Of Acceptable Muslim Democracies & British Interests

Turkey has been praised as a successful example of how ‘Muslim’ and ‘Democracy’ are not mutually exclusive terms. As it becomes increasingly difficult to justify economic and military ties with long-established dictatorships such as British links with Gaddafi or Mubarak’s regimes, along comes Turkey to provide European premiers with the option of a new discourse of what relations with a self-proclaimed Muslim democracy ought to look like. Specifically, Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) promotes a conservative practice of Islam whilst embracing the traditional accentuated expressions of Turkish nationalism attached to the politician’s profession and called for by the outdated Turkish legal system.

Winner of the 2002 elections, the then newly formed AKP changed as needed the previous policies of the religious conservative Refah to legitimize the expectations of a new class of business men. AKP profited in popularity terms via brotherhoods which were not part of the state nor civil society and further developed instrumentalisation of religion in Turkey. One of the most popular at the moment is the Fetullah Gülen movement, which manages to combine Islam and free market philosophy, and focuses on indoctrination via educational institutions all over the globe.

In spite of their religious tendencies, what is most convenient for those countries promoting the free international flow of capital is AKP’s stance on capitalist policies. Firm believers in privatisation, AKP makes a perfect ally for European countries seeking further economic options in a dire scenario whose ideological coordinates are dictated by market forces. Using the common language of the free market, UK and Turkey have engaged in a love affair of sorts, where they are both unable to admit to each other’s deficiencies. The religious tinge has been utilised to legitimise AKP’s policy within Turkish borders, inasmuch as it has provided the UK premier with an easy discourse of artificial tolerance.

Going beyond the discourse, how exactly are these countries benefiting from each other? As Recep Tayyip Erdogan said over a year ago, “this is the golden age of Turkish-UK relations.” However Turkey has not yet achieved a welfare state. Its long standing issues of working conditions, access to education, of women’s and minority rights, amongst others have been only partially invested in, and those struggling for any of these are in fact in need of urgent international support, not profit-seeking investment.

But there is more. The UK and Turkey’s agreements to increase their ties include further contracts between the Turkish Defense Industry and British multinational BAE Systems. Turkey’s desire to become the world’s tenth largest economy are more than strong enough to justify the links between the two countries.

What would happen if the UK government was to bomb and kill 35 of its citizens as happened in Turkey’s South Eastern district of Uludere last December? Could we imagine that the majority of media outlets, clearly controlled by the state, wrongly labelled these citizens as terrorists and therefore the massacre as justifiable? It is well known how the voices of dissent are treated: jailed, threatened – or both.

AKP has recently been portrayed also as successfully winning the power struggle with the once-unbeatable Turkish army. In reality, they are doing away with any possible contender, paving the way for a virtually uncontested rule. As Nihat Ali Ozcan states: “…the success of ‘democratic control over the military’ is not measured by succeeding in locking up the top general or putting a high number of officers into military penitentiaries as is the case in Turkey.”

With an educational system that accentuates Turkishness until it becomes a racist formula, Erdogan’s AKP betrayed its own attempt in 2009 to deal with the country’s institutionalised inequalities. The prosecution of civil society and human rights advocates, opposition members and anyone that does not buy AKP’s populism has shown exactly the undemocratic path AKP has chosen. The so-called fight against terrorism that takes shape in the KCK Operations is a suitable excuse: “In this situation, the Prime Minister and AKP are trying to control a political party by using the authority of the judicial system and the power of the law. This means they are trying to establish custodial rights [over BDP].” Yüksel GENÇ, Bak?rköy Women’s and Children’s Detention Center.

Repression in Turkey is brutal. Censorship is commonplace. Acceptance of difference is almost non existent. Yet Erdogan and his entourage of businessmen campaigned in the Middle East marketing their product, a Muslim democracy that apparently works. ?With an urgent need of an uprising within its borders that liberates its citizens of an abhorrent and excluding nationalism, Turkey stands as an awkward ally for anyone that not only speaks of true democracy but also practices it.

By Clara Rivas