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Transition
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The other night, on the Al Jazeera International channel, there was a debate on the place of military in Turkish society, relations between the military and civilian administration, how Turkey will balance out secular and Islamist fundamentalism, and establish cohesive democratic, secular governance adhering to the principle of supremacy of law.
I was one of the participants of the debate, which was held after Turkey’s top commander declared that anyone aspiring to stage a coup would have no place in the military, ruled out as "products of a sheer smear campaign" charges that the Turkish military was against Islam, and recalled that one of the most common names given to the Turkish military was "home of the prophet."
Indeed, for some time Turkey has been striving to complete a transition from a phobia-ridden, restrictive and defensive democracy understanding dominated by secular fundamentalism to a liberal new understanding where there will be no place to either secularist or Islamist fundamentalism, state-imposed definition and a state-regulated practice of Islam and which will be characterized by wider individual, communal, religious and cultural rights for everyone living on this land without compromising the integrity of the nation and the state but with due respect to all differences.
This is not only a very painful and long process, but also a very rather paradoxical situation. While on the one hand it has to be obvious for everyone that at this age of informatics it is no longer possible to sustain as it is the restrictive understanding of religion, secularism, nation building and even unitary state of the founding period of the Turkish Republic, or the "traditional" distribution of power, on the other hand it is obvious as well that Turkey cannot sustain its republic, national integrity and perhaps even territorial integrity if for the sake of wider individual and communal rights, enhanced religious freedoms and consolidation of democracy and democratic rule through delegating more power from the central authority to local administrations we over-compromise in redefining the Turkish nation, secularism, role of religion and of course duties, responsibilities and obligations of both the civilian government and the military.
There are fears bordering phobia among the "republicans," the "secularists" and the "democrats" not necessarily for the same reasons that in this transition process Turkey may as well end up in a religious or nepotistic dictatorship, put aside the grave concern of losing national and territorial integrity of the country and thus "betraying to the heritage of the founding fathers," who managed to build the Turkish Republic on the ashes of a shrunken Ottoman Empire and on a land described by the last Ottoman Parliament as the "national borders."
Again, paradoxically, the advent of political Islam and the continued almost three decades of separatist terrorism by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, gang are both the greatest impediments making this huge transition in Turkey very difficult while at the same time serve as a "wake up call" for wider reforms, if not as a catalyst, for the creation of a better democratic governance in this country of over seventy million people with millions of differences of all sorts. The March local polls, in this respect, while on one hand demonstrated visibly the rejection of the possibility of an aggressive political leadership and a conservative Islamist party’s domination over the nation, while on the other hand underlined the grave dangers ahead if politics on the basis of ethnicity is allowed in this country.
A lot of things have changed in Turkey since the last military "post-modern" intervention in politics in 1997. Turkish people no longer see the military as the "absolute and the only savior" of the secular Republic. The nation has started developing the understanding the notion that it itself is the guarantee of the future of the republic. Thus, the top general declaring there was no place for coup plotters in the military was just a reaffirmation that despite all its concerns the military is aware of the change in the nation.
Despite all the odds and possible pain, Turkey has to walk this road and succeed in balancing fears, phobias, expectations, desires and move on to a new national charter respecting the differences, rights and freedoms of the individuals but safeguarding at the same time our mutual interest, the modern, democratic, secular Turkish Republic integrated with the league of advanced democracies.
Indeed, for some time Turkey has been striving to complete a transition from a phobia-ridden, restrictive and defensive democracy understanding dominated by secular fundamentalism to a liberal new understanding where there will be no place to either secularist or Islamist fundamentalism, state-imposed definition and a state-regulated practice of Islam and which will be characterized by wider individual, communal, religious and cultural rights for everyone living on this land without compromising the integrity of the nation and the state but with due respect to all differences.
This is not only a very painful and long process, but also a very rather paradoxical situation. While on the one hand it has to be obvious for everyone that at this age of informatics it is no longer possible to sustain as it is the restrictive understanding of religion, secularism, nation building and even unitary state of the founding period of the Turkish Republic, or the "traditional" distribution of power, on the other hand it is obvious as well that Turkey cannot sustain its republic, national integrity and perhaps even territorial integrity if for the sake of wider individual and communal rights, enhanced religious freedoms and consolidation of democracy and democratic rule through delegating more power from the central authority to local administrations we over-compromise in redefining the Turkish nation, secularism, role of religion and of course duties, responsibilities and obligations of both the civilian government and the military.
There are fears bordering phobia among the "republicans," the "secularists" and the "democrats" not necessarily for the same reasons that in this transition process Turkey may as well end up in a religious or nepotistic dictatorship, put aside the grave concern of losing national and territorial integrity of the country and thus "betraying to the heritage of the founding fathers," who managed to build the Turkish Republic on the ashes of a shrunken Ottoman Empire and on a land described by the last Ottoman Parliament as the "national borders."
Again, paradoxically, the advent of political Islam and the continued almost three decades of separatist terrorism by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, gang are both the greatest impediments making this huge transition in Turkey very difficult while at the same time serve as a "wake up call" for wider reforms, if not as a catalyst, for the creation of a better democratic governance in this country of over seventy million people with millions of differences of all sorts. The March local polls, in this respect, while on one hand demonstrated visibly the rejection of the possibility of an aggressive political leadership and a conservative Islamist party’s domination over the nation, while on the other hand underlined the grave dangers ahead if politics on the basis of ethnicity is allowed in this country.
A lot of things have changed in Turkey since the last military "post-modern" intervention in politics in 1997. Turkish people no longer see the military as the "absolute and the only savior" of the secular Republic. The nation has started developing the understanding the notion that it itself is the guarantee of the future of the republic. Thus, the top general declaring there was no place for coup plotters in the military was just a reaffirmation that despite all its concerns the military is aware of the change in the nation.
Despite all the odds and possible pain, Turkey has to walk this road and succeed in balancing fears, phobias, expectations, desires and move on to a new national charter respecting the differences, rights and freedoms of the individuals but safeguarding at the same time our mutual interest, the modern, democratic, secular Turkish Republic integrated with the league of advanced democracies.
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