The fact that many shadowy plans were uncovered and steps taken to ferret out criminal gangs in 2009 raises hopes that Turkey will come up with solutions to its problems in 2010 and finish this year as a more democratic and wealthy country. In this regard, analysts predict 2010 will be a turning point in Turkey’s history.According to Radikal’s Hasan Celal Güzel, some of the developments in the last quarter of 2009 show that 2010 will be a turning point in the history of Turkey and that obstacles before Turkey’s development will be cleared. The facts revealed as part of the investigation into Ergenekon, a shadowy crime network that has alleged links within the state and is suspected of plotting to topple the government, and clandestine military plots that have recently been uncovered, in Güzel’s view, show that the era of military interventions has ended in Turkey. “After the Supreme Military Council [YAŞ] of August 2010, I believe that the military will return to its barracks completely. Otherwise, there will be no positive developments in Turkey, and I do not want to think about such a scenario,” says Güzel.
Describing the year 2009 as one during which Turkey addressed problems that have plagued the country for decades, Sabah’s Mahmut Övür says that by confronting its history, Turkey has paved the way to good developments as signaled by President Abdullah Gül earlier in 2009. “This shows that we can look toward the year 2010 with hope, and I hope this year will be a year of solution, when democratic steps are taken,” says Övür.
“Leaving behind a tumultuous year, I think the year 2010 will be better than 2009,” says Bugün’s Erhan Başyurt, who believes Turkey’s face in the new year is turned toward the light, not darkness. Looking at the past year, he says: “Turkey managed to get out of the global financial crisis without the support of the [International Monetary Fund] IMF. Despite the crisis, Turkey’s credit rating, which shows Turkey’s economic reliability, has been raised. The Armenian initiative, which aims for the normalization of bilateral ties with the country, was important for the breaking of prejudices. The Syrian initiative was also revolutionary. Both of these initiatives are symbols of Turkey facing its history and reconciling with its cultural depths.” In his view, the man of the year in 2009 was Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, not only because of his Davos walkout, when Erdoğan left the stage in a panel in Davos after a spat with Israeli President Shimon Peres about Israeli atrocities in Gaza, but also because Erdoğan dared to stand behind foreign policy initiatives and a democratization initiative that aims to resolve Turkey’s long-standing Kurdish problem. “Turkey is undergoing a stable democratization process. The courage shown in resolving the terror and Kurdish problems will yield more fruit in 2010,” adds Başyurt, who believes that the scandalous incidents that put their mark on 2009 are also making Turkey proceed toward a future as a democratic and transparent country.
