Some of those “Kemalists” see secularism as a tool to prevent all sorts of freedoms in the country, from religious freedoms to the freedoms of expression to progress under the guise of “Kemalism.” They perceive possible Turkish membership in the European Union as a step toward the disintegration of the Turkish Republic , though there have been no examples of any European nations that have disintegrated as a result of their EU membership. On the contrary, those EU member states, for example, addressed and reduced their own terror problem through the introduction of more democratic rights, resorting to military measures only very rarely.
There are some Turks abroad, too, who have a “Kemalist” mindset in the negative sense, which has nothing to do with Kemal Atatürk's principles laid down in the early 1920s. They simply promote anachronistic ideas under the guise of “Kemalism,” distorting facts about Turkey while finding publications having an international reputation to disseminate their misperceptions to foreign readers.
There are many areas that one can criticize, for example, about the policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
I criticize the ruling party, for example, for failing to continue the military and the civilian reforms that it put its stamp on during its first term, and for getting closer to the views of those so-called “Kemalists” instead. Since 2005, the government has gradually entered into the sphere of the influence of those defending an inward-looking Turkey , postponing solutions to its core problems such as the Kurdish issue, economic development and Cyprus. Yet, the steps to be taken toward solving those critical questions will mean progress in the rule of law and democratic governance as a whole.
It is, meanwhile, worthwhile to give credit to the AK Party for supporting an investigation named Ergenekon, which will help considerably in cleaning the state of illegal elements, provided that this case is pursued and those committing crimes, such as plotting to unseat the government, are punished under a fair trial.
But some Turks abroad who have influential positions in the countries that they live in have fallen victim to “so-called Kemalism,” which has no relation at all with the real Kemalist principles. Among them is Soner Çağaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. His articles on Turkey appear frequently in some international publications. But in most of his analyses, he does not reflect realities about Turkey, but rather he reflects a mindset that smells revenge from those political rulers, thereby distancing himself from objectivity while misleading the readers.
Çağaptay, I learned, has been among those lecturing US Foreign Service diplomats before they begin serving in Turkey . I am not in the opinion that those US diplomats are indoctrinated with lectures given by those who are not objective analysts of Turkey . But still it maybe unavoidable that they will be influenced by “Bogus Kemalist” ideologies that have nothing to do with true Kemalist principles, making a fresh but bad start in the early days of their duties here, perhaps sometimes sending to their capital misleading analyses about the real problems of Turkey.
Turkey 's real problem is the lack of true democracy and that cannot be achieved if reforms in all spheres are not made.
