The ‘Turkish Model’ of Democracy: Neither Moderate nor Democratic
Both U.S. policy and Middle Eastern Islamists have repeatedly held up the “Turkish model” as an ideal. As early as 2002, the Bush administration supported the Justice and Development Party (AKP) as a model for democratic “moderate Islam.” Recently, State Department spokesman Mark Toner called Turkey an “Islamic democracy” in action.
During the last year, Western governments and mass media have urged new, post-revolutionary Arab governments to follow the ‘Turkish model” as a way of achieving a moderate democracy. The problem with this approach is that the Turkish model is not so moderate, democratic, or admirable.
Since achieving power almost a decade ago, the AKP has built, step-by-step, a Putin-style permanent regime by knocking over institution after institution, changing laws to give itself more power, and intimidating opponents.
Now, the last two surviving institutions have received this treatment. Top military officers were forced to resign, and scores have been arrested and imprisoned on flimsy charges. In 2010 the AKP pushed through a series of constitutional amendments that included increasing the number of members in Turkey’s Constitutional Court — its equivalent of a supreme court — from eleven to seventeen, allowing the AKP to achieve a majority of its own supporters. The size of the Supreme Board of Prosecutors and Judges (HSYK), the body that approves judges and prosecutors, was increased from seven to twenty-two appointees. AKP filled the positions with partisans, ensuring itself absolute power over the judiciary branch of government in Turkey.
Under the AKP, Turkey has become a world leader in imprisoning journalists, students, and politicians of opposing viewpoints exercising their rights to free speech. According to the International Center for Prison Studies, the number of people in Turkey’s prisons doubled between 2006 and 2010. Close to half of them are being held without trial.
According to the World Economic Forum’s 2011 “Global Gender Gap Report” measuring the gap between men and women in economic participation, educational attainment, health, and political empowerment, Turkey bottomed at 122 out of 135 — down from 106 in 2006, and heading in the direction of Saudi Arabia. Consistent with this finding, Social Watch — an international network of citizens’ organizations — has stated that “Turkey’s record on gender equality is inadequate and has substantially worsened under the Justice and Development Party (AKP).”
Kind of like the unelected bureaucracy and control in the US.
Erdogon should not have thrown Israel under the bus as he did. That was a mistake. He then proceeded to cozy up to Quaddafi and Assad. One is dead and the other soon will be. Now that the wind has shifted he sings another tune on Syria.
I think his attempts to become the new Hamas patron has also failed. Maybe due to western pressure or just like everyone else who has dealt with them he is now fed up with with their antics. The Turkish foregn minister just announced that they are not giving Hamas the 300 mil as rumored and they will not have a new HQ in Turkey. Heh, Mashal is homeless. He lives out of his suitcase these days.
While Turkey has dropped its threatened lawsuits against Israel over the Mavi Mara they went to far out on the limb over that. They never expected the UN report to declare the blockade legal and only fault Israel for tactics. Anyway the whole flotilla movement is one enormous failure with his brand all over it.
The Turkish government knows it does not have a leg to stand on over the Israel/Cypriot gas fields and has ratcheted down the rhetoric.
IHS will stay in power as long as the money keeps flowing. If they focus on that and the civil war in their backyard nobody will care about the lack of freedom.
So they’ll drive their “brilliant” society straight into the ground. You’re suggesting this type of culture has a choice of whether to be a success or not; it’s simply the level of failure.
Turkey is lucky they didn’t join the Eurozone cuz the Lira would’ve made outsourcing so expensive the economic “miracle” of Turkey would’ve disappeared. How many TVs can they make for Germans?
Islam, in societal and economic terms, is practically a paradigm of the word “failure.” When Muslims will wake up to this fact is hard to say. The one pitiful nod to the idea of the separation of church and state has been Turkey and it’s been like dragging a kid to the dentist. Now Erdogan is saying “no dentist.”
Only one word can classify Soo called Turkish Model -ISLAMO-FASCISM-. Which is combination of Islamic fanaticism mixed with national socialism and green money fueled crony capitalism. Erdogan will face his real test when Turkish economy collapses. When it does watch Turkey turning to a second Egypt or Syria like insurgency with 20 million Kurds.
Turkey, as a member of NATO, is America’s only true ally in the Middle East.
With those allies like that who needs enemies?
Turkey has never done anything for the US. We needed them for a missile base in the cold war. They cost American lives when we invaded Iraq. They are not being helpful in stopping Iran. They have cultivated relationships with our worst enemies. They threaten Cyprus and Israel. WHo needs them?
NATO is a farce anyway.
1. Turkey was a tremendous help during the Cold War, and they remain part of NATO. They are by far our best ally in the Middle East.
2. Turkey has participated in Europe’s sanctions against Iran. Which doesn’t really matter, since Iran poses absolutely no threat to the USA.
3. You have it backwards. Israel threatens Turkey, and the USA should side with Turkey in that fight.
So be specific about how Israel threatens Turkey.
