Turkey Analyst,
vol. 2 no. 16
31 August 2009

WHAT THE COLUMNISTS SAY

In the aftermath of the government’s “Kurdish opening”, Turkey continues to grapple with the challenge the nation-state faces. As the divisions over ethnicity and lifestyles are increasingly recognized, the question of how national cohesion is going to be ensured – as well as how democracy is to be secured – preoccupies several of the participants in the public debate. The record USD2.5 billion fine imposed by the tax authorities on the Doğan Media Group caused alarm not least among commentators in media outlets owned by the DMG. As opponents of the ruling AKP worry about the danger of a drift toward authoritarianism, pro-government commentators are on the contrary encouraged by the recent proposal of the government to restructure the judicial system.

BILA: THE GOVERNMENT HAS ADJUSTED ITS STANCE ON THE KURDISH QUESTION
Fikret Bila in Milliyet observes that the AKP government has gone from speaking of a “Kurdish opening” to calling the initiative “an opening for national unity”. After having started off without setting any limits for the initiative, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Interior minister Beşir Atalay have forcefully affirmed the government’s commitment to the principle of a unitary, Turkish state enshrined in the constitution. That striking change follows upon the August 30 declaration by the Chief of the General staff General İlker Başbuğ. Prime Minister Erdoğan has also categorically rejected the proposal of the Democratic society party, DTP, that the PKK should be accepted as an interlocutor by the government. The AKP has thereby distanced itself from the DTP. It seems as if the government had seriously misjudged the DTP and the PKK when it launched its initiative.

DOĞAN: THE SCARY RHETORIC OF THE DTP DOES NOT FACILITATE A SOLUTION
Yasin Doğan in Yeni Şafak is sharply critical of the declarations by the representatives of the Democratic society party, DTP. The declarations made at a recent rally in Diyarbakır unfortunately displayed a glaring disregard for the fragility of the process initiated by the opening of the government. The rhetoric of the DTP only serves the interests of the opposition parties MHP and CHP.  The DTP seeks to exploit the initiative of the government, which aims at strengthening the democratic rights of citizens of Kurdish origin and alleviating their problems, to further the interests of Kurdish nationalism and of Abdullah Öcalan. That has caused consternation among many of those who are in favor of the opening and has raised serious doubts in their minds. The DTP will have to accept the reality of Turkey and start taking the sensibilities of the other parts of society into due consideration, adopting a more measured rhetoric, if the opening is to stand a chance of succeeding.

MERT: THE NATION STATE HAS ITS MERITS
Nuray Mert in Radikal observes that the discussions generated by the Kurdish question as well as those that concern the prospects of democratization in general and the history of the republic share a common trait: They are all about the nation state. The fact that the creation of a nation state in Turkey led to the oppression of diversity and to discrimination had to be recognized. However, the legitimate criticism of the nation state practices has now degenerated into an almost sadistic desire to tear apart the world of those citizens who are emotionally attached to the nation state. There is nothing to be gained from admonishing people that their grandparents killed the Armenians and oppressed the Kurds. And neither is it workable to suggest that the nation state was wrongly conceived and that we should consequently start all over, changing the constitution. It is not a revolution of that kind that we need, but rather a gradual reformation of the nation state.

GÜRSEL: WILL WE MANAGE TO KEEP ON LIVING TOGETHER?
Kadri Gürsel in Milliyet notes that there is a general concern that Turkish society will not be able to hold together. He cites one of the participants in a recent panel organized by the Jewish community in Istanbul: “The republic and modernization was supposed to have substituted the Ottoman society of separated groups and religious communities with a commonwealth of equal citizens; yet the republican citizenship project has been an abject failure.” I am as worried as a Turkish Jew.  The old order barely held together; without the external constraints imposed by the Cold war, the differences have burst into the open. How are we going to overcome cultural and ethnic divisions and find a formula that keeps us together? The answer must be offered by the politicians, yet it is difficult to imagine that happening. It is impossible not to be concerned as the government is busy imposing a religious-communitarian model on society and as the opposition has nothing to offer but a defense of the old order.

AKYOL: THE FINE IMPOSED ON DMG IS AN ILLIBERAL ACT
Taha Akyol, a usually pro-AKP columnist in Milliyet (which belongs to the Doğan Media Group) is incensed by the fine imposed on DMG. Akyol draws a parallel to the past interventions of the military. I was one of the victims of the intervention in 1997. The military tried to silence me. What the government is attempting to do now is as unacceptable. That those who have been democratically elected use the power of the state to crush dissent is as illiberal as the undemocratic interventions of the military against basic freedoms.

GÜNEŞ: POSTMODERN TOTALITARIANISM
Hurşit Güneş in Milliyet finds the fine imposed on the Doğan Media Group and a new proposal of the government to restructure the judicial system worrisome. According to the latter proposal, the parliament and the president will be accorded the power to appoint members to the High Council of Judges and Public prosecutors. That will inevitably pave the way for the politicization of the judiciary, as our governments invariably use their power of appointment politically discriminately. Sure, the military’s intervention in April 2007 was a postmodern intervention. Yet, the attempts to subjugate the media and the judiciary are expressions of a postmodern authoritarianism in the making.

MAHÇUPYAN:  THE JUDICIAL REFORM IS OPPOSED BY THE DEFENDERS OF THE AUTHORITARIAN REGIME
Etyen Mahçupyan in Taraf writes that the government’s proposal to reform the judiciary is intended to put the defenders of the old system under civilian supervision, as was the case with the previous reforms that concerned the role of the military Obviously, those defenders object; such a change in accordance with EU harmonization is a democratizing step and democratization is opposed by the regime. The reorganization of the High Council of Judges and Public prosecutors would in fact accord that body more power and would make it more autonomous than what it is today. Yet the High Council of Judges and Public prosecutors is nevertheless opposed. It cannot accept that the president and parliament are empowered to appoint members to the council, although it is only a minority that would be appointed by the political instances. It does not seem possible to satisfy the High Council of Judges and Public prosecutors. No dissenting voices are to be tolerated in this citadel of the authoritarian regime.

The Turkey Analyst
The Turkey Analyst is a publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Joint Center, designed to bring authoritative analysis and news on the rapidly developing domestic and foreign policy issues in Turkey. It is published weekly, and includes a topical analysis, as well as translations and summaries of selected Turkish news reports. It is edited and compiled under the supervision of Svante E. Cornell, Halil M. Karaveli, and M. K. Kaya.

The analyses appearing in the Turkey Analyst are often written by the three Editors. The Turkey Analyst occasionally publishes signed guest analyses.

The Joint Center
The Joint Center was created in 2005 through the merger of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, and the Silk Road Studies Program, at the Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development Policy.

The Turkey Initiative
The Joint Center launched a Turkey Initiative in 2006 in order to improve understand of Turkish domestic and foreign affairs in Europe and the United States.

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