MODERN TURKEY HAS PLENTY OF WORK TO DO – BUT STILL SETS A WORTHY EXAMPLE
The Daily Star, Lebanon
Oct 30 2006
Eighty-three years after modern Turkey emerged from the ashes of the
Ottoman Empire, questions about the country’s identity continue to
divide its citizens and confuse both friend and foe alike. Buffeted
by external factors like the Cold War and internal ones like the
struggle to define democracy, the Turkish Republic has managed to
survive several periods of pronounced instability. The land envisioned
by the republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, is still very much
a work in progress, but the country continues to serve as a useful
crossroads between Europe and Asia, and its experiment continues to
blaze a trail for other countries in the region.
Shortly after Ataturk established the republic in 1923, he initiated a
series of wide-ranging reforms aimed at building a modern, democratic
secular nation-state from the ruins of what had been a quintessentially
Muslim empire. Today the debate over what it means to be modern,
democratic and secular is still raging. This year’s National Day
celebrations were marred by a renewed debate over the Islamic headscarf
and the need to balance secularism with the protection of individual
and religious freedoms. The hard-line head of Turkey’s powerful
military establishment, General Yasar Buyukanit, has warned that the
existing system faces "a serious threat by reactionary movements,"
which is code for parties whose political philosophies are determined
by, or rooted in, Islam. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling
Justice and Development Party fits the latter description, and the
military has forced elected government out of office in the very
recent past, so the general’s comments are not to be taken lightly.
Turkey’s experiences with striking a balance are particularly
instructive for those Arab countries undertaking their own transitions
to democracy. The Turkish example demonstrates that the road to
irreversible change will be a long one, and that even meaningful
progress will not guarantee instant approval from some world powers. It
also illustrates that nationalist instincts can allow the actions of
one era to hinder the ambitions of the next: Modern Turkey’s continuing
failure to come to grips with the Ottomans’ slaughter of Armenians,
for instance, remains a formidable barrier to better relations
with Europe and therefore a major impediment to improved economic
performance. And as Arabs know well, Turkey’s previous status as an
imperial power still clouds its relations with former subject peoples.
Despite these and other difficulties, today’s Turkey is an increasingly
important player on the regional and even the world stage. For it to
consolidate its growing influence, however, it would be helpful if
the balancing act could be replaced by a realization that in fact,
Islam and democracy are not incompatible at all: They just haven’t
spent much time together.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
