August 2nd, 2010 by Farid

Writing in the National Review, Barbara Lerner argues that the current ruling political party in Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP, is indeed Islamist and that “a ‘moderate Islamist party’ is a Western fantasy, a contradiction in terms, concocted by people who are blind to the fundamental differences between Islam and Christianity.”Assessing Turkish foreign policy under the AKP, Lerner argues that Turks “are now just part of the Middle Eastern mob,” adding that the party pretends to believe in freedom, democracy, and equality while in reality the government consists of “closed-minded, hate-spouting xenophobes and anti-Semites.” Comparing the current Turkish government to the Ottoman empire, Lerner says, “Ottoman emperors were the opposite of the narrow, hate-filled ideologues who govern the Arab and Persian states and, alas, Turkey today,” adding that the regime is “anti-western, anti-Christian, or anti-Jewish.” Lerner expresses four concerns: one, that the Turkish secular military has failed in its duties due to its fear of jeopardizing Turkish membership in the EU; two, that the AKP has infiltrated all secular institutions with its Islamist followers in order to consolidate its power; three that anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment amongst Turks is growing; and four, that the West has failed to hold the AKP accountable for its “extreme hostility to our legitimate and vital security interests.”

In another analysis of political developments in Turkey, Soner Cagapatay writes in Newsweek that “Turkey is heading toward a European model, but it is neither modern nor liberal.” Instead, he argues that Turkey is moving towards the East European model of the 1940’s, “when communist parties took power in democratic elections, only to subvert democracy and veil their nations behind the Iron Curtain.” Cagapatay equates communism with Islamism, saying, “both movements, rooted in an illiberal ideology, see democracy as a means to an end and espouse a Manichaean, us vs. them mentality.” He moves on to propose that the AKP will continue to support Islamist leaders in the region and “trample on free media, gender equality, and democratic safeguards such as an independent judiciary” in its own country. However, like Lerner, Cagapatay is hopeful that Kemal Kiliçdaroglu of the secular Republican People’s Party may gain public support, which Cagtaptay argues can only be achieved through “grassroots politics.” He adds that “the West must stand with democracy by ensuring free and fair elections and maintaining a level political playing field.”

Posted in Elections, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, Reform, Secularism, Turkey, US foreign policy |