A year with full entrapment: 2007



It is customary for journalists to pen an appraisal essay at the end of the year. It is only natural to abide by this tradition when it comes to the year 2007.
No doubt, the “political” start of the previous year was the murder of Hrant Dink and its end was the cross-border operation. A lot of things happened in the middle, including the Malatya massacre, assaults on priests, convictions in connection with violations of Turkish Penal Code (TCK) Article 301 and the transfer of the Şemdinli case to a military court. But what marked the year was the bitter opposition in association with parliamentary and presidential elections and attempts to hamper the democratic process. Year 2007 has been a year where the judiciary acted politically in line with the official ideology. The scheme to require the presence of 367 deputies in Parliament during the presidential election was scandalous. Likewise, the publication of a memorandum on the official Web site of the General Staff was also scandalous given that a former commander confessed in his recently published memoirs that they planned a military coup. Once more it became evident that the bureaucratic institutions that think they represent the official ideology in Turkey have inherent problems with democratization.
But Turkey managed to overcome this critical stage, though it has had to lose some of its prominent individuals. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) proved to be so authoritative and determinative in this critical period that its administration, aside from winning landslide victories in both elections, was able to retain the initiative and the last word even in matters concerning the Kurdish question, as evidenced in developments before and after the military operations in northern Iraq. Today we are experiencing a state of mind similar to waking up from a nightmare. At a time when the EU bid was almost shelved and the future of the country became unclear, Turkey’s abandonment of the democratic process and adoption of a new line based on official ideology would not be surprising.

Turkey did not fall into this trap; yet, it isn’t in the clear from the threat that posed the trap. Removing traps that will hamper the democratic path requires facing a number of challenges, though it seems that the administration is not courageous enough to do so. Their primary goal is to consolidate their rule by remaining silent in the face of prevailing problems and seeking resolutions in the future. It should be noted that it is meaningless to condemn them for their attitude. In the end, the AK Party is a political party that does not have to assume the mission to democratize Turkey. Meanwhile, there is no opponent to this party that will force it toward democratization.

However, if this is the case, it appears that the fundamental clash that marked the year 2007 will not come to an end. In other words, the ultranationalist movement, which declared the AK Party anti-nationalist and which indirectly promotes hunting down missionaries and violence towards foreigners, will most probably still be effective in 2008. This is the actual opposition to the AK Party administration and its agenda in the world. Other than that, ultranationalism is fed by a web of relations and institutional spheres of influence that will be able to expand its domination in the case of slow democratization.

Year 2007 was a year of self-inflicted entrapments for Turkey. We have all seen how a country’s official ideology was turned into an entrapment for the people in that country. We also saw how a society seeking a more participatory political regime was effectively resisted by state institutions. The only positive development in the long run was the transparency in the process. Turkish people have become a society that is not so easy to fool.

But the problems have not been resolved. The threat posed by the entrapments is still present. Rendering these entrapments dysfunctional requires facing up to our history and identity simply because they also have an ideology that needs to be disclosed.

Etyen Mahcupyan

Today's Zaman



04.01.2008