times
Is Erdogan a Democrat?
By MUSTAFA AKYOL
CONTRIBUTING OP-ED WRITER; Pg.
ISTANBUL -- There is a heated debate in Turkey these days over whether
the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Enhanced
Coverage LinkingRecep Tayyip Erdogan -Search using:Biographies Plus
NewsNews, Most Recent 60 Daysis furthering democracy or rolling it
back.
Optimists argue that, thanks to the defanging of the long-dominant
military, Turks now enjoy real democracy for the first time. Others,
however, argue that Mr. Erdogan is becoming increasingly authoritarian
after a decade in power and that Turkey is less free every day.
Either of these opposing views can be persuasively substantiated -- if
one carefully cherry-picks facts, which is what both Mr. Erdogan's
supporters and detractors regularly do while ignoring all evidence to
the contrary.
If one looks at the rights of Kurds or of Christian minorities, for
example, one will find plenty of reasons to praise Mr. Erdogan. He has
carried out the most liberal reforms Turkey has ever seen on these
issues, such as reopening historic churches, launching talks between
government representatives and Kurdish militant leaders, and
permitting schools and television stations to teach and broadcast in
the formerly banned Kurdish language. In addition, laws have been
amended many times to advance women's rights and the protection of
minorities to conform with European norms. The recent lifting of the
ban on the Islamic head scarf, which was forbidden in public
institutions, should also be seen as a step forward for religious
freedom.
But if one looks at the freedom of the press, the picture turns dark.
As documented by various international organizations, the Turkish
media has become less and less free in recent years. A few
anti-government papers still exist, but in the established mainstream
media, whose owners feel obliged to please the government, dozens of
writers who were too critical of the notoriously thin-skinned Mr.
Erdogan have lost their jobs. As Bulent Kenes, the editor of Today's
Zaman, a conservative-leaning paper that used to support the prime
minister, wrote in a scathing column last week, there is a ''new media
order'' in which criticizing the government is becoming more and more
unsafe.
The simple fact, that neither side wants to accept is that Mr.
Erdogan's government Enhanced Coverage LinkingErdogan's government
-Search using:Biographies Plus NewsNews, Most Recent 60 Daysis
advancing democracy on some levels, while curbing it on others.
This is happening because while Mr. Erdogan is a passionate defender
of electoral democracy (he keeps winning), he is not terribly fond of
liberal democracy. Some key principles of political liberalism, such
as limited government, checks and balances, and a fully independent
press, do not seem to count for much in his political vision. In fact,
some members of his team have openly described these as unnecessary
constraints on the ''national will,'' which is represented by whoever
wins at the ballot box. (They might have been further persuaded by the
American government's recent shutdown, which didn't exactly cast the
system of checks and balances in the most glowing light.)
Mr. Erdogan's patriarchal personality plays a role in all this as
well. He sees himself as a loving, caring father to his nation -- an
attitude that resonates here. The upside of this vision has been 10
years of enormous advances in the economy, health care, education and
transportation. The downside is that when his opponents don't
universally praise his achievements, he perceives them as disobedient
children who deserve to be reprimanded. This has led to public
outbursts about critical newspaper columnists and this summer's
heavy-handed police crackdown on anti-government protesters.
The irony is that despite many liberals' opposition to his rule, the
Erdogan era has in fact advanced a number of unmistakably liberal
causes. His Justice and Development Party, known as the A.K.P., came
to power in 2002 with a bold message of change. The ''Old Turkey'' was
too militaristic, too nationalist and too oppressive. The A.K.P. vowed
to liberate not just its own voting base -- the religious
conservatives who feel they have been humiliated by a zealously
secularist elite -- but also all marginalized groups, such as the
Kurds, Armenians and Greeks.
This is why much of Turkey's intelligentsia -- which always dreamed of
liberal democracy but never had the mandate to build one -- supported
Mr. Erdogan. That is also how the ''Islamist-liberal alliance'' became
the bête noire of the old elite, which includes former army generals
who are now in jail for planning a coup against Mr. Erdogan.
Some Turkish liberals still support Mr. Erdogan for dismantling the
''Old Turkey,'' but others have abandoned him, arguing that his ''New
Turkey'' has created new problems that are piling up as the years pass
and as power corrupts those who wield it.
At a time when no major opposition party seems capable of offering a
better vision, it is naïve to hope that liberal democracy will emerge
from any single party or some revolutionary moment. Rather, it will
come through gradual reform. When Mr. Erdogan takes steps like the
''democratization package'' he announced on Sept. 30, he should be
supported. When he takes illiberal steps like cracking down on
peaceful protests or demonizing opponents with extravagant conspiracy
theories, he should be criticized. The recent Turkey Progress Report
by the European Commission is a good example of such balanced,
objective analysis.
And for all the A.K.P.'s illiberal tendencies, it is worth remembering
that the staunchly secular pre-Erdogan era, which some nostalgic Turks
still portray as a bygone democratic idyll, was in fact much less free
in almost all respects.
Contrary to the alarmism of those who long for the old days and attack
the current government at every opportunity, Turkey is not on the path
to becoming another Iran or Saudi Arabia -- or something like Vladimir
Putin's Russia. But it certainly is not a fully liberal democracy yet.
To make it one, Mr. Erdogan and his allies must accept that they can't
advance democracy merely by taking pride in correcting the misdeeds of
their predecessors. They also have to look hard at their decade-old
rule, recognize their mistakes and then correct them.
Mustafa Akyol is the author of ''Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case
for Liberty.''
INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/02/opinion/akyol-is-erdogan-a-democrat.html