National Post (Canada)
May 5, 2007 Saturday
National Edition
Secular and Islamist forces collide in Turkey; Early election a
tug-of-war over future path
by Con Coughlin, The Daily Telegraph
LONDON – Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, was no
friend of Islam.
Late at night, and in his cups, Turkey’s iconic leader would often
refer to the nation’s Islamic past as "a necklace of corpses" that
defiled the new state he was trying to create from the ruins of the
Ottoman empire.
The 15 years he ruled the country are most remembered for his almost
obsessive purge of its Muslim identity as he sought to create a
society more attuned to the ways of modern Europe.
The Caliphate, the body that had governed the Muslim world for four
centuries under the Ottomans, was unceremoniously abolished within
months of the creation of the modern Turkish state. Broadcasting the
muezzin’s daily prayers was banned and the more radical madrassas
were closed.
Anyone who turned up at Ankara’s city walls in dress deemed to be too
Islamic was unceremoniously sent back to the provinces. Shariah law
was replaced by a penal code modelled on that of Switzerland and the
emancipation of women was encouraged by laws that banned wearing
veils. Arabic script was replaced by the Latin alphabet and the
centuriesold ban on alcohol was lifted.
It is hardly surprising, then, that the crowds of demonstrators who
have been protesting at Turkey’s creeping Islamization should carry
banners bearing Ataturk’s intimidating features. The crude attempt by
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s crypto-Islamic Prime Minister, to
secure the presidency for a practising Muslim, Abdullah Gul, his
Foreign Minister, has provoked such outrage the military elite, who
regard themselves as standard- bearers of Ataturk’s legacy,
threatened to stage yet another coup.
That deeply disturbing prospect has — for the moment, at least
–been averted by Mr. Erdogan’s decision to call an early election
this summer to decide the issue by democratic means. But with his
Justice & Development party (AKP), which is deeply rooted in Turkey’s
burgeoning Islamic constituency, riding high in the polls, a return
to the kind of military dictatorship that plagued political
development throughout the 20th century cannot be ruled out.
The military establishment is Kemalist to the core. The mere
suggestion the country might appoint a president whose wife insists
on covering herself with a veil for public functions would be enough
to have them taking to their tanks.
Despite Mr. Erdogan’s insistence he has no desire to dilute Turkey’s
distinctive secular character, the hawkish generals have viewed him
as an Islamist in disguise in the three years since he came to power.
They, together with the millions of Turks who are at ease with the
country’s secular outlook, are concerned at the growing influence of
Islam on their society.
Ten years ago it was normal to see groups of girls in school uniforms
on the streets of Istanbul. Today they have virtually disappeared, to
be replaced by women wearing headscarves. During the holy Islamic
month of Ramadan, it is not uncommon for street fights to break out
between religious Muslims objecting to their secular compatriots
lighting up a cigarette during the daytime fast.
Turn on any television or radio debate these days and the main
subject of discussion most likely concerns the threat Islam poses to
Turkey’s future.
"Do you want us to become another Iran or another Afghanistan?" one
frustrated secularist asked an Islamic supporter during a radio
station phone-in this week.
Given Turkey’s geographical location, it is hardly surprising it is
susceptible to the threat of radical Islam being imported across its
south-eastern borders. And even though the AKP’s Islamic agenda is
mild compared with that on offer in neighbouring Iran, Mr. Erdogan’s
failed attempt to criminalize adultery — it was vetoed by the
current President, Ahmet Necdet Sezer — has done nothing to allay
the suspicions of those determined to maintain the Kemalist
settlement.
The mounting polarization between Turkey’s devout Muslims and its
secular, mainly urban elite should be of grave concern to the West,
which has often sent Ankara conflicting signals about its value as an
ally. In military and strategic terms, Turkey has long been regarded
as a key asset, particularly after the 9/11 attacks put it on the
front line of Washington’s campaigns to root out Islamic terrorists
and confront rogue states.
Yet Turkey’s enthusiastic attempt to join the European Union received
a lukewarm response, with many member states expressing strong
reservations about welcoming 70 million Muslims into an alliance
whose population is more familiar with the tenets and traditions of
Christianity.
The various delaying tactics Brussels has employed to postpone
Turkey’s entry has not only succeeded in dampening the Turks’
excitement about the whole venture, but has encouraged an upsurge in
nationalistic fervour that underlies the country’s current travails.
Accusations that the West’s Islamophobia is responsible for blocking
Turkey’s entry to the EU have increased support for Islamic groups
that seek to accentuate the country’s historic Muslim character.
Brussels’ procrastination has also seen a revival of the
ultranationalist groups that are not afraid to use violence against
anyone accused of "insulting Turkishness." The January murder of
Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist who accused the Turks of
committing genocide against the Armenians during the First World War,
is symptomatic of the paranoia and isolationism that is sweeping the
country and now threatens the long-term stability of a key NATO ally.
The EU’s patronizing treatment of Turkey’s membership application has
certainly not helped to placate this siege mentality and explains why
so many Turks now seek to invoke the spirit of nationalism espoused
by Ataturk.
But these are dangerous currents. The generals, not the politicians,
are the true keepers of the Ataturk flame and, like the country’s
founding father, they will not stand idly by if the Turks attempt a
return to their old Islamic ways.
GRAPHIC: Black & White
Photo: Mustafa Ozer; The publication of cartoons in a Danish
newspaper caricaturing Muhammad sparked anger across Turkey two years
ago. The postponement of Turkey’s admission to the European Union has
also swelled support for the country’s Islamist movement. ;