Turkey in Transition:Ottoman Empire to 2012

Mustafa Gökçek, Ph.D.Assistant Professor, History DepartmentDirector, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies ProgramNiagara University

ThesisRepublican Turkey, in order to transform

Turkey into a modern, western, nation-state, formed its own secularist elite detached from the people.

Various social changes led to increased visibility and upward mobility of conservative masses.

A combination of democracy, passive secularism, and social practice of Islam defines the Turkish model.

Ottoman TimesLimits on the SultansTanzimat Reforms, 1839First Constitutional Period, 1878-9Second Constitutional Period, 1908-1918From Abdulhamid II (1876-1909) to Young

Turks

Republic of Turkey1920, Mustafa Kemal AtatürkModernization of a nation-stateCultural revolution

Hat, script, school, religion, nation

The six arrows of KemalismSecularism, Nationalism,

Statism, Republicanism, Populism, Revolutionism

“For the people, despite the people”

Post-Atatürk PoliciesElite

Assertive secularist, Assimilated through education, Controlled wealth

The pledge:I am a Turk, I am trustworthy, I am hard working. My principle: it is

to defend my minors and to respect my elders, and to love my homeland and nation more than my self. My goal: it is to rise and progress. O Atatürk the great! I swear that I will enduringly walk through the path you opened and to the target you showed. May my personal being be sacrificed to the being of the Turkish nation. How happy is the one who says: “I am a Turk.”

Banning the Quran, translating Ezan, selling mosquesNeutral during WWII

Democracy with Bumps1946 – first multiparty

elections1950-1960 – Democrat Party1960 coup, executing a p.m.1971 coup, military

memorandum1980 coup, against

communismMilitary and its allies

media, president, judiciary, higher education, business associations

Societal Transformation: Urbanization

Population growth -> gecekondu (shanty towns)More schools, banks, hospitals, institutions,

professionals in citiesHemseri (same hometown) cultureWomen’s liberationTrade/ big businesses/ shopping mallsRise of a middle classCultural interaction (forceful) -> spatial

democratization

Societal Transformation: Urban ReligionReligious continuities

Sufi brotherhoods form communities

New movements: Said NursiMuslims embrace modernitySciences lead to Unity ->

educationReligious visibilities

Liberalization under Turgut Özal1983-1991Liberal economic

policiesPrivatizationExportsBirth of civil society

The Lost 90s1991-2002Coalition governmentsTwo economic crisis: 1994, 2001Rise of Kurdish terrorismCorruption1997, post-modern coup against political

Islamists

Rise of AK PartyJustice and Development

Party led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Conservative Democracy Increasingly popular

2002 – 36%2007 – 42%2011 – 50%

2002-2007, European Union reforms

2003-2004 coup plans2007, e-coup - defeated

Hizmet MovementFethullah Gülen“a civil society movement

of volunteers”Focused on education,

dialogA “glocal” communityEmphasis on

democratization, freedoms, rule of law

Threshold Passed2003-2004, EU reforms

Military dominance in NSC, State Security Courts and other high councils are eliminated

2007, Ergenekon Case2010, Referendum

President by electionsJudicial reform

2012, Court cases against 1980, 1997 coupsRise of an alternative media

Making Sense of the ChangeFinding a middle way between Islam and

modernity“An agency-based ideological transformation”Based on structural, socio-political

transformationsDialectic – coups reinforced a reactionModernization – urbanization, education,

middle-class, reflected in change of state apparatus

By Ihsan Dagi – Today’s ZamanThe old Turkey was a country where people were supposed to serve and remain loyal to the state and satisfy the demands of the state elite. It was a country that existed for the state and its owners, i.e., the state elite. Citizens were commanded to be stripped of their ethnic, religious and even ideological identities. In the old Turkey, the nation was imagined to be homogenous despite the diversities on the ground. The old Turkey was based on a notion of the superiority of the state over the society -- an understanding that gave a privileged status and power to the bureaucracy over the citizens, which is an anomaly by any democratic standard. It was a republic in which the civilian and military bureaucracy imagined for itself a “right to rule.” Thus, military takeover was the rule in the old Turkey. Our generals thought they were not only commanding their troops but the country. They hanged a prime minister, made constitutions, closed down political parties and destroyed the lives of millions. Civilians were not in a position to challenge the power of the juntas in the military; they were imprisoned by their own military.

In the old Turkey, the economy was run by the state, to be more specific, by unrepresentative and unaccountable bureaucrats, sitting in a position to redistribute the resources of the nation. The old Turkey was an inward-looking country where relationships with the world were at a minimum. This was a country and society in which it was convenient to be “ruled by fear.”The old Turkey thus feared anything foreign and different. It not only had external enemies but also plentiful “internal enemies.” Any different identity, ethnicity, religion or ideology was treated as a threat. The old Turkey was a burden for its Western allies, too. It was unable and unwilling to resolve its own problems at home and abroad.

Emergence of a ‘new Turkey’

Since 1999, with the start of the EU integration process, which unleashed domestic dynamics for change, the old Turkey has begun fading away. The ideas and ideals of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and minorities and a market economy have gained currency in this old country. As a result, for the last 10 years or so Turkey has been going through a tremendous process of change.

Change is everywhere: in politics, business, civil society and foreign affairs. We should try to understand the dynamics and actors of this new Turkey. And we should not make a mistake in identifying the driving forces behind the efforts to build a new Turkey. I think it is not the political leadership but social and economic forces that we need to look at to understand the dynamics pushing for the new Turkey. We make a fatal mistake if we think that the new Turkey is the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) Turkey. It is a phenomenon that goes far beyond it. The new Turkey is being created by a new business elite, new media, a new generation of intellectuals and an assertive civil society. A feature of the new Turkey is its self-confidence. It is now a country that says, “Yes, we can.” Democracy is becoming firm and irreversible. The military is being increasingly controlled by civilian authorities, just like in other Western democracies. The will to make a new liberal constitution is strong as demonstrated by the latest constitutional referendum held on Sept. 12. The economy is increasingly being integrated in global markets and institutions.

It seems that continuity and stability characterize the new Turkey. As democratization and economic development unsettles the status quo and disturbs established interests, it encounters resistance from the circles who think they would be the losers in the new Turkey. But their power to dominate political, economic and social space is so limited now that they are unable to stop the process of transformation. Stability and continuity are likely to go hand-in-hand with the process of change. Therefore, a new Turkey experiencing change in stability and continuity awaits us. The outcome of this will be further prosperity and democratization.

It is a relief for democrats that the new Turkey is a post-Kemalist republic based upon the virtues of democracy, pluralism, an open society and a market economy.2010-12-06

Homework for DemocratizationA New ConstitutionInner-Party DemocracyBasic Freedoms

speechreligious practice ethnic identity

Larger space and recognition for civil societyThink-tanksBusiness organizationsReligious communities