Turkey: Justice and Development Party returns to Power

-DR. ABDUL RUFF

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 ONE

As widely expected, Turkey’s pro-Islamist ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won a convincing third term in office on12 June to consolidate its power after nearly a decade of rule, to further the cause of an Islamic society. However, AKP has failed to amass the two-thirds of parliamentary seats by a meager 4 seats he needed in order to be able to re-write the constitution without submitting it to the public for approval. The apparent margin of victory – 326 out of 551 seats – is enough to maintain one-party government, less than the 330 needed to send a new constitution to a referendum.

Facing weak opposition, Erdogan had been expected to win. It had been feared that if he could reach the two-thirds mark, the new constitution would feature a powerful presidency and that Erdogan himself would seek that position in subsequent elections. Opponents also suggested that Erdogan would try to instill religious values in the secular Islamic state. The party will now have to work to forge consensus with its opposition.  The main opposition group, the Republican People’s Party, won nearly 26 percent, and another opposition party, the Nationalist Action Party, had 13 percent.  

The AKP first won a parliamentary majority in 2002. The last elections, in 2007, were in effect a referendum on the power of the army. The generals threatened to take over if the very Muslim Abdullah Gul became president. Prime Minister Erdogan held the 2007 election, calling the army's bluff.  For many younger voters, their biggest concerns were violations of civilian liberties. Opposition fought the poll on deficits in civil liberties and improved their over all tally.

Erdogan acknowledged the need to work for a consensus if constitutional reforms were to be realized, a priority shared by the country’s political parties and civil organizations. He said the constitution will be established upon brotherhood, support, sharing, unity and togetherness. The current Constitution was prepared after a military coup in the 1980s.

The AK Party simply wants to protect some of the country's cherished qualities from some of the extremes of Westernization. Of course, Prime Minister Erdogan is a closet Islamist, with unrevealed intentions to ban alcohol and make women cover their heads. And there are new rules banning alcohol from sports advertising and from events for young people. The alcohol regulatory board says this is not ideology, but is to protect people. And Turkey's legal drinking age, at 18, is lower than in the USA, where it is 21. There is a deep instinct for courteous behavior here and there is immense kindness. Children seem confident, happy and well-treated. 

Military unsuccessfully tried to impose western culture in Turkish society. Turkey is trying to, and has mostly succeeded in, moving away from its dark past of army coups. Turkey under the AKP regime has been experimenting Islamic values with Capitalist ideology.

Those who visited Turkey or lived among Turks say that Turks are a pious, religious people, so the AKP has strong grass-roots power. They are not Islamists; they are Muslims, religious people. Majority of Turks support the ruling party’s politics for stability in the country.  Many agree that Erdogan with elevated Turkey’s profile in the Middle East, turning the country into an increasingly assertive regional player at a time when several of its neighbors are locked in sometimes violent struggles for democracy.

TWO

Once known as the Ottoman Empire, Turkey the modern “secular republic” was established in the 1920s by nationalist leader Kemal Ataturk. Straddling the continents of Europe and Asia, Turkey's strategically important location has given it major influence in the region - and control over the entrance to the Black Sea.

The country is a member of NATO as well as a candidate for membership of the EU. Under Erdogan’s stewardship, the government restored political and economic stability after years of turmoil. AKP government brought the country strong economic growth of 8.9 percent, though unemployment remains stubbornly high at nearly 12 percent and income distribution remains uneven. Alcohol use is successfully controlled by the government agencies. The government oversaw a controversial trial of a group accused of plotting a military coup against the ruling party in 2003, tarnishing the military’s image and effectively eliminating it from politics. Erdogan government made successful efforts in challenging the status quo of the powerful military, which has staged three coups and until recently maintained a virtually untouchable place in Turkish politics.

Turkey became an EU candidate country in 1999 and, in line with EU requirements, went on to introduce substantial human rights and economic reforms. Turkey is still officially trying to get into the EU as people are getting fed up with European tactics and enthusiasm for membership is waning. But many Europeans say with Turkey out of EU, Europe will face big problems in the long run.

Europe has sought to push in capitalist system in Islamic Turkey. Efforts to reduce state control over the economy also faced many obstacles. After years of mounting difficulties which brought the country close to economic collapse, a tough recovery program was agreed with the IMF in 2002.The austerity measures imposed then meant that by the time the global financial crisis came round in 2008, Turkey was in a better position to weather the storm than many other countries. The level of public debt was already relatively low, and although the effects of the recession were still felt, by 2010 the Turkish economy had started to bounce back.

The AKP, which has Islamist roots, has presided over strong economic growth and a more assertive foreign policy since taking power in 2003. It has also seen unemployment fall - down to 11.5% in March from 14.4% in the same period last year. Erdogan's greatest achievement has been to stabilize the Turkish economy. Up to a decade ago, the country lurched from one crisis to another, with sky-high inflation and interest rates and a feeble currency. In 2002, per capita income was $3,500 (£2,100) - in 2010 it's $10,000. Today Turkey is the envy of the region, enjoying economic growth rates close to China's, its companies competing successfully in the EU, the Middle East and increasingly further afield, in Africa and Central Asia. Total exports were $30bn in 2002; this year we are going to make $134bn.

