THE CRISIS IN TURKEY?
By John L. Esposito

Today’s Zaman
March 4 2010
Turkey

In the past week, several alarmist pieces, including Soner Cagaptay’s
"What’s Really Behind Turkey’s Coup Arrests?" and Daniel Pipes’
"Crisis in Turkey," have warned of a mortal crisis that threatens
Turkey’s future and its relationship with Europe and the US.

Both are particularly exasperated by the continued arrest and
indictment of senior military for conspiring to commit acts of
terrorism in a plot to overthrow the government and what they see
as an alliance between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) and Fethullah Gulen’s movement. As Pipes puts it at his most
alarming hyperbolic best: "The arrest and indictment of top military
figures in Turkey last week precipitated potentially the most severe
crisis since Ataturk founded the republic in 1923. The weeks ahead
will probably indicate whether the country continues its slide toward
Islamism or reverts to its traditional secularism. The denouement
has major implications for Muslims everywhere." Not to be outdone,
Cagaptay warns, "All signs point to Fethullah Gulen, whose shadowy
Islamist movement is rapidly extending its tentacles into all aspects
of Turkish political life."

What of the two culprits: the ruling AK Party democratically elected
two times and the Gulen movement are denounced as the major culprits.

Their influence, it is charged, signals the current titanic clash
between secular and Islamist or religious forces. The legacy of
Ataturk’s secular state and society and its elites are under siege.

What are the ominous signs that have brought Turkey to this precipice?

Turkey’s entrenched secular establishment, whose status, power and
privilege have been challenged by a rising class of well-educated
bumpkins from Anatolia, who have been democratically elected and
dominate Parliament. The AK Party’s founders are now prime minister and
president. Members of the AK Party and the Gulen movement, emerging
alternative elites, have "penetrated" the military and police that,
like many institutions of society, had excluded them. Moreover, the
Gulen movement is now a significant presence through its impressive
network of schools in Turkey and globally that emphasize modern
scientific education and religion. They also run prominent media
outlets and are a formidable force in the business community.

The old political parties and secular elites have proven impotent,
incapable of organizing a broad-based, effective opposition with a
popular message that speaks to the political and economic challenges
that Turkey faces. In contrast, the AK Party has affirmed the secular
nature of the Turkish state, the separation of religion and the state.

But, in contrast to its predecessors’ hard-line secular fundamentalism
with its anti-religious bias, the AK Party has insisted that secularism
can include a public space for belief as well as non-belief. It
has introduced important political and economic reforms, advanced
Turkey’s cause for membership in the European Union, addressed
human rights issues and struggled with resolving the Kurdish and
Armenian "questions." The process has not been without its pitfalls
and problems.

Sounding like a mouthpiece for hard-line secular elites and the
military, Pipes asserts that "Turkey’s military has long been both
the state’s most trusted institution and the guarantor of Ataturk’s
legacy." So what does the record show? The military has "intervened"
four times to "save the Turkish secular state. What Pipes describes
as "intervened to repair a political process gone awry" is a clear
endorsement of military coups. Both Pipes and Cagaptay conveniently
gloss over facts established by Turkish judges that at least three-four
major coup attempts have been attempted by the military since the AK
Party came to power in 2002.

Yes, there has been a departure from the legacy of the past with
major implications for Turkey and Muslims everywhere. Turkey has
become more democratic, with a more open political and social system,
a more broad-based electorate and leadership, and a greater emphasis
on rule of law that includes the accountability of all institutions,
including the military. What we are seeing is not a showdown between
secularists and so-called Islamists or the demise of the secular state,
but a process of normalization and the maturing of Turkey’s democracy,
institutions and the rule of law.

________________________________________ *John L. Esposito is a
university professor and founding director of the Prince Alwaleed
Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. This article
was originally published in The Huffington Post on March 2.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress