Adventures in Thailand

The past few weeks have been particularly interesting here in Turkey. The government has been brought to its knees after the secular establishment of the country, which is basically the upper class elite, threw up their arms when the ruling party nominated Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as its candidate for the presidency. The reason for their reservations is because of Gul’s previous ties to Islamist parties, not to mention his current conservative party, the AKP. The secularists are afraid that Gul and the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have a hidden Islamic agenda to turn the country into a fundamentalist bastion.

It seems like you can’t go a day with out hearing about Gul and Erdogan’s wives wearing headscarves. After living here for a little over a year, I have learned that to many Turks, Islamic headscarves are a symbol for the fundamentalist Islamic movement. Women in this country are not allowed to wear them in public institutions, which includes schools and government buildings. This is a vestige of the radical (at the time) policies of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He was a rapid modernizer and made the country into what it is today. Since I have been here, it seems like more and more women are electing to wear headscarves, possibly signaling a rise in conservative Islamic views. The fact remains that 98% of the country is Muslim. I can’t help but wonder how we as Americans would view this situation had it happened in our country. Indeed something similar has happened, I’m sure. While we are a secular nation, we try carefully to be sensitive to people’s right to religious freedom, which includes the wearing of religious garments and symbols. But to me, it’s just a scarf! I guess I’m thinking too American-like…

The Turkish military has become the keeper of Ataturk’s secularist legacy, and has defended that legacy several times, staging coups when it felt the secular base of the government was being threatened. A stark and chilling reminder of the military’s power was given when top generals released a statement following the announcement of Gul’s candidacy which said they would defend Turkey’s secularist history if need be. Thankfully, they have backed off and the threat of another coup happening seems to be minimal.

Since Gul’s candidacy was announced, there have been many demonstrations, mostly in Ankara and Istanbul, by the secularists voicing their displeasure at the prospect of having a conservative with Islamist ties as their president. What makes this whole thing so interesting and illogical to me is that the president of this country has very limited power. It’s the Prime Minister who actually runs the country. Why does it matter so much if the President can’t change anything? It is a largely symbolic position and the highest level in the protocol chain. All he does is entertain! (That’s probably not true…)

So where do they stand now? Well, as parliament actually elects the president, the secularists have been boycotting every vote, so there haven’t been enough MPs present to have a valid vote at all. PM Erdogan has been forced to dissolve Parliament and call for early elections, which are scheduled to happen July 22nd instead of November. Erdogan has also announced reforms to the constitution that would let the people elect the president instead of Parliament, and also reforms that would limit the Prime Minister’s term to 5 years, with the option of running for a second term. Also, he wants to change parliamentary terms to 4 years instead of 5. Whether or not those reforms get passed is another question, of course.

So July 22nd is the first day of the future of Turkey, which I think might be a little bumpy in the beginning, but ultimately will turn out just fine. Turkey has come a long way. There’s no way they should give it all up now, just like that.

What a great first post in the Foreign Service!