Overcoming self-doubt

When it took steps to normalize relations with Armenia or admitted that a new approach to the Kurdish issue was needed, the AK Party fueled hope of radical change. But on several occasions, we’ve seen the government putting its best foot forward only to retreat in the face of strong opposition. It does so before it gets a chance to reap the rewards of its bold new solutions, thus wasting a chance to silence its critics once and for all by proving them wrong.

This lack of finishing power allows its opponents to attack the ruling party twice: first for challenging the traditional “red lines” that have (mis)guided policy for decades, then a second time for failing to achieve the goals it had set itself. The steps taken by the government further the debate, but they fall far short of ending it allowing the same issues to inevitably raise their ugly head again.

This weakness is particularly obvious now that we have entered “genocide season.” Year after year, the cycle repeats itself. A couple of weeks before a resolution on the 1915 events is due to be submitted to the US Congress -- or one of several European parliaments that have considered similar bills -- Turkish organizations spring into action and launch intense lobbying campaigns, with mixed success. Turkey may avert a vote one year, only to face the threat again at a later date.

Parliaments should not rule on historical events. Moves to put a genocide label on the 1915 massacres have done little to help improve relations between Armenia and Turkey. But fair or not, Ankara is faced with a sad political reality. Recalling ambassadors and warning allies of dire consequences does little to change widespread perceptions that atrocities were committed against Armenians in eastern Turkey, even if Turks lost their lives, too, during the conflict.

The best way to defuse this perennial issue is to normalize ties with Armenia. The government took brave steps in that direction when it signed the protocols in Switzerland last year, but it chose to place a time bomb under its initiative by linking it to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The protocols had been welcomed as a major shift in Turkish foreign policy, but the success of this new diplomacy has been diluted in recent days by Ankara’s very traditional response.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has taken important steps to make Turkey a more inclusive society, the latest example being his efforts to engage with the Roma community. Last year, he made brave statements on the Kurdish issue, but their impact has been diluted by the lack of concrete action and the arrests of hundreds of Kurdish activists, including elected politicians.

During a recent briefing for foreign correspondents organized by the Journalists and Writers’ Foundation (GYV), Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin announced a package of constitutional amendments aimed at bringing Turkey’s judicial system more in line with European Union practices.

Improving the structure of the judiciary and clarifying the role of institutions like the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) is important, but Turkey needs an entirely new constitution, rather than a piecemeal approach, to put its democratic practices on a more solid footing. As long as prosecutors can accuse a tambourine player of being a member of an illegal organization for playing the wrong tune, how credible can the Turkish judiciary really be in the eyes of EU public opinion?