Erdoğan's political ambitions clash with Turkey's long-term interests

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's series of regressive and anti-democratic political priorities and aspirations in both domestic and foreign policy are, in many ways, considered to be contradictory to Turkey's long-term interests and are being criticized for lacking vision and specific ideas.

Despite the fact that in the more than a decade of Erdoğan's leadership, the government has undertaken a limited democratization process through amendments to the Constitution and steps to eliminate the military tutelage over the civil authority, the era since the Gezi Park protests -- a peaceful sit-in in defense of a city park that became a nationwide protest movement -- marked a transition to an authoritarian rule when compared to the early years of Erdoğan's administration.

The major turning point that transformed Erdoğan into a more authoritarian leader was the massive corruption scandal that became public on Dec. 17, 2013. In response to the graft probe, Erdoğan chose to defend those Cabinet ministers and their sons who were implicated in the investigation and employs hate speech directed at certain parts of society, discriminating between “us” and the “others.” Previously, Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) were seen as the main source of hope for the creation of a new and more democratic constitution that would meet society's demands for democratic change.

In a harsh reaction to the investigation, Erdoğan immediately purged police and prosecutors and then engaged in steps to ensure a tighter government hold on the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), paving the way for the destruction of the principle of the separation of powers, as well as allowing the government to appoint judges and prosecutors to keep the judiciary under the control of the executive branch to thwart the graft probe.

The graft crisis shook the government and Erdoğan hit back by accusing the faith-based Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish and Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen of plotting against his rule using leaked audio recordings that claim that Erdoğan and his son Bilal were also part of the corruption scandal.

Stepping up his drive against the followers of Gülen, Erdoğan, who denies any wrongdoing, has instigated hatred in society by labeling some prosecutors and police chiefs as members of a “parallel state,” as well as declaring that he would “enter the lairs” of his enemies who have accused him of corruption, adding, “They will pay for this.”

In a move that further damaged the freedom of expression in Turkey, the government blocked access to the micro-blogging platform Twitter and to the video-sharing website YouTube just hours after an audio recording of a high-level security meeting was leaked online. While in the short-term these bans may be beneficial to Erdoğan and helpful to the realization of his political plans, in the long-run it is certain that this kind of step will cause significant damage to the democratic principles and the state of law in society, and strengthen authoritarian tendencies in governance.

Wielding tremendous power in the political arena and even more confident after the latest local election results favored the AK Party, Erdoğan views the ballot box as the only currency required to realize his political program, as his recent speech in which he labeled opponents an “alliance of evil” indicated.

The political turbulence also has negative effects on economic indicators. Unnerved by the tension in Turkey, investors have hesitated to make new investments in Turkey, driving the Turkish lira to a record low in January. Although the lira returned to normal levels following the elections, it is agreed that the Turkish economy is now more fragile and less attractive to international investors.

The defendants in the Ergenekon coup case were released pending trial amid talk of a retrial and despite the fact that the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court in its reasoned opinion stated that Ergenekon is a terrorist organization that had plotted against the governments of former Prime Ministers Bülent Ecevit and Abdullah Gül and the incumbent Erdoğan.

The case played a crucial role in curtailing the military's aspirations to redesign the political sphere through military coups. The release of the defendants was seen as another significant rollback of democratic principles and a calculated attempt to seek an alliance with the army in order to destroy the Hizmet movement in a stunning reversal of Erdoğan's policy regarding the army. He had at one time accused the military of attempting to topple his legitimate government.

Most recently, Erdoğan launched a hostile initiative to have foreign countries shut down Turkish schools located abroad that are affiliated with the Hizmet movement. While the network of more than 2,000 schools and other educational establishments in more than 120 countries has been praised as a source of pride for Turkey, Erdoğan's personal war on the movement seems to have led him to be willing to damage Turkey's national interests both at home and overseas.

Erdoğan's intolerance of voices of dissident and differences of all kinds suggests an authoritarian style of rule, perhaps even at the cost of destroying all state mechanisms that might deter him from his path, and demonstrates a clear contradiction between Turkey's long-term domestic and foreign aspirations and interests. The discourse that Erdoğan uses against a certain segment of society also serves to plant seeds of hate, increasing intolerance among people and the encroachment on the media is being interpreted as a violation of the freedom of the press, a blow to the expression of different ideas in society.

Published on Sunday's Zaman, 13 April 2014, Sunday