Turkey's journey to an advanced democracy

For the first time, Turkey is enjoying the beauty of democracy.

By SINEM TEZYAPAR
protesters at taksim square in turkey 370 (photo credit: Reuters)
protesters at taksim square in turkey 370
(photo credit: Reuters)
If we leave the vandalism and violence aside for a moment, what is happening in Turkey right now is something I find very healthy. Opposition and criticism should be allowed in solid and active democracies, and the Turkish people's demand for more freedom and an advanced democracy, expressed in peaceful ways, is something I fully support; it shows the real democratic strength of Turkey. However, everyone would admit that such a mass movement of protests — which is becoming a symbol of liberty and democracy in Turkey now — would not have been allowed one or two decades ago.
Turkey made a transition to a multi-party system in 1950. Since then almost every ten years, Turkey's democracy has been interrupted by military interventions: two military coups, three memorandums, and many attempts and threats of military interventions throughout the Turkish Republic's history — not to mention their forcing the passage of certain laws and obliging some governments to resign. Even at times when there was no open military intervention, one has always felt the threat of it.
For the first time, Turkey is enjoying the beauty of democracy. For the first time, torture has decreased dramatically and the ones who exploit their duty can be put on trial. For the first time in Turkey's history, unidentified murders have stopped; we have lost many scholars, politicians and journalists whose cases still remain unsolved. During the undemocratic past of Turkey, our prime ministers have been murdered, protestors have been hung, and thousands of people remember those times in vivid grief and pain. The new generation only knows times in which Turkey was rising to her feet. Of course democracy today is not in its ideal form; it is not perfect but it is working, it is progressing. But even if Turkey's democracy is not be mature enough, not liberal enough, it is still functioning in a Muslim-majority country, a unique example in the region.
In the political spectrum of Turkey, one can see a plurality of opinions. In the 2011 elections, there were 15 parties that entered the elections; 22 of them will take part in the 2014 elections. Among these parties there are leftists, rightists, Kurds, communists, democrats and conservatives, and they represent a wide range of opinions and ideologies. The elections are held every four years, and the leaders of Turkey come and go through elections.
So those who describe this uprising as a “Turkish Spring” are mistaken. Turkey — a democratic and secular country — is not comparable with Libya under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, Syria under Bashar Assad or Egypt under Hosni Mubarak. People in the Arab countries have been —and in some cases still are — fighting for their fundamental human rights against tyrannical regimes. They want equality; they want to enjoy their civil liberties and basic democratic rights. On the other hand, Turkey is run according to secular laws, and this system promises equality for all citizens regardless of religion; in practice an atheist, a communist, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim are the same in terms of laws.
The first analyses of the current situation in Turkey were superficial, because people overlooked the complexity and the diversity of the protestors. Some wanted to categorize the protests as secular vs. Muslim. This is inaccurate, however, as protestors of different ideologies are coming together, and one can easily see people with headscarves or observant Muslims making their daily prayers in Taksim Square. What is more, secularism is not seen as a threat but as an assurance of their religion by most of the Muslims in Turkey, since the state is not supposed to interfere in people's freedom of religion. This does not resemble the protests in Egypt, Syria or Libya, which were intended to end the dictatorships and free the citizens from bullying tyrants. It does not look like the Occupy Wall Street protests of New York, which was an anti-capitalist protest. It does not look like Greece or Spain which were largely reactions against the austerity programs in the wake of the EU/IMF bailout, and came about simply because of the economic crisis. The protests in Turkey are unique.
Moreover, with the whole world more or less shaken by a global economic crisis, Turkey's economy has flourished incomparably. Turkey not only paid her debts to the IMF that has been accumulating since 1961, but the GDP tripled in 10 years, inequality has been falling, and in every area the economy has grown 3 to 4 times under AKP governance. What is more, the AKP has increased Turkey's influence in the region, improved Turkey's international stature, and made credible steps towards peace with the Kurdish people of Turkey. I am not a defender of the party but these are facts that everyone will admit.
So who wants what? The majority of the protestors have reasonable criticisms ,and expectations that the government must listen to different voices and open platforms to consult them before proceeding with their plans. For me the message of the resistance led by peaceful, educated youth is clear; they want a modern, joyful, dynamic, vivid society rather than a cold, gray one restrained by norms. Their resistance is bright and fair, and they will only help Turkey to become a more cheerful, fresh and modern country. And they want an ultra-modern Islam without bigotry.
On the other hand, there are communists, some of whom are misusing this crowd for their "revolutionary" dreams. Some are wishing the army to proclaim a state of siege and invalidate the ongoing cases that are Turkey's reckoning with the deep government. And others, like the terrorist, separatist PKK want turmoil so that the state loses power and they can separate the southeastern part of Turkey for their Marxist-Leninist establishment which the Turkish people would never allow under ordinary circumstances.
These kind of mass movements do not happen spontaneously. They are well-planned, and there is always willpower that guides the masses in a certain direction and exploits their genuine feelings. The communist parties have organizational power and the knowledge of how to manipulate these crowds. The cost of the destruction according to last week's official numbers was 28,000,000 euro; this is not a level of damage that ordinary people can cause.
If we leave aside the provocateurs' hijacking a beautiful, democratic movement and turning it to a battlefield, we can say that the Turkish public in general do not want our leaders to take decisions without consulting them; they don't want any interference in their personal lives and they want a more inclusive, advanced democracy, where they can express themselves more freely. And I am with them in their cause.
As the protests showed us, democracy is not just about obtaining the majority of votes. Democracy also requires plurality; to provide both minority rights as well as majority rights. It is important to provide freedom of expression for all opinions. Only then will the quality of democracy increase. And it would be nice to see a shift away from a typical Middle Eastern tough, uncompromising leader model, to a more gentle, compassionate, forgiving one with a greater emphasis on love.
The author is a political and religious commentator from Turkey, and an executive producer at a Turkish TV network. She is also the spokesperson of a prominent international interfaith organization. She is working with inter-parliamentary and non governmental organizations for the establishment of the United Nations Permanent Forum for a Culture of Peace and Global Ethics. She can be reached on http://www.facebook.com/sinemtezyapar and https://twitter.com/SinemTezyapar.