TURKEY AFLAME
EDITORIAL | JUNE 20, 2013 12:05 PM
By Edmond Y. Azadian
No one could imagine a few months ago that the Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan would return home from his triumphant trips abroad
to salvage his ten-year-old rule and bury his Ottomanist dreams in
the conflagrating protests at Taksim Square in Istanbul. Pretty soon
the wave of protests extended throughout the country, but mainly at
the major cities of Ankara, Izmir, Adana and Gaziantep.
Settled firmly on his throne, Mr. Erdogan was bullying Armenia,
threatening Syria and pressuring Israel for an apology for the latter’s
raid on Mavi Marmara Flotilla.
Turkey’s economic boom and regional superpower status – encouraged
and aided by Western powers and Russia – had inflated Mr. Erdogan’s
ego to supreme arrogance. Several countries in the region which were
following Turkey’s rise with alarm had a legitimate concern to cut
Erdogan’s imperial ambitions to size.
Through US mediation and blessing, Turkey had partnered with Israel
to rule the Middle East through joint hegemony. But Erdogan took that
position as a license to dictate his will even to Israel, leaving a
bitter taste in the mouths of his American sponsors.
At home he had managed to tame the military, which had ruled the
country under authoritarian rule for many decades, since the days of
Ataturk. Today many members of the military brass are waiting in jails
for their day in court as conspirators bent on overthrowing Erdogan’s
Islamist government. The Deep State was so deep that a backlash was
not in Erdogan’s calculations. Despite the fact that the country was
veering towards an Islamic rule with Ottoman caliphate in perspective,
Erdogan continued to enjoy popularity because the prosperity he had
brought to the country, until a spark at Taksim Square upended Mr.
Erdogan’s political calculations.
The protests began with an environmental issue of saving some trees
on Taksim Square and degenerated and splintered into many issues,
most importantly against Erdogan’s authoritarian style.
At first, Mr. Erdogan tried to use President Roosevelt’s tactic of
speaking softly and carrying a big stick. Negotiating with some of the
leaders of the Taksim demonstrators in Ankara, he offered a compromise,
to put the Taksim Square plan to a referendum. The original plan
envisioned the destruction of Ataturk Cultural Center to pave the
way for the construction of an Ottoman-ear barracks, a mosque and a
shopping mall. But Erdogan used Roosevelt’s tactic in reverse order and
sent the police to evacuate the square. In the scuffles, four people
were killed and 5,000 were injured and many demonstrators were thrown
in jail. Once again the prime minister’s intolerant character streak
emerged. In the aftermath, the movement developed into a democracy
struggle, moving away from its original goal. Erdogan accused the
protestors as terrorists, encouraged by Western media. He did not
mince words, mentioning some by name, such as CNN and Reuters.
He knew which powers controlled the Western media, but did not go
so far as blaming Israel for his miseries. He was aware that Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had apologized a few months ago
to Turkey in order to salvage President Obama’s trip to that country
from the brink of catastrophe, would get back at him with a vengeance.
Although Turkey and Israel entertain the same goal of overthrowing
the Assad regime in Syria, they diverge from each other in their
perspectives; Erdogan would not mind seeing an Islamic fundamentalist
regime emerge in Damascus, which is an anathema to Israel.
One has yet to identify a clear leadership and a platform of demands
for the Taksim Square demonstrations, but all disgruntled groups are
there to voice their demands or grievances. The Kemalists have joined
the demonstrations to salvage their trampled secular values. There
are trade unions and other minorities with slogans hostile to Erdogan
and his meddling in Syria’s civil war, which has backfired.
The participation of Kurdish groups was negligible for obvious
reasons. Mr. Erdogan and the jailed Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan,
have become strange bedfellows, shaping the future of Erdogan’s rule.
Indeed, the Kurdish leader has foregone his dreams of independence,
watering them down instead to cultural autonomy for the Kurds. In
return, he has pledged to support Erdogan’s bid for presidency by
implementing a new constitution, with the support of the Kurdish
representatives in the parliament.
The other reason for the low Kurdish profile is that any demagogue,
beginning with Erdogan, can galvanize and unite Turkey’s population
against the Kurds, whose ultimate aspiration remains the fragmentation
of Turkey’s territory.
Ironically, Armenians or supporters of Armenians were on hand with
slogans never before seen in Turkey in the recent demonstrations.
It has been reported that police have used gravestones from the nearby
Armenian cemetery to disperse the protestors. Indeed, Taksim Square was
built on an Armenian cemetery designated as such by Sultan Suleyman
I in 1560. The Kemalist protestors are against the removal of the
Ataturk Cultural Center, which was built in the 1930s on top of the
razed St. Hagop Armenian Cemetery and the adjacent Khor Virap Church.
The 16th-century cemetery occupied a space of 56,000 square meters and
the church and other buildings an additional 500 square meters. In
1915, the cemetery was declared by the government to be abandoned
property. In 1934, the Istanbul Court transferred the property to
the city.
In 1938 and 1939, the cemetery and the church were destroyed to
make way for the construction of Gezi Park. It is interesting that
a Kurdish leader, Cengiz Alkan, has added some additional historic
facts to the above information. In a statement this week, he announced
that there used to stand a monument in memory of the victims of the
Armenian Genocide at that location. His conclusion must have been
more inflammatory to the fanatical Turks as he stated, “Those who
visit Gezi Park must be aware that there was a Genocide memorial
monument in place in 1919. We hope that someday in the future,
another Genocide monument would stand.”
As to how a Genocide monument could exist at that time, we have to
remember that in the immediate aftermath of World War I, Istanbul
was under Allied occupation.
There were also other demonstrators in Gezi Park who were warning that
one day Armenians would return to claim their cemetery. One young
demonstrator shamed the government that Istanbul had a boulevard in
the name of the murderer Talaat Pasha and yet not one in the name of
Hrant Dink.
The Armenian aspect of Gezi Park seems to be the least of the worries
for Mr. Erdogan, who has bigger fish to fry. His entire power structure
seems to have been shaken from its foundation and there seem to be no
end to the demonstrations, embarrassing Erdogan’s administration on
the world scene, weakening the economy by a sharp drop in the Turkish
stock market as well as the lira against the dollar.
It was precisely those economic achievements of Erdogan and the AKP
Party which have enhanced the prestige of Turkey globally.
Despite all these adverse developments, Prime Minister Erdogan
remains defiant. He bused 300,000 of his supporters to Ankara for
a counter demonstration, a measure designed precisely to exasperate
the situation and increase the polarization in the country.
Intoxicated by his party’s successes and his achievements,
Erdogan believes nothing can destroy his government. And indeed,
demonstrators – as violent as they are – lack the leadership and
structure to dislodge the prime minister. All that can happen may be
that domestically he has to tone down his rhetoric and authoritarian
style and internationally, refrain from fomenting trouble for Turkey’s
neighbors.
Therefore, Erdogan’s survival hinges on compromise, even if
grudgingly. Otherwise, he can precipitate his demise faster than his
opponents can fathom.
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From: Baghdasarian
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2013/06/20/turkey-aflame/#sthash.wlcFQ66h.dpuf