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March 16, 2008
The Attempt For a Judiciary Coup D'état
[To be published in Turkish Daily News]
I have been telling you that these people are crazy. And now they proved it beyond any doubt.
You must have heard what I am speaking about. Turkey’s chief prosecutor has just filed a case against the incumbent AKP (Justice and Development Party). He asks for the closure of the party and the banning of Prime Minister Erdoğan and his 70 top colleagues from politics. A political party which has just gained the votes of the 47 percent of the Turkish people is now under threat. Even President Abdullah Gül is on the list of the would-be banned politicians. Unbelievable but true!
For long we have feared military coup d'état’s in Turkey. That type of assault on democracy happened four times and left behind an executed prime minister, hundreds of imprisoned politicians, and thousands of tortured intellectuals and activists. But although the Leviathan that organized those military coups is very orthodox in its authoritarian ideology, it is not totally mindless. It, as Donald Rumsfeld once said in a different context, “has a brain – is continuously changing and adapting tactics.”
The Empire Goes Mad
The 21st century tactic is to stage coups via not the military but the judiciary. As I noted in my piece dated Jan. 24 and titled “The Empire Strikes Back (Via Juristocracy),” now the bureaucratic empire in Ankara attacks the representatives of the people with legal decisions, not armed battalions.
If you talk to them, they will proudly tell you that they are saving Turkey from Islamic fundamentalism. You have to be a secular fundamentalist – or hopelessly uninformed – to believe that. The AKP has proved to be a party committed to the democratization and liberalization of Turkey, a process which, naturally, includes the broadening of religious freedom. But that democratization and liberalization is the very thing that the empire fears from.
If you look at the “evidence” that the chief prosecutor presented to the Constitutional Court to blame the AKP, you will see how fake all this “Islamic fundamentalism” rhetoric is. The anti-secular “crimes” of AKP include:
- Making a constitutional amendment in order to allow university students to wear the headscarf. (Maddeningly enough, this bill was accepted in Parliament with the votes of not just the AKP’s deputies but also those of the Nationalist Movement Party [MHP], and the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society party.)
- Supplying free bus services for the student of the religious “imam-hatip” schools, which are nothing but state-sponsored modern high schools that teach some Islamic classes in addition to the standard secular education.
- Naming a park in Ankara after the deceased leader of a Sufi order.
- Not allowing the public display of a bikini advertisement.
- Employing headscarved doctors in public hospitals.
- Allowing one of the local administrators to issue a paper which has the criminal sentence, “May God have mercy on the souls of our colleagues who have passed away.” (The simple fact that he dared to mention God [“Allah” in Arabic and Turkish] in an official setting was considered as a crime.)
Yes, this is absolutely crazy. It is like defining the Republican Party in the United States as an “anti-secular threat” and asking for its closure based on facts such as that it has pro-life (anti-abortion) tendencies and that President Bush publicly said that his favorite philosopher is Jesus Christ.
The heart of the matter is that Turkey’s self-styled secularism is a fiercely anti-religious ideology akin to that of Marxist-Leninist tyrannies. And the AKP has been trying to turn Turkey into a democracy. That’s the party’s real “crime.”
A Shipwrecked Turkey?
Now what?.. We will see… The chief prosecutor’s file will be evaluated by the Constitutional Court, which is notoriously dominated by the ultra-secularists appointed by the previous president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Recently the same court cancelled a law which allowed foreign companies to buy real estate in Turkey. (Yes, the empire is against not just religion but also capitalism.) In that real estate decision, the ratio of the judges was 6 to 5, which was enough to cancel a law. But to close a party you need 7 votes (3/5th of the 11 members). And if 6 is the number of illiberal judges sitting there, that might not be enough to make an extremely illiberal decision such as closing down the AKP.
But what if the AKP really gets executed? To be sure, a party with a similar program will be formed soon and it will win the next elections. Meanwhile, though, the economy will be ruined, the EU process will be wrecked, and the hopes and dreams of millions of Turkish citizens will be crushed. That’s really the worst thing about tyrannies: You ultimately win your struggle against them. But, in the meantime, they give you hell.
