A Tea Party in Turkey

Wikipedia presents this simple description of Turkey’s socio-political fundamentals: “Turkey is a democratic, secular,unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage.” Its 75 million people are three quarters Turkish, about 18% Kurdish (a troubled  minority) and virtually all Sunni Muslim. It is modern with sustainable economic growth. It has been a beacon of secularity in a region known for its deep religiously-linked governments, a place recognized for its tolerance and strict avoidance of religious domination of politics… until recently.

Although the 3% of Turkey – across the Bosporus – is physically in Europe, the recent trend that had moved NATO-member Turkey closer to Europe, even seeking membership in the European Union, seems to be reversing as the tide of “we’re Muslim and we’re different” emotional sweep that is embracing an increasing number of old world traditionalists with strong Islamist leanings. The difference between our own right wing political Tea Party movement (with its strong Evangelical leanings) and Turkey’s comparable Development and Justice Party is that in Turkey, that ultra-conservative government has been in power since 2003, under an increasingly militant and religiously-driven Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

After World War I, the Sunni Caliphate, the Ottoman Empire, collapsed. The Ottomans began to assert their control in 1253, solidifying control over the Anatolian peninsula over the next 200 years… and the Ottoman sultans remained in power until that Great War when they unfortunately had sided with the loser: Germany. What happened next was to redefine Turkey as a modern competitor, free from domination by religious rulers. This post-WWI miracle was led by a distinguished military commander, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (this latter honorary name means “father of the Turks”), founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. He introduced a unique secular government, imposing radical reforms that jump-started this once backward nation headlong into modernity.

This republic rocked back and forth between democratically-elected leaders and military coups: such coups d'état occurred in 1960, 1971, 1980 and as recently as 1997. This “guardian” army has reacted to protect secularism over the ages, keeping Turkey on a reasonably steady keel, sometimes at the expense of human rights. Yet to this day, the military – with its deep roots linked to Atatürk’s transformational efforts – remains the most trusted body in the eyes of the majority of Turks even in this era of rising Muslim radicalism, and even in a country that has been dominated by Erdoğan’s Islamism for over a decade.

But Erdoğan is determined to crush that military preeminence and lock his nation in its seeming acceleration into an even more extreme religious right. Recent riots among those who believe secularism is being eliminated, the teachings of Atatürk attacked by imperiling religiosity, have been consistently and brutally repressed by the Erdoğan regime. But Erdoğan’s greatest message to his armed forces has been a series of closed-door trials of almost 300 top officials, jurists, academics, journalists and military officers accused of plotting to overthrow his government.

“A Turkish court sentenced dozens of high-ranking military officers, politicians, journalists and others to long prison terms on [August 5^th] for plotting to overthrow the government in a long-running case that captivated the nation for its audacity, laid bare the deep divisions within Turkish society between Islamists and secularists and earned sharp criticism from the international community over issues of judicial fairness.” New York Times, August 5^th. Life sentences were handed out like leaflets, and while 20 defendants were acquitted of all charges, the vast majority of those accused were convicted. A retired senior general, Veli Küçük (pictured above), faced life in prison.

“With at least 20 journalists sentenced to prison terms between 6 and 34 years, the case also illuminated Turkey’s poor record on media freedom. Reporters Without Borders, based in Paris, has referred to Turkey as ‘the world’s biggest prison for reporters’ and ranked Turkey 154th of 179 countries, behind Iraq and Russia, in its 2013 World Press Freedom Index...

“Others sentenced on Monday included Mustafa Balbay, an elected member of Parliament from the opposition Republican People’s Party, who was given a prison term of 34 years and 8 months; Kemal Kerincsiz, a lawyer who has filed complaints against at least 40 writers for ‘insulting Turkishness,’ including the Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk; Veli Kucuk, the lead suspect in the trial and a former brigadier general suspected of founding Jitem, a wing of the Turkish gendarmerie; and another opposition member of Parliament…

“But Mr. Erdogan, who has been in power more than a decade and is Turkey’s longest-serving prime minister, is facing increasing resistance. Nearly half of the country did not vote for him. Those opponents found their voice in the street protests in June and could again be galvanized by [these] verdicts. That would present a new test for Mr. Erdogan, who is widely assumed to be planning to run for president next year.” NY Times. Is this an open invitation to the military to step forward and provide Erdoğan with his worst fears? Can the military stop this clear march towards Islamist extremism and a religiously-based going-forward government? And how will the Western world relate to this instability and attempt to destroy the secularism that has defined Turkey for almost a century?

I’m Peter Dekom, and expect instability in this great nation for the foreseeable future.