AKP and the great neo-Ottoman travesty
Osman Rifat Ibrahim
Last updated: 7 hours ago
Turkey has been branded by the West and East alike as a success story ever since the sweeping victory of the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) in the 2002 elections.
The nation's AKP leaders touted themselves as proponents of "conservative democracy", a slogan that resonated among average Muslim Anatolians.
Indeed, parts of the country have changed for the better, and for a time, there was notable social and democratic progress. Particularly during the party's first term - sometimes referred to as "the golden age" of Turkish-European Union relations - AKP fast-trackedreforms that were initiated by the previous government. Among these were some cosmetic improvements on the freedom of expression and minority rights.
Despite significant opposition, the AKP was re-elected in 2007 and 2011, still brandishing the "conversative democracy" card. And in this year's local elections, held on March 30, the party secured around 45-46 percent of the vote.
All that came with the blessing of the United States, which considered President Abdullah Gul, conservative preacher and famed Pennsylvania resident Fethullah Gulen and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as their "boys". Today, two of them remain "their boys", while the third appears to believe he is the new Suleiman the Magnificent.
Delusions of grandeur
Certainly, Erdogan's delusions of grandeur have been fuelled by the specactularly large-scale projects - dubbed "megalomaniac" projects - he has initiated. Bridges, roads, shopping malls and an artificial waterway - none of which may be entirely bad for the country - have come into the spotlight in recent months. Admittedly, the country has also advanced economically. In May 2013, Ankara paid off its remaining debt to the International Monetary Fund and announced that the unemployment rate had fallen from 15 percent to nine percent in 2009.
But what is alarming is the slow and steady move towards autocracy. Since last year's Gezi Park protests, there is increasing concern that the Turkish prime minister, in the words of one Guardian newspaper columnist, is becoming a "righteous, vengeful and paternalistic commissar occupying an almost unchallengeable position at the apex of the country's political life".
The nation's AKP leaders touted themselves as proponents of "conservative democracy", a slogan that resonated among average Muslim Anatolians.
Indeed, parts of the country have changed for the better, and for a time, there was notable social and democratic progress. Particularly during the party's first term - sometimes referred to as "the golden age" of Turkish-European Union relations - AKP fast-trackedreforms that were initiated by the previous government. Among these were some cosmetic improvements on the freedom of expression and minority rights.
Despite significant opposition, the AKP was re-elected in 2007 and 2011, still brandishing the "conversative democracy" card. And in this year's local elections, held on March 30, the party secured around 45-46 percent of the vote.
All that came with the blessing of the United States, which considered President Abdullah Gul, conservative preacher and famed Pennsylvania resident Fethullah Gulen and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as their "boys". Today, two of them remain "their boys", while the third appears to believe he is the new Suleiman the Magnificent.
Delusions of grandeur
Certainly, Erdogan's delusions of grandeur have been fuelled by the specactularly large-scale projects - dubbed "megalomaniac" projects - he has initiated. Bridges, roads, shopping malls and an artificial waterway - none of which may be entirely bad for the country - have come into the spotlight in recent months. Admittedly, the country has also advanced economically. In May 2013, Ankara paid off its remaining debt to the International Monetary Fund and announced that the unemployment rate had fallen from 15 percent to nine percent in 2009.
But what is alarming is the slow and steady move towards autocracy. Since last year's Gezi Park protests, there is increasing concern that the Turkish prime minister, in the words of one Guardian newspaper columnist, is becoming a "righteous, vengeful and paternalistic commissar occupying an almost unchallengeable position at the apex of the country's political life".
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