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at March 16, 2008 4:55 PM
So how does it feel to be on the dark side of Coin??
Now you guys can feel the same way the Kurds felt their whole life's. This is still nothing, this is a the beginning of the end.
Let Turkey get what it deserve.
It will soon be Turkeys down if it keeps going the wrong direction.
Posted by: Haci at March 17, 2008 12:48 AM
This prosecutor has abused his position in order to try consolidate his own ideology at the detriment of our country. He is a traitor. What agravates the situation is his arrogance. Would you not be arrogant if you could do such undemocratic and reactionary things without any consequence? Does this man even fear for his position? Of course not, he feels privileged and protected.
As far as I'm concerned, he deserves imprisonment, exile or hanging. We need to prosecute these abusive prosecutors, show them the consequence of their action. We all know that Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, his cronies and some senior military officials are behind the protection of the Ergenekon Gang (as good as part of it).
If this is not done, the worst is to come. I find it hard to believe that the prosecutor will get his way without blood being spilled, especially his. Inshallah, it won't come to such a scenario. I hope the constitutional court uses its common sense instead of being the usual dark force of kemalist dogmatism. If intelligence prevails, this case will not even be took up. But this is Turkey, we should not discount any possibility...
Posted by: Ceyhan at March 18, 2008 4:48 PM
TUSIAD, the main business lobby, has denounced the case. “Shutting down parties is not compatible with democracy,” said its president, Arzuhan Yalcindag. http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10881280
The position of TUSIAD - club of pro-secularist oligarchs - is something to celebrate. AK Party has clearly won hearts & minds of the business community! They also succeeded in making friendships with the EU and the US. Why can't Erdogan think twice and move extremely delicately when furthering his democratic agenda!?
I guess I know the answer, the secularists in Turkey are as paranoid as "echnaton" - a guy whose heart & mind has been blinded due to his/her own malice...
Posted by: Behruz Himo at March 20, 2008 6:01 PM
I agree with everything Mr. Akyol, except the little bit about the Republican Party in the US. The Republican Party base openly opposes secularism so I do feel like they're a threat, especially considering how much they've pushed religion into schools during their term.
Behruz Himo:
Technically the AKP is secularist as well and they've proven this already in my opinion. It just wants to move away from French-style laicism to Anglo-style secularism. Referring to Turkish parties as "secularist" or "anti-secularist" is a black and white interpretation of the issue commonly seen in Arabic or Islamist publications.
Posted by: Kerim at March 24, 2008 9:33 PM
It cannot even be said that we are dealing with French-style Laicism. Even France's authoritarian secularism respects the right of a legally adult woman to wear what she pleases, at university or anywhere else.
The problem is far graver than a different style. The understanding of secularism, especially on the left of the political spectrum in Turkey, is flawed by all western standards. Many turks do not realise this and think it suffices to 'look western' and 'talk western' to be associated to secularism as well as democracy. Indeed, Turkish 'secularists' are not secularist at all (or democrats). Turkish secularism ,because of its left-wing national socialist origin, is reminiscent of Eastern Block statism. The comparisons that Mustafa often make are pertinent.
The irony of this situation is that the AKP is probably the most secular(ist), undoubtedly the most democrat party in Turkey. They have understood that secularism is a tool to govern and not an identity. This also does not say much for Turkish democracy.
I know Mustafa tries to use the terms 'ultra-secular' or 'extreme' because you too comprehend secularism's meaning. Not all Turkish writers do though, most a product of a kemalist educational system,causing much confusion (often desired) in the rest of the world in regards to its undertanding of turkish 'secularism'. Some interpret a secularist and anti-secularist polarization in its polititics.
The real problem is that some Turks are still hanging on to an ideology of a past dictatorship. They inherited the mentality and flawed education. Their eyes and ears are closed.A truth about Turks is that at least 30% are state indoctrinated mythomaniacs. As a Turk, I write this with embarassment.
Posted by: Ceyhan at March 28, 2008 6:20 PM
Not even 30%, more like 60%.
Posted by: Arj at April 2, 2008 11:59 AM