WILL TURKEY REMAIN THE "SECULAR DEMOCRACY" IN ISLAMIC WORLD?
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.03.2008 GMT+04:00
Today in Turkey there are a number of controversies not only between
the Kemalists and Islamists, but also between the Kemalists and the
Turkish public opinion, since the nation is completely lost in search
for its identity, and the Kemalists announce that only Turks live
in Turkey.
After the parliamentary elections in Turkey in summer 2007 an agreement
between the winning Islamic party of Justice and Development and the
Turkish Joint Staff was signed. In the result of the deal the Army
recognized the Justice and Development Party in exchange to invasion
of Northern Iraq. The invasion was organized and the Turkish militants
have now been informing about extermination of Kurdish militants.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ However, things are not that simple in Turkey,
and the appeal of the General Office of Public Prosecutor to the
Constitutional Court about starting the process of dissolution of
the Party is the example of these complications. The Party, led by
the Prime Minster Recep Erdoghan, is accused of being involved in
activities working against the secular character of the country, as
well as using the religion for practical purposes. The process against
the Party of Erdoghan was initiated by the General Prosecutor of the
Court of Appeal Abdurrahman Yalchinkaya. He particularly mentioned
that AKP "has become a hotbed of anti-secular activities".
According to the director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of
National Academy of Science Ruben Safrastyan, the actions of the
General Prosecutor of Turkey, who has initiated this process in
the Constitutional Court, may be regarded as a self-defense. "The
legal reforms of Turkey are totally under the control of the
Kemalists. President Abdullah Gul, who is also a member of AKP, has
the right to appoint the judge, and in this aspect such an action
from him is quite possible. The bureaucratic Kemalist circles were
not happy with the compromise between the General Stuff and AKP. The
consequences of the appeal to the Constitutional Court are hard to
guess, but a storm of reactions are already being observed in Turkey,
especially in the Turkish Press," said Safrastyan.
According to the Turkish Constitution, the Constitutional court
must make reach a verdict in a 10-day period. If the Court finds the
arguments of the General Prosecutor sufficient, the process against
the Party of Erdoghan will be initiated. Perhaps the Turks think that
since their country is not accepted in European Union, they will become
the regional Islamic power holder. It must also be mentioned that
almost all the preconditions are available for it with the exception
of one; the agreement of the General Stuff, which has remained the
only follower of the ideology of Kemal Ataturk. The General Office
of Public Prosecutor has been gathering information on AKP for about
six months, however it could find nothing but the abolition of the
ban on wearing hijab, yet it may already give sufficient grounds.
The whole question is which way of development Turkey will decide to
take; the secular way (which is the democratic way) or the Islamic way,
which will equal it to Iran. A very important thing should always be
taken into account; according to the results of social survey, 66%
of Turkish women prefer covering their head and the significant part
of the society support them.
In our opinion, the entire problem is that the founder of the Modern
Turkey has forced the European dressing style and the republican
government. In 20’s of the last century the majority of the citizens of
former Ottoman Empire didn’t even identify themselves as Turks. Ataturk
made Turks out of them. Identification is still an on-going process,
since different nationalities have been living in the Ottoman Empire
who were turned to Turks by Ataturk with a stroke of the pen. In the
opinion of Ruben Safrastyan, according to latest information, 40%
of the population of Turkey do not consider themselves Turkish,
or have doubts about it. "Today in Turkey there are a number
of controversies not only between the Kemalists and Islamists,
but also between the Kemalists and the Turkish public opinion,
since the nation is completely lost in search for its identity,
and the Kemalists announce that only Turks live in Turkey." The
thing is that the Kemalist Republic couldn’t solve several serious
problems; the problem of the ethnical minorities, in particular,
the Kurdish issue, the definition of the role of Islam in the State
and the Society. Turkey has taken up the way, which has one method
of preserving the state; army. This means that the political elite
cannot find other solutions but force implementation.
The destiny of the Party of Erdoghan now depends on the verdict of
the Constitutional court.
By the way, over the 85 years of the existence of the Turkish Republic,
more than 30 political parties were banned. In 1997 the militants
dismissed the Welfare Party, and in 1998 the Constitutional court
reached a verdict of its dissolution. In 2001 the Virtue Party, from
the remaining of which the Justice and Development Party was formed,
had the same destiny.