Election does not mean democracy. At least, the difference between participatory democracy and liberal democracy exists. Israeli Arabs are allowed to participate in every election, elect members of Parliament, establish political parties and can have a place at every level of politics. They are not, however, allowed to visit their relatives on the other side of the wall. The general elections in Iraq may have been democratic, but to claim that democracy has come to Iraq would sound naïve. It would be tantamount to injustice for democracy to flourish in Iraq through only one single election, while democracy has still not been established in Turkey after dozens of elections. Democracy is a way of life. It is not only about what sort of rights the state has given to the nation. It is about how a nation perceives itself, other components constituting society and its responsibilities, the other, and its administrators. Unless these perceptions are put in the right places, the "sort of democracies" established with the simplicity of "'you are the electorate, this is the ballot box and this is the ballot, "give birth to a political culture in between civil revolts and military interventions.
Every delightful show after an election does not mean that democracy is being celebrated. The green-yellow-red celebration in Kirkuk, which was seen on the cameras, was not an expression of joy caused by a reconciliation of the electorate-ballot box-ballot but of an excitement caused by an occupation, which could not succeed by gun and bayonet, but by ballot box. For the Basra women in their chadras, who were making V-signs, [Grand Ayatollah Ali] Sistani's promise of paradise makes more sense than promises of democratic representation. For the Iraqi Shiites, the election is lovely for it means winning. [Karl von] Clauzewitz's statement, "War is the continuation of politics by other means," has been reversed in the Middle East: "Politics is the continuation of war by other means…"
The withdrawal of foreign forces does not mean independence. A Lebanon, from which Syria has withdrawn, will still remain under Syria's economic and political control. It is a fact that there is a game of give and take in the southern half of the country between Israel's invisible hand and Hizbollah. Occupation exploits the spirit of the society on which it is being imposed, dishonors the society, dehumanizes the sons of the nation. To end occupation is not the same thing as blowing a new spirit into the society and personifying it again.
Participatory democratization does not mean becoming a peacemaker in international relations. No election that would be held in Egypt or Jordan would bring more peacemaking leaders to the government than the present ones. The streets of Arab states are idealistic and Arab leaders are pragmatists. To establish democracy in this geography with no democratic culture is like vaccinating a frail body.
In an atmosphere of uncertainty caused by unhealthy democratization, there is so much responsibility the shoulders of Turkish intellectuals, who can hardly follow the region's politics, characterized by partial stagnation from the dictatorial regimes in the Middle East. Because to watch the picture does not mean to read it, to read it does not mean to know it, and to know it does not mean to be able to change it…
March 7, 2005
LONDON
Benzer Haberler 
