At the end of another volatile week, with the continuing political turmoil beginning to damage country’s economy, you may rightly ask what is right with it.
Here is my list of the five crippling maladies afflicting Turkish politics today.
1- It lacks civility
Decline of civility in Turkish politics has become very apparent in recent years. Name-calling and angry exchanges in the Parliament have now degenerated into chaos and violence.
On January 11, water bottles and i-pads were thrown by rival members of the Parliament as the Justice Commission met to discuss a draft bill from the government over the appointment of judges and prosecutors.
On January 23, the opposition Republican People’s Party deputy chairman was injured in a fight at the Parliament and had to be treated in a hospital. When his party called on the Prime minister to apologise for his party member’s attack on his opponent, Mr Erdogan flatly refused and invited the opposition to apologise to him and his family first for raising corruption claims and warned there will be more such scenes if the opposition didn’t back off.
Nasty and brutish behaviors are common in Turkish politics. Courtesy is often seen as a sign of weakness and guilt. The prime minister is the worst culprit, addressing his opponents in an informal, disrespectful second singular form, often adding emphasis with an “O” (ey in Turkish).
Some of prime minister’s infamous quotes include “ill-fated Bedouin” jibe against Mr Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the opposition, “take your mother and get lost” to a farmer, “What else do you want, you were given a job” to a blind person raising problems faced by the disabled.
The prime minister reserves his worst insults for the journalists. “We freed you from your dog-collars”. “These journalists, they sleep with their dogs”, “Namert” (playing on words, referring to a critical journalist Nuray Mert, whose surname Mert means “courageous” and the very latest, “Pitiful” to Sedat Ergin, the Hurriyet daily’s a well-respected columnist.
The list of insults uttered by politicians is depressingly long and by no means exclusively populated by the members of the ruling party. Though, the tone is set by the Prime minister, who does not follow the accepted etiquette of parliamentary politics and does not demand high standards from his subordinates.
As for bullying and rude behavior of some of his deputies and mayors on Twitter, it would be the subject of a much longer article. A quick look at the notoriously aggressive Ankara mayor, @06melihgokcek should suffice.
2- It is paranoid
Should we really be surprised that those occupy our political sphere-given they are chosen by us- are displaying signs of extreme feelings of persecution and an exaggerated sense of self-importance?
In almost every recent poll on global attitudes, Turks express a very dim view of foreigners. The USA, Israel and the European Union regularly recieve a very unfavourable rating. Religious and ethnic minorities living inside Turkey also get harsh assesments as potential threats to the country.
So, we are, in general, inclined to paranoia. Generations raised on the maxim “”One Turk is worth the entire world” widely believe “”A Turk’s only real friend is another Turk.”
Yet, the paranoia afflicting the government in Turkey today surpasses that of society.
The latest edition to the long list of conspirators against the government is the country’s top business group. Mr Erdogan declared TUSIAD (Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association) a traitor for their warnings on judical interference.
Several countries, including some of Turkey’s closest allies, international markets, international and national media , business associations, think-tanks and rival religous groupings have all been subjected to Prime Minister’s vindictive comments.
At this rate, soon, the only criteria for patriotism will be an unquestioning loyalty to the great leader.
3- It lacks capacity
An inevitable result of years of nepotism and cronyism is a serious lack of capacity in human capital. The Prime minister’s style is to surround him with people who would toe the line at all times. Advisors are chosen not for their ability to counsel but for their skill in getting others to toe the line, too. They are there to reflect the glory onto the leader.
Mr Erdogan’s tendency to control everything and to demand uncritical loyalty to himself and his party have already undermined the country’s established institutions, among them the foreign ministry. Not being able to understand and analyse the fast-changing world environment seems to be a major short-coming of this administration.
4- It is short-sighted
Today, Turkey suffers from a serious lack of long-term vision. At a time of global and regional transformation, the Turkish government has failed to read correctly the signs in every major world event. From the Arab Spring to the Syrian crisis, from energy policies to investment in science and technology, the wrong decisions were made, inappropriate alliances formed. Planning ahead is not this government’s forte. Short-term political interests blind them to obvious pitfalls. Even worse, they prioritise their own immediate survival over the long term interests of the country.
5-It is not transparent
The political values of openness and democratic accountability are cornerstones of any liberal democracy. Free and fair elections alone do not make a normal, functioning democratic system as clearly seen in today’s Turkey. A government cannot be held accountable to the legal system if it does not respect the independency of judiciary or the rule of law.
Collaborating with the opposition parties and civil society institutions enable greater participation by citizens. Mr Erdogan and his ministers polarise the society by saying “if you’re not on our side, you will be eliminated”.
Without transparency, corruption flourishes. The recent corruption scandal did not surprise anyone because there was a perception that it existed in Turkey but could not be talked about.
In today’s world, political and financial transparency is virtually impossible without a free media.
And in this one field, Turkey indisputably leads. It is the world’s number one in media censorship and the number of journalists it keeps in jail.
This post is also available in: Turkish
Salih says
Dear Miss. Robinson,
Great article, many points which I am also of opinion with you.
But I had to ask my self and you 🙂
Why is it so that Gezi Park Protests was widely covered in Western Media Incl BBC
but the riots in UK, GERMANY not so long ago did not get the same media attention, this is one of the reasons Turks in general do have a unfavourable view on EU,US. Im not going in to the Israeli topic since they killed our citizens in open sea, which is a declaration of war actually, so in this case it is just normal the Turks have negative view on Israel. Turks have the feeling that EU or US always try to maken an sattelite state of Turkey for the Western interesets in the region. Many people started to dislike Erdogan due to his behaviour and certain remarks/quotes he made but at the same time when he is being critisized abroad then the Turks again start to vote even more on him.
( I know it sounds weird but its a fact )