Turkey is in Tahrir Square
by Mümtaz’Er Türköne

They are seeking a political system like the one in Turkey. Liberals of the Western world who are concerned about the possibility of an Islamist government in Egypt should notice this similarity. Egypt is traveling toward the position Turkey has attained after a long and adventurous quest for democracy. It is a bit delayed, but doing it with determination, nonetheless. If a revolution takes place in Egypt and Hosni Mubarak’s regime is replaced with a government elected to office in free elections, the resulting regime will be similar to the one in Turkey. The Western countries that failed to recognize a similar change in Algeria in 1990 should not make the same mistake again. Egypt’s democratic government, of course, will not be as easily amenable to the West as Mubarak’s. But, a government backed by the Egyptian public will make great contributions to international peace.

Anyone who is eager to understand what will happen should closely monitor Turkey.

The opposition in Turkey

The Egyptian people’s revolt is causing tremors for people in power in Egypt and the opposition in Turkey. The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are still unable to understand what is going on. They even fail to make the minimum reasoning about the possible profound consequences of the Egyptian uprising on Turkey. The only conclusion the MHP can draw is that this uprising may spread to Turkey. They also try to attack the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) by accusing it of acting as the “co-chairman of the Greater Middle East Project.” The spokesmen of the MHP, not Egyptians, complain that the prime minister did not make a comment about the uprising until Tuesday. The case of the CHP is worse. “Our rulers want to be like them, and their people want to be like us,” Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu says. But, already, Egyptian people are exactly like Turkish people. But our political systems and rulers differ. Egyptians want their rulers to be democratically elected to office as is the case in Turkey.

And the comments the CHP leader made to diplomatic reporters about the Egyptian people are, in a word, unbelievable. “Turkey will attain a very different level when these people resemble Turkey. The peoples of the Middle East will do away with fears of an axis shift,” he says. Is he talking about the people’s revolts, which were started by the middle class and which were backed by conservatives, and which triggered concerns in the West over a possible advent of radical Islam and which became a nightmare for Israel and which are being aired live or is he referring to something else?

What may be the reasons for the opposition’s failure to correctly perceive such important developments that may affect the future of the region and Turkey as well as for their lack of policies in the face of these developments? Is it because the senior executives of these two parties are completely engrossed in the deputy candidate nomination process for the nearing elections? Given the problems they experience in local party organizations, the answer to this question is “maybe.” But, I instinctively believe that the opposition is quite uneasy about the prestige the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) earned in connection with the uprising in Egypt.

Turkey’s model: democratic Islam

Let us list everything and make an assessment. Turkey’s success in ensuring democratization, improving rule of law, fostering respect for human rights and freedoms, restoring the public’s self-confidence, ensuring economic growth and pursuing a principled, ethical foreign policy in the region should have concrete outcomes. The current revolts all across the Muslim world against dictatorships are one of these visible consequences. The revolt in Egypt and Egyptian people’s hopes for democracy and freedoms are largely the result of Turkey’s performance. The peoples of the Middle East have revolted with demands for an administration like Turkey. It follows that the most important factor that made this revolt possible was the presence of Turkey near them as a living example. A survey conducted by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), a liberal think tank, provides ample evidence for this. Turkey serves as a role model for about two-thirds of Arab people.

Concerns about radical Islam voiced by the US and Europe are neutralized by the concrete model Turkey provides. Western liberals offer the model of Turkey that is at peace with the West as a counterargument against pro-US dictatorships. Radical Islamists look at Turkey and revise their positions and adapt to democracy. With the self-confidence they borrow from Turkey, different segments of society have the courage to join together in revolt against dictatorship.

Turkey is exporting a political regime -- or more importantly -- a political culture to Middle Eastern countries.

Arab people’s future in democracy

There are no other countries around the world that resemble each other like Turkey and Egypt. They are like two halves of the same apple. Their culture and traditions are exactly the same. Their family structures, conservative values and class differences are exact copies of each other. During the last two centuries, the modernization histories of these two peoples have progressed intricately with each other most of the time and in parallel for the rest of the time. Only recently has Turkey managed to leave Egypt behind in terms of democratic development. Now, Egyptians are trying to close this gap.

The people that took to the streets in Egypt are in power in Turkey. They openly voice their demands for a political system similar to Turkey’s. The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) that incites Western fears announces that they will follow the Turkish model. The speech Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered to his party’s parliamentary group was aired live in Tahrir Square. The Turkish model and the Turkish prime minister’s advice help the Egyptian people in the streets focus on a specific target and refrain from wreaking havoc with rage. The nature and direction of the revolt in Egypt is being determined unprompted by Turkey.

What will come next? Democratically-elected governments will assume power in the entire Middle East and North Africa. Under the rule of these new administrations, people who have been impoverished by dictators will seek not just wealth, but also dignity in the international arena. With the end of dictatorships that relied on the political backing of Western countries rather than on their own people, these countries will enjoy their responsible and dynamic administrations. The arrogance-tainted diplomacy Turkey had been pursuing with dictatorships will be replaced with a warm and human foreign policy that is conducted between peoples.

Muslims were impoverished under dictatorships. They lived deprived of their fundamental rights and freedoms. But more importantly, they lost their dignity in foreign policy. For the US and Israel, cooperative dictatorships may seem very profitable in the short term. But, these dictatorships are the main reason for the rage that built up in the Muslim world against the US and Israel. They may have difficulties in establishing good relations with democratic governments. But this will also offer a good opportunity for the US and Israel to rid themselves of their fears about the region. This is because it is not animosity or war -- but dignity -- that Muslims are seeking.

The AK Party government’s foreign policy that injected self-confidence in the whole Muslim world shows that this search for dignity is not very costly.