. A . W O R D . O F . C A U T I O N .
| This
page does not intend to take sides on any political matter covered. It
only expresses what the author believes to be an unbiased view, from what
he read, heard and saw on the spot, under the belief that it will be helpful
for future travellers to Turkey to understand the country and the problems
it faces.
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In the wake of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire was agonizing, being ripped off its territory in Europe as well as in Africa and Asia. Though the sultans were developing a ever stronger European taste through the 19th century -- which translated into a few resplendent palaces lying at the Bosphorus in Istanbul -- and started modernizing the state, the country itself remained medieval by Western standards, with harems, islamic courts and so on... When after the 1914-1918 World War a sort of rapine was starting to enter the remains of the Ottoman Empire, a reaction was embodied in general Kemal, the victor of Galipoli, resulting in 1923 in the Treaty of Lausanne and subsequent declaration of the Turkish Republic (signs of the 75th anniversary commemoration were still visible everywhere) as a lay state, rid of the foreign concessions and endowed with very modern legislation for that time -- even an adaptation of the Roman alphabet for writing the idiom. Though originally a military, Kemal (who adopted the name Atatürk) was a pacifist and until his death in 1938 Turkey remained a neutral state. But from the fifties on the political situation started to be complicated, both internally and externally. The military coup of 1960 resulted in the condemnation to death of the until then prime minister, Adnan Menderes. A new Constitution in 1963 opened a period of democracy that did not work well, ending in the military coup in 1980 and the current Constitution of 1982.
As the editorial of Turkish Daily News of September 14, signed by Ilnur Çevik, describes (comments in [] are my own):
«Sept. 12, 1999 was the 19th anniversary of the 1980 coup that ousted the Süleyman Demirel [now the President of Turkey] government, closed down Parliament and sent several politicians including Bülent Ecevit (then the main political leader [currently the Prime-Minister]) to jail.
«After that the military drafted a constitution and had the nation approve it with a 93 percent majority in a "referendum". The military administration did its best to prevent real debate of this draft and those who opposed it were intimidated and harassed. The Constitution also banned all former political leaders, including Demirel and Ecevit, for 10 years...
«Demirel and a handful of democrats (...) started a struggle against this "anti-democratic" Constitution and the nation lifted the bans in a referendum in late 1986.
«Everyone agreed the Constitution was undemocratic, was drafted as a reaction to the bloody incidents of the pre-1980 coup period, brought serious restrictions to basic freedoms and, last but not least, was designed to legitimize the 1980 coup and lacked contemporary values.
«Yet, until now no political administration has managed to introduce any substantial changes to the Constitution to transform it into a more democratic document. On the contrary, the Constitution has been used by a limited circle of people to preserve a system of corruption, favoritism, nepotism and that in turn has created serious imbalances in society.
«Over the past 19 years, Parliament has managed to change some clauses of the Constitution but these have mainly been due to outside pressures and in most cases the amendments were superficial. (...)
«The Constitution is designed to set up safety valves for the state and has thus made the state the master of its citizens while contemporary constitutions require citizens to be the masters and the state the servant...
(...)
«We feel that 19 years after a coup, we should have been discussing the very negative repercussions of military takeovers and the harm they have caused to our country, instead we are still discussing [following the move by the Supreme Court of Appeals chief, who used the opening ceremony of the judicial year to criticize the system severely and demand a complete overhaul of the Constitution] whether a repressive system should be maintained or not...»
There are four important issues with international implications in the political agenda of Turkey:
1. Turkey has been waiting for over 10 years to become an official candidate to the European Union, but the systematic vetoing from Greece, even to point measures of financial support, has remained an unsurmountable obstacle. Yet, the Greek government led by Papandreou has started to show a more amicable attitude within the EU towards Turkey. This mutual friendliness was much catalysed in recent times by the solidarity to each other after the Izmit and Athens earthquakes this summer. And, if not for anything else, the rush for the EU might make the difference for the long-delayed revision of the undemocratic Constitution that rules the country (see above).
2. The Kurdish question has many facets. Kurds make for a large proportion of the population in Turkey, and from what I heard from a couple of them they would rather belong in the Turkey state as they are presently than to be more autonomous or independent but in the hands of people like Öçalan. The protection given to Kurdish refugees from Iraq, as they were being chased by that state in 1988 and 1991, is an example of the good attitude towards this minority by the Turkish state. However, conservative (military and other) quarters in Turkey go to the point of considering the diffusion of media in Kurdish as illegal, a declaration that violates the Treaty of Lausanne that set the path for the Turkey Republic in 1923. This nationalist attitude has a favour with the Prime Minister Ecevit who, at least before taking the office, stated that the "southeastern problem" has its roots in the feudal social structure of Kurds, and he proposes its solution by ensuring the industrialization of the region. Moreover, the overt resentment expressed by Turkey towards countries such as Italy and Syria, allegedly protecting Öçalan during his stay in their territories before he was finally imprisoned, hasn't helped a lot rendering the foreign relations of Turkey more fluent.
3. The Islamic question, which is a reaction against the complete secularization of Turkey led by Atatürk in the twenties, has been rising and reached a high point during the Necmettin Erbakan government that ruled after the elections of 1995, causing a serious itching among the military -- they forced him to resign and in 1998 banned him and his Welfare Party from politics on the grounds of anti-secular activities. Though not as serious as for example in Algeria, the Islamist problem remains as Erbakan's party, like a phoenix, rose again as the Virtue Party and is not supposed to give up its political intervention in elections to come [2020 note: the Virtue Party was banned in 2001 and part of it morphed into a 'reformist' Justice and Development Party (AKP), aggregating members from other conservative parties, and is ruling since 2002]. Commentators say that, if brutal measures are taken in this matter, Turkey will have to weather more western criticism of its democratic deficit, by alienating the Islamists, a significant proportion of its citizens.
4. The Cyprus question, which is clearly another example of the mess that the British Empire left throughout the world, as well as of the repeated incapacity of the UN in the peace-keeping roles, is not easy to evaluate. Turkish and Greek versions (browsing the web one can read both) diverge so much that it seems that dialogue will never be truly engaged and the present salomonic situation will continue indefinitely. However, as I was in Girne I noticed that Turkish Cypriots would enjoy living together with their Greek co-islanders, if peacefully. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) is best described as a protectorate of Turkey with little economic viability and some 30,000 troups ensuring the border stays as it is. By the way, it was Ecevit who ordered the invasion of Cyprus in 1974, in response to appeals for protection by the Turkish Cypriotic community. Turkey states that this intervention was legally covered by a tripartite security agreement involving the UK, Greece and Turkey, justified by the very critical situation back then for the Turkish minority in Cyprus (resulting from the coup, "sponsored" by the military Greek government of those times, that overthrew the President Makarios). The proclamation of KKTC in 1983 was a severe blow in the hopes for reunification and the current prospects of (Greek) Cyprus to become a member of the EU all contribute to an increasing unease on the Turkey state. Hopefully, the recent cool-down in the relations between Cyprus and Turkey appears to pave the way for some disentangling.