Until recently they had great economic and military cooperation. Turkish military was purchasing Israeli drones and aircraft upgrades. Joint military exercises happened every year. Israeli and Turkish military were on first name basis. Israeli vacationers flocked to Turkish resorts feeling welcome there. My kosher breakfast last time back to US on El Al was all made in Turkey. The new Better Place electric car by Renault, an Israeli startup is manufactured in Turkey.
What does Israel want from Turkey that is a threat? Is it the gas fields which are nowhere near Turkish offshore claims?
Israel has no claims or desire to conflict Turkey. What could they possibly want other than peace and trade?
Big mistake here. It is ok, relationship can get better without much histrionics.
2. Turkey has participated in Europe’s sanctions against Iran. Which doesn’t really matter, since Iran poses absolutely no threat to the USA.
The USA, even the Obama admin, has another point of view on that matter.
We are not on the same page. You are somewhere else. That makes us adversaries now.
Good luck with that.
Spindok
Turkey outnumbers Israel’s Jews 10 to 1 and no one knows if Israel will hold on to the West Bank let alone threaten anyone else. How does that add up to the word “threat?” Even a science fiction writer would reject that as implausible.
That’s laughable! Turkey is the only NATO member in the Middle East, so to that extent, you are right as well as Turkey being the WOST NATO ally in the ME. Yea, some help they were with Iraq – limiting base support and flying ops. Our troops already stationed in Turkey had to fly to Europe, be staged out of Germany, then fly through Turkey to Iraq and Afghanistan, so Erdogan could ‘honestly’ tell his Persian/Arabian ‘friends’ that Turkey didn’t allow the USA to stage troops out of Turkey. I can list numerous examples of how our Turkish ally has been sitting on the sidelines and even hampering our efforts in the ME, but that is best left for another time.
Some years ago, the secular Turkish military kicked out fanatical, Iranian funded, Imams. Since the AKP took over, the Islamic fascists have steadily been creeping in with their poison.
Yes, while it is true that the average Turkish citizen wants to be good friends with the USA, since Erdogan has taken power, the government not so much.
Gule Gule
With allies like Turkey, who needs enemies?
Camo have you ever think that Turkey helping us invade Iraq in 2003 where the President Bush perjury himself by claiming that Iraq have WMD which they didnot have.Alots of america ndidnot support the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.The Ottoman Empire help Japonese Empire win the war of 1904-1905 by not allowing the Russian Black Sea Fleet to sail thought the Strait into the Medium Sea just by being neutral.
We lived in Turkey from 1985-1991. It was a good time to be there, but things were already changing then. Ataturk was still revered there as the father of modern Turkey. People were very friendly and we enjoyed the culture. However, when we returned for a visit about 6 or 7 years ago, it was radically different. It was more secular when we lived there, but radical Islam has taken over. It was creepy going back and seeing massive mosques everywhere. And I do mean EVERYWHERE! The attitude on the street had changed drastically, as well. Such a place of antiquities and things to see when we first went. One would have to be careful now. Gangs and such are now everywhere.
Erdo is a closet radical islamicist. He is working very hard to make Turkey into another Iran. There is no real democracy in Turkey. Just try criticizing the gov’t, writing the truth in a newspaper or opposing the gov’t. They will get you. Turkey is a poor NATO ally & a bad ally for the US. The wouldn’t allow us to use Turkish soil to attack Iraq, but just love killing off the Kurds which they used in the early 1900s to kill off the Armenians & Greeks. Turkey revises it’s history much as Stalin did & have this fantasy that there was no Armenian genocide. To admit the truth is simply impossible for Turkey, even though everyone knows it happened. The current gov’t exports terrorism to Israel & harbors terrorists. The Turkish cinema plays shows that displays US soldiers as selling body parts of Muslims after killing them in Iraq. As a long time & frequent visitor to Turkey, I can say that the general public went from liking Americans in the 1980, when we helped them when the former Communist gov’t of Bulgaria, to hating Americans now due to gov’t publicity. As far as I’m concerned, forget Turkey. It is on the road to Islamo-fascism & will simply be another Iran in 5-7 yrs. It is sad to see, but it the death of modern Turkey as we know it. Ataturk must be spinning in his grave!
Just read Ahmet Şık’s book entitled İmamın Ordusu. I wonder if Ms. Erez has read that and would mind commenting??
What I do know is that the US is playing with fire when it comes to lending support to these so-called religious moderates. Erdoğan is a dangerous man with high aspirations. I lived there for many years. After the Iraq War, anti-Western sentiment and rhetoric with a generous dose of factual inaccuracy became so prevalent that foreigners began to feel unsafe. Then, two Catholic priests and three Protestant believers were killed, along with Hrant Dink. It was like a mini-demonstration of the ultra-nationalist sentiment displayed in the 1955 pogroms that ended up driving the significant Greek minority out of the country. Sad, but I don’t see this ending well…