Local actions add up to a national crisis in Turkey

Yigal Schleifer 5/08/07

As Turkey prepares for early elections in July, a large number of Turks have turned out in recent days for a series of massive pro-secularism rallies held in different cities around the country. Many protesters express concern that the country's government, headed by the liberal Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), is making barely noticed changes on the local level that are eroding the country's secular foundations.

It's a sentiment that also appears to be shared by Turkey's powerful military, which stepped into the country's political crisis by releasing a terse statement on April 27 voicing alarm over the AKP government's track record on secularism. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Rather than mentioning anything the government itself had done, the military's statement listed several examples of local events, such as a Koran reading contest during a public holiday in Ankara, that it found troubling.

True or not, the claim that the AKP is carrying out a "quiet revolution" on the grassroots level is one that is being heard with more frequency in Turkey. That the allegation continues to linger also illustrates how – despite four years in government which have brought record economic growth and the country closer than ever to its long-hold dream of European Union membership – many secular Turks remain deeply suspicious of the AKP's intentions.

"I think what [the military is] saying is that on a national level Turkey's secular system has not changed. … But they [the generals] are concerned about micro-level efforts," says Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Those concerns have embroiled Turkey in one of its deepest political crises in decades, pitting the government against the country's secularist establishment, which fears the AKP is becoming too powerful. The AKP's recent efforts to have its foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, elected president were successfully blocked by Turkey's secular opposition parties, and Gul ended up formally withdrawing his nomination on May 7. In Turkey, members of parliament select the president. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

While the AKP has hit a roadblock nationally, it retains broad popularity on the local level. In the 2004 municipal elections, the party captured a whopping 42 percent of the vote, giving it control of the mayoral offices in most of Turkey's large cities. In Istanbul, for example, the party controls 24 of 32 boroughs.

Since those elections, secularists and the Turkish press have been quick to provide examples of AKP-run municipalities trying to introduce Islamic "lifestyle changes" – from efforts to ban on alcohol sales to the distribution of brochures to newlyweds that claim; "one marries a woman based on four criteria: property, lineage, beauty and religion. Women who don't wake up early…and a horse that doesn't obey your commands are useless."

Earlier this year, Turkish Secularists were apoplectic when a district mayor in Istanbul tried to rename a scenic hilltop named after Pierre Loti, a late 19th-century French bon vivant, to that of an Islamic saint whose tomb – a popular Muslim pilgrimage site – is located nearby.

Metin Heper, a professor of political science at Ankara's Bilkent University, says he believes such instances are being blown out of proportion for political purposes. "I don't think those things have been orchestrated by the AKP leadership," he says. "I think those are isolated events and when the leadership found out what happened, they tried to stop it. I don't think a capital case should be made out of it."

Adds Heper: "Unfortunately, in this country, some people think that if someone is in one way or another is a practicing Muslim, that someone would be enthusiastic to bring back a state ruled by Islam. And that is just not true."

In a recent interview in Newsweek, Foreign Minister Gul, the blocked presidential candidate, vigorously denied that the AKP has a hidden Islamization agenda. "We have worked harder than any party in Turkey's history to make Turkey a member of the EU," Gul told Newsweek. "Why would we do this if we are trying to Islamize Turkey?"

In his wood-paneled office, Hasan Can, the AKP mayor of Istanbul's sprawling Umraniye district, says he's too busy fixing potholes and paving new streets to deal with religion. Can, a former teacher who helped found the AKP, believes what the opposition really fears is the party's success on the local level, going on to describe a well-oiled political machine that provides coal and food to the poor and that has in the last three years built eight cultural centers in a borough that previously only had one.

Umraniye, on Istanbul's eastern edge, is rapidly swelling with migrants from Turkey's conservative Anatolian heartland. Previously filled with ramshackle homes known as gecekondu – "built overnight" in Turkish – today Umraniye has one of Istanbul's hottest property markets, with high-rise apartment complexes now ringing the area. "We are working on solving future problems, not only the present ones," says the mustachioed Can. "People want a more modern life, one filled with culture. They would like to be able to fill their stomachs and live a modern life that is integrated with the city. That's what the AK Party is giving them."

When asked about the allegation that the AKP is injecting religion into its work, Can smiles. "I have been talking for an hour – has there been any religion in what I said?" he counters.

"This is a political discourse that's not based in reality," he added, referring to the present political crisis.

Still, the AKP's leadership now seems more aware of the impact, at least in symbolic terms, of its party's local activities. Top party officials recently sent a directive to mayors and local activists, urging them to refrain from using religious references in their publications. The party has also indicated that it will try to purge some of its more conservative members before the upcoming elections.

"Until now, they have been pretty loose with the local administrations, but I think that is going to change," says Mehmet Ali Birand, a commentator for CNN Turkey. "If one municipality does something, another one thinks it's a good idea to do it as well. It generates a momentum, and the party needs to do something to discipline them."

Editor's Note: Yigal Schleifer is a freelance journalist based in Istanbul.

Posted May 8, 2007 © Eurasianet