For a moment, I looked at him to see whether he was putting me on or not. No, he was very candid. Furthermore, he was supported by three other neighboring couples whom we shared the afternoon with. This must be what is called “being a stranger in your own country.”There are millions who want the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to be overthrown by any means possible. Rule of law, democracy, fair play, etc., no longer matter for these social cohorts who feel their lifestyles and fundamental social values are threatened by the AKP. Similarly, there are even more people who believe the ruling bureaucratic elite, which hid behind modernism, Westernism and Kemalism, have ruled the country with an iron fist and stifled democracy, economic growth and development of civil society.
The struggle between these two opposing forces does not only take place at the level of social values but also at the political level. What is transpiring today is a competition for power and vying for the control of society. However, there are two confounding factors. One is that the old elite can no longer rule while the new ruling cadres are not yet elites. So, the increasingly dysfunctional old culture is not being replaced by another (a new) culture that would legitimize and regulate social relationships and new institutions. There is anomy.
The second source of uncertainty is the structure of the system, which is based on the union of powers despite written statements regarding their separation. The system avails the domination of the executive over the legislative and juridical branches.
It is after the move to multi-party politics (in 1950) that society (the electorate) started to influence the legislature and the executive and challenged the unquestionable power of the bureaucratic elite. The 1960 military coup was staged to reinstate the de facto union of powers although it produced a Constitution in which powers seemed to be far more differentiated from one another. A Constitutional Court was established. The military junta transformed itself into “natural senators” (for life) and took its place in a new Senate. These two bodies closely kept the legislature under control.
The National Security Council (MGK), with more military members than Cabinet ministers, was conceived as a tutelary institution rather than an advisory body to the government on security matters. In practice, almost everything under the sun was interpreted as a security liability.
All of these institutions created the semblance of separation of powers but they worked to the contrary. When this setup began to fail, military coups in 1971, 1980 and the threat of a coup in 1997 set the record straight once again.
Once again the system is in turmoil today because the legislative and executive are in “alien” hands. The old elite are trying to get back their privilege to rule. The backbone of the bureaucracy -- namely, the military -- mellowed after being confronted with conspiracy to overthrow the elected government. The judiciary has now taken on that job. Neither is justice dispensed nor stability maintained. People of all leanings are confused and are looking for a way out. This is an opportune time for millenarian movements or charismatic charlatans.