Turkey's foreign policy has been described as "zero problems, maximum trade, with neighbors". Through the Levant Forum, Ankara has been promoting a free trade area with Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Turkey also has strong trade ties with Iraq.

Erdogan has moved the country further up the road to European Union membership. Turkey's negotiations to join the EU, begun in 2005, are at a virtual standstill as they demand to open Turkish ports and airports to traffic from EU-member Cyprus.  Turkey wants the EU to end a blockade of Turkish Cypriots in the north of the divided island as part of a joint action to help move toward reunification. During the election campaign, neither our party, the AKP, nor the opposition parties misused or abused the EU process to take an advantage. On the contrary, Turkey’s EU process plays a very important role in Europe. Unfortunately, there is a lack of willingness by the EU to cooperate with us in terms of visa requirements, Cyprus, negotiation chapters and the fight against terrorism. It is time the EU moved to reassure Turkey on these issues.

Many European nations play the known anti-Islamic gimmicks with Turkey saying that as a Muslim state Turkey should leave Europe and "settle down" in Mideast.Europe still tries to counter-pose ultra modern westernism with a traditional Turkish society deeply rooted in Islam resurfaced with the landslide election victory of the Islamist-based Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002.

How can these European lunatics controlling EU deny an European power Turkey its legitimate entry into EU for on concocted pretexts? 

THREE

The critical issue for the AKP government is to undertake steps to further advance the chief goal of new Turkey: Islamization of Turkish society according to Shari'a. Istanbul has already initiated the necessary steps in steering the society to truly Islamic path and the victory now should help people of Turkey to imbibe all Islamic values and virtues to live like real Muslims as  a model Islamic state for other Muslim states to adopt and follow. Turks really do not want to import what they regard as Western decadence, especially public drunkenness. They would like some restrictions.

Turkish voters have given Erdogan’s AKP an impressive mandate. Erdogan's Islamist party had widely been expected to win despite being accused by some of an authoritarian style of leadership. AKP victory is a powerful endorsement of the blend of economic liberalism and religious conservatism offered by Erdogan. With this win, he is now the most powerful political figure in Turkey since the days of the country's founding father, Kemal Ataturk. Now, obviously, with a less confrontational style, Erdogan is also eying on the presidency.

Two issues dominate the challenges of the new government. First in order is the new constitution and the second - admission to EU. However, execution of both does not depend entirely on the new government or the ruing party. The new constitution depends on the support of the opposition and EU entry is entirely the job of the EU members especially those who oppose Turkey's legitimate bid for EU membership. Many Turks accept the need to modernize the constitution to put more powers in the hands of the presidency is concern of Turkey as a nation.

There is also a strong vote for Kurdish candidates in the south-east, which will put pressure on Erdogan to make a more convincing effort to resolve the long-running conflict between the state and the large Kurdish minority. The government's goal is to end a separatist conflict which has killed more than 40,000 people in 27 years but for now there is no end in sight to the violence. The strong showing by Kurdish independent candidates – 35 appear to have won seats – will give them a potent voice in parliament and pile pressure on Erdogan to address their grievances.

The AKP has focused much on creating a new constitution in order to complete and advance the reform process in Turkey. If the opposition parties keep the promises they pledged during their election campaign, then the government will be able to come together and co-operate to write a new constitution.

As part  of nation’s rebuilding, Erdogan will win over opposition members of parliament given accusations that the reform will enable Erdogan to consolidate his power as it is an open secret that he favors moving Turkey to a more presidential system of government. Victory in the general election has given Turkey's ruling AK Party a strong mandate to pursue its reform agenda, but it will need to seek consensus to push through a planned new constitution. The AK Party must find support from outside the AK Party to rewrite the constitution, replacing a charter drafted after a 1980 coup. Erdogan says a new charter will strengthen democracy and pluralism.

Erdogan is a polarizing figure who, in his second term, has lost the support of many Turkish liberals and intellectuals who once saw him as a democratic pioneer, pushing back the militaristic state that ruled the country for most of the 20th Century.  On an international stage, the prime minister often cuts an awkward, slightly defensive figure, tall, but stiff and unsmiling. On his home turf Erdogan comes popularly alive, responding with jokes, sarcasm and even poetry to the crowds of supporters who pack his rallies. He has the combative charisma that Turks of the teeming cities or small Anatolian towns love. He is a towering politician who has come to dominate his country at a time of transition, in much the same way that Margaret Thatcher, Helmut Kohl and Mikhail Gorbachev did theirs. Diplomacy and humanism in one personality that is Erdogan.

The giant figure of Tayyip Erdogan looks firmly towards the future, with the year 2023 in large letters beside it. That is when this country will celebrate its centenary. Hopefully, Erdogan will inform the world about the new heights of Islamic achievements in Turkey. Islam both in form and content alone can make a society truly Islamic.