THEY are much more similar than some believe, and here’s why…
Although Turkey is still hanging around the gates of the European Union,
waiting for either a clearance or an outright rejection, while the
“very European” because “very Christian” Rums, driven away from France
and Italy, are making a jest of the “open borders,” there is still a
lot of resemblance between Christian Europe and Islamic Turkey. Both
seem seeking to renovate or corroborate an identity that, by the present
standards of thought, reveals complexity and uneasiness to be fixed
into an invariable entity.
Recently, the government of Recep
Tayyip Erdogan obtained a popular victory for its project of reforms
related to the constitution, so far considered almost untouchable by its
self-proclaimed guardians: the Turkish military. The views of the AKP
are anchored in the Islamist stream that crossed the whole MENA region
since the creation of the Muslim Brothers (Ikhwan Muslimun) in Egypt and
other similar political-religious organisations in other countries.
Yet, AKP claims to be conservative and democratic. On this level, it has
succeeded much more than any other militant organisation of the same
brand in the Arab and Islamic world. The AKP government is a success
because it is really a lone star in a dark sky. Whenever you look
around, you will not see any party with such an ideology of conservatism
embracing the values of democracy, in charge of public affairs.
Generally, the logic goes this way: if you are conservative, claiming to
make Islamic values prevail in public affairs, you just cannot be
democrat. So, if you do not give up your claims and subsequently your
rights to the public sphere, either you’ll be forced to exile or you’ll
be jailed under any charge of subversion.
The other choice is of
course that you resort to the armed struggle, which several militant
groups do. Thus, they cease to be political opponents in a political
game, and become just terrorists or insurgents. Much of the tensions we
see in the Arab-Islamic world find their origins in this first
rejection. Of course, the want of democracy cannot be fixed by rebuking
opponents, because they hold different values or different perceptions
of the same values, and much less so by violence.
This is why I
said AKP is a model, but at the condition that democracy holds. Justice
and Development Party (AK PARTY) entered the Turkish political scene on
14 August 2001. Its emergence and quick conquest of power caused some
exacerbation among people concerned about Turkish identity: “Already in
control of the executive and legislature, they are gaining influence
over bastions of secularism in the judiciary and military. These
developments may enable AKP to implement a domestic agenda that is
consistent with its core identity,” said Carol Migdalovitz, in a CRS
report. Meanwhile, it has been also remarked that there is some
difficulties with tackling the issue of the Kurdish identity.
However,
the reasons for concern are not the progressive amendments promised in
the September 2010 referendum, such as constitutionally guaranteed
gender equality, but rather the apprehended unrestrained power that may
accumulate into the hands of AKP, particularly “the power to appoint
most of Turkey’s high court judges without a confirmation process” as a
Turkish observer put it in the Wall Street Journal, adding that “the
party is in nearly complete control of all three branches of government
and is able to coerce the fourth estate largely as it pleases. For the
first time since 2002, the AKP is not only governing, but is also
holding the reins of power effectively unchecked.” So, where Turkey is
heading to? Has become the key question.
Coming back to my first
observation, Europe also – not just Turkey – seems to be at odds with
its own fears, unable to exert self-control on some thorny issues. The
amazing exchange of angry words between European political leaders
recently on the murky background of intolerance, Rums phobia, Islam
phobia, immigrant phobia, and other extremities of thought, did not
arrange the European agenda already upset by the economic crisis of
Greece, the difficulties of Spain, and other unsubtle dramatic
developments. The malaise created by such developments inside Europe is
so that it entails a kind of uneasiness with the European identity, and
the key question becomes: where Europe is heading to?
In both
cases (i.e. Turkey and Europe), there seems to be a need for
clarification of the basics: on which political-legal platform may one
stand up to make a correct assessment of the common identity and
objectives? Both Turkey and Europe claim to be secular and democratic,
and both have problems with their own claims. Does secularism exclude
people on a religious ground or does it accept them on the same ground
as equal in rights and obligations? Does democracy exclude minorities on
the ground of the unchallenged majority rule, or does it accept them
because they have a right for life, work, respect, and duly
institutional representation?
I think the answers to these
questions are within the reach of any honest person who may be in one of
these cases: secular and democrat, conservative and democrat, liberal
and democrat, left-wing and democrat, religious and democrat…
For
me, it is clear: Secularism neither excludes religions nor people on
religious grounds, but accepts them all as equal, without discrimination
between Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, agnostics and atheists.
Secularism should offer the legal-political framework under which such a
mosaic of people may stick together, live together, and prosper
together. This can be possible only in democracy. For democracy is the
historical moment of such an achievement. In history, there have been
several kinds of government. Of all of them, democracy is the one that
obtained more successful achievements in dealing with internal and
external tensions and conflicts.
Therefore, what is
expected from both Europe and Turkey is not much related to the
philosophical issues of identity that remains shadowed and
controversial, but more work on the practical questions of secularism
and democracy, in order to clarify them with the best legislation
possible.
Hichem Karoui's Column: The Gulf Today
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