Is Erdoğan the new Atatürk of Turkey?
It is a clear fact that Turkey has been going through a new era under the strict and strong control and authoritarian administration of neo-Islamist AK PARTI (short AKP). Having said that we should not deny Mr. Tayyip Erdoğan (the prime minister) the role he has succesfully played in putting said party in such an unparalleled strong position in the history of Turkish politics.
His performance has been so successful that some people have started to compare him to Atatürk (the father of Turks) who is known to be one of the greatest leaders ever in the whole world history.
Atatürk created a young and dynamic republic from a ruined ill empire (the Ottoman) after fighting to beat a well equipped ally army who invaded Turkey. Thereafter he carried on to implement important reforms to make his country a member of the modern world.
Considering all the efforts put forth by all those people involved in AKP movement and the supporters of said party so far, one could think it would not be fair to credit all this huge success to a single man.
But when it comes to reality and looking at the picture through very careful eyes, it would not be fair either, to say “the great majority of this most successful performance in the history of Turkey’s politics” should to be credited to somebody else and not ERDOĞAN.
In simpler words, everybody knows if Erdoğan were to quit politics for whatsoever reason all of a sudden, it would be real difficult for AKP to hold on to the power.
AKP under the (dictating) leadership of Erdoğan has realized many achievements that would not come into comparison with the performance of previous administrations. This remark covers fields of life such as economic, administrative and health and has had a major effect in AKP success to to maintain a majority vote of fifty percent.
Having said all that however we might need to be careful not to draw a vivid picture with a very promising and thornless road ahead of AKP and Erdoğan, for the coming years.
The reason is the AKP leader, in spite of all the successful achievements he has undertaken so far, has entangled himself in major conflicts, Syria issue to be in the first row – not for him only but Turkey as well.
Then again we have the Kurdish issue which is among the negative performances of the government and in fact almost turned into a scandal when Kurdish terrorists allowed into Turkey at the border gate of Habur, put on stage a dramatic provocative show making millions of Turkish citizens furious and putting the government in a very awkward and helpless situation for having cooperated with the PKK to start a so-said democratic opening for Kurdish citizens.
Coming back to the AKP leader aagain, he has been using the same standard expression/statement in most of his speeches all along which goes…
“Before we came to power in 2002, there was no economic stability, no safety, no democracy in this country. The era of coups in this country will never return again … In a country where the majority is Muslim, we let democracy rule in its most advanced form and became an example for all Muslim countries.”
Erdoğan is a very strong speaker/preacher with extraordinary skills of addressing crowds which means these words hit right on the target influencing millions of AKP supporters.
On the other hand however, the same does not apply to another fifty percent of the population who did not back the AKP in last year’s elections simply because this is not the way they look at it. On the contrary they think and believe Erdogan is very authoritarian, even dictating. They also believe his attitudes are risky for Turkey and for the world. Some others even believe Erdogan is gradually becoming an elected sultan. In fact, some belonging to this group have had the impression that the party congress was a one-man show for instance and the PM thinks he is the only person who can shape up Turkey’s destiny.
The truth is Erdogan dominates Turkey’s political scene. If you were to ask his fans they would tell you “he is a dynamic, modernising force”. Many opponents however would not agree to it and say he is even threatening and intimidating, at times. Some would go still further to comment AKP is not a party any more but Erdogan’s tool to climb up his career ladder.
The story which has developed in favor of the prime minister until a short while ago now seems to be at a turning point with many headaches.. Meaning it is not clear how much longer Erdogan can maintain his strong position after a decade in power.
The PM has to cope with following problems which are a true challenge even for a strong figure like Erdoğan;
the Syrian conflict, the Kurdish issue, forthcoming presidential elections and to maintain the delicate balance not to upset the current president Mr. Gül, as well as the strong negative reaction the government has been receiving both locally and from abroad for practices of judiciary like excessively long detainments of journalists, ex-army commanders for allegations and even not carrying out a fair trial process all this time, not to forget thousands of elected Kurdish politicians, journalists, academics, activists and even students in jail.
Furthermore, the concern carried by Turkey’s secular population that Erdoğan has strong connection to influential Islamist Gülen movement and he targets to shift Turkey’s secular regime into an Islamist state is another challenge the PM needs to attend to.
It is clear that Mr. Erdogan has more than enough questions to find answers to..
In spite of all the bright performance he has displayed as a leader so far, it can be seen that the road ahead of him is full of thorns and nobody can say it is going to be easy to work out all those problems one after the other ..
25.10.2012
Editor, BTT
