 |
The crisis
in Turkey?
by
JOHN L. ESPOSITO*
by
JOHN L. ESPOSITO*
What of the two culprits: the ruling AK Party democratically elected two times and the Gülen movement are denounced as the major culprits. Their influence, it is charged, signals the current titanic clash between secular and Islamist or religious forces. The legacy of Atatürk’s secular state and society and its elites are under siege. What are the ominous signs that have brought Turkey to this precipice? Turkey’s entrenched secular establishment, whose status, power and privilege have been challenged by a rising class of well-educated bumpkins from Anatolia, who have been democratically elected and dominate Parliament. The AK Party’s founders are now prime minister and president. Members of the AK Party and the Gülen movement, emerging alternative elites, have “penetrated” the military and police that, like many institutions of society, had excluded them. Moreover, the Gülen movement is now a significant presence through its impressive network of schools in Turkey and globally that emphasize modern scientific education and religion. They also run prominent media outlets and are a formidable force in the business community.
The old political parties and secular elites have proven impotent, incapable of organizing a broad-based, effective opposition with a popular message that speaks to the political and economic challenges that Turkey faces. In contrast, the AK Party has affirmed the secular nature of the Turkish state, the separation of religion and the state. But, in contrast to its predecessors’ hard-line secular fundamentalism with its anti-religious bias, the AK Party has insisted that secularism can include a public space for belief as well as non-belief. It has introduced important political and economic reforms, advanced Turkey’s cause for membership in the European Union, addressed human rights issues and struggled with resolving the Kurdish and Armenian “questions.” The process has not been without its pitfalls and problems.
Sounding like a mouthpiece for hard-line secular elites and the military, Pipes asserts that “Turkey’s military has long been both the state’s most trusted institution and the guarantor of Atatürk’s legacy.” So what does the record show? The military has “intervened” four times to “save the Turkish secular state. What Pipes describes as “intervened to repair a political process gone awry” is a clear endorsement of military coups. Both Pipes and Çağaptay conveniently gloss over facts established by Turkish judges that at least three-four major coup attempts have been attempted by the military since the AK Party came to power in 2002.
Yes, there has been a departure from the legacy of the past with major implications for Turkey and Muslims everywhere. Turkey has become more democratic, with a more open political and social system, a more broad-based electorate and leadership, and a greater emphasis on rule of law that includes the accountability of all institutions, including the military. What we are seeing is not a showdown between secularists and so-called Islamists or the demise of the secular state, but a process of normalization and the maturing of Turkey’s democracy, institutions and the rule of law.
*John L. Esposito is a university professor and founding director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. This article was originally published in The Huffington Post on March 2.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AMANDA PAUL |  |
||
| Ukraine: a lost country | |||
| MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE |  |
||
| The 52nd anniversary of May 27 | |||
| ABDULLAH BOZKURT |  |
||
| Turkey and Mexico: Distant yet so close | |||
| BERİL DEDEOĞLU |  |
||
| Yemen and beyond | |||
| ARZU KAYA URANLI |  |
||
| On Memorial Day a few words to make your day memorable | |||
| ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ |  |
||
| Google kidnaps Gül! | |||
| CUMALİ ÖNAL |  |
||
| Critical months for Egypt | |||
| DOĞU ERGİL |  |
||
| Qualities of power | |||
| GÖKHAN BACIK |  |
||
| Erdoğan, Gül and Davutoğlu: the inner bargain on Turkish foreign policy | |||
| İHSAN YILMAZ |  |
||
| The Egyptian elections, Islam and Islamists | |||
| JOOST LAGENDIJK |  |
||
| Europe can’t have it all. Or can it? | |||
| MELİH ARAT |  |
||
| Handmade | |||
| SEYFETTİN GÜRSEL |  |
||
| Poor-friendly economic growth and the AK Party | |||
| CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON |  |
||
| Missing women, missing opportunities | |||
| BERK ÇEKTİR |  |
||
| Changes to incentives for investment in Turkey | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
