Turkey’s internal love-hate
swing between the mosque and the military barracks holds no surprise.
Externally, however, the emergence
of a stronger President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the
failed military coup of July 15 giving him a dictatorial image has further
pushed back the country’s hopes of
joining the European Union or even remaining a dependable member of Nato.
Internally, the coup has thrown the country into
unprecedented turmoil because of the sheer numbers of people, detaied, jailed or fired from their jobs. Nearly 60,000
jobs have been put on the line, each
affecting a family of at least five or a total of 300,000 (three lakh) lives
directly. And going by a rough yardstick, each family probably has at least
five other families as close friends. In other words a million and a half people
could be living in fear of Erdogan’s victorious regime.
Unlilke in earlier coup des etats since the revolution
ushered by Kemal Ata Turk almost a century ago,
when the military had emerged as the successful defender of a secular
polity, the July 15 coup has thrown up
the mosque allies as victors led by Erdogan,
whatever his claims to democracy. His followers are euphoric that their man has
come on top with the resounding chant of Allahu Akbar
blaring from the mosque loud speaker and the captive civic theatre. Whether
Allah is on anybody’s side, nobody can tell for sure.
Erdogan means business
and has already imposed a
three-month state of emergency, enabling him and his Justice and Development
party (AKP) cabinet to bypass parliament, rule by decree, and suspend rights
and freedoms. The first decree, already in operation, extends detention without
charge from four to 30 days and orders the closure of more than 2,000 private
schools, associations, foundations, unions, health institutions and
universities.
The assault on
educational institutions , particularly targeting the deans of all
universities, is in line with Erdogan’s earlier camouflaged agenda of bringing
back pre-Kemalist educational ethos. The strident movement for the
revival of Arabic script to slowly
replace the Kemalist Latin script for official Turkish language, which has been
raging for quite some time, is a pointer
to the shape of things to come,
according to secular forces in the country. A throwback in the name of culture and
religion cannot be underestimated, the secularists fear.
Lists of all sorts of
‘dissenters’ -- or ‘anti-nationals’ in current Indian jargon --
have gone out
sighting nearly 60,000 thousand people,
including 15,000 educationists, 3,000 judges and prosecutors, besides an
unknown number of soldiers and
civilians, according to Can Dundar, Editor of Turkey’s leading news daily the Cumhuriyet. “ A campaign has been
launched to revive the death penalty, which was abolished in 2002. It is the
biggest witch hunt in the history of the republic,” he says.
In the latest count 47
newspapers have been shut down and arrest warrants issued for 47 journalists from
the opposition Zaman newspaper which
was shut down back in March. As many as
117 general rank military officers, including 30 from air force and 32 admirals
from navy. have been detained. The list of civilian staff from various
government departments sectors under fire is still lengthening.
Erdogan blames the current upheaval on plotter linked
to the US based cleric Fethullah Gülen, his
long-time ally now turned foe, as
the mastermind of an attempted military
takeover. He has already branded Gulen’s supporters as Fethullah
Terror Organisation (Feto).
He has demanded Gulen’s extradition – a
demand unlikely to be met by the US in the absence of any concrete evidence.
However, the Erdogan regime has caught hold of the cleric’s nephew, Muhammed
Sait Gülen, who was picked up from the
Turkish city of Erzurum.
Pakistan is perhaps one of the few
countries which has accepted the Erdogan line in toto but Turkey’s powerful Western
allies and financial backers seem to be unconvinced by Erdogan’s evidence against
Gulen. Many of them wonder who is the bigger cleric -- Fethullah Gülen or Recep Tayyip Erdogan who
is being dubbed as Sultan Erdogan and Mullah Erdogan by his detractors.
His tirade against Gulen may convince
his followers in Turkey but to the outside
world Gulen is just a symbol
of opposition, even a troublesome
opposition but democratic nonetheless. Any advice to show some moderation in
his excessive purge of opposition, from American or European friends, seems to
make him even more paranoiac. He has accused the head of US Central Command of "siding with
coup plotters."
He didn't name
General Joseph Votel , but it was clear he was railing against the
American general who expressed his unease about
many of US contacts or interlocutors have been purged or arrested. Both
sides have hardened their stand, deepening a rift between Nato’s two largest
military powers.
Relations with Europe are not getting
better either. Even Germany, which needs Turkish help most and has entered a
$3billion deal to stem the flood of Syrian and other refugees entering Europe
via Turkey, refused Erdogan’s request to address a Turkish immigrants’ rally in Cologne via
video-link – a clear signal that Berlin is not siding with any Turkish side.
There has been no approval of Erdogan’s
crackdown in the European press which has been pretty critical of his increasingly autocratic
rule. There is open criticism of his efforts to garner more power for himself by changing the constitution from a
parliamentary democracy to a presidential system investing himself with wide
executive powers. Equally suspect in
European eyes is the president’s tilt
towards Islamic ritual and the mosque.
Notwithstanding open or simmering rifts
with America and Europe and hugely wide internal divisions, Sultan Erdogan is
here to stay for now, with more power to his elbow.
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