Summer COMMENTARYProfessor of Social Anthropology and Columnist Radikal THE CLASH OF 145NATIONS146 IN TURKEY REFLECTIONS ON THE GEZ31 PARK INCIDENT Insight Turkey In fact the AK Party had c ID: 844946
Download Pdf The PPT/PDF document "147One cannot 31atly deny the probabilit..." is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
1 Summer “One cannot atly deny t
Summer “One cannot atly deny the probability that there will arise two nations in Turkey, one secular, the other Islamic. e possibility of a violent confrontation between these two clusters seems distant but might become realistic in COMMENTARYProfessor of Social Anthropology and Columnist Radikal THE CLASH OF ‘NATIONS’ IN TURKEY: REFLECTIONS ON THE GEZ PARK INCIDENT Insight Turkey In fact, the AK
2 Party had come to this point by followi
Party had come to this point by following a very dierent path – one far from the recent authoritarian line. Its striking success in Turkey can be explained by its ability to convince many liberal-minded (surely, secular) people of its loyalty to the principles of liberal democracy. On this basis, it recruited considerable support from the non-conservative segments of the society, among which were the liberal, le
3 ist and socialist circles, in its g
ist and socialist circles, in its ght to defy the military-bureaucratic tutelage, particularly aer the unsuccessful attempt of military intervention on April 27, 2007 (popularly called the ‘e-coup’). e prosecutions, detainments, and charges of a large number of military ocials and civilians who were accused of planning a coup against the AK Party government signaled the end of military-bureaucratic
4 authoritarianism and a decisive turn tow
authoritarianism and a decisive turn toward a genuine democratic setting. Alas, the vacuum of authoritarianism le by the military bureaucracy seemed to be lled by the AK Party cadres – essentially, the Party replaced the Army! e AK Party moved away from being the leading force for civil-plural democracy to being the architect in the construction of a new identity and culture in Turkey. Nothing illustrates th
5 is change of orientation more perfectly
is change of orientation more perfectly than the words of Aziz Babuçu, the provincial chairman of the AK Party for stanbul, who emphasized in a speech that the second decade of the AK Party power would be a period of “construction.”Small wonder then that some new codes related to education, or attempts to bring new regulations over very private matters such as abortion, alcohol consumption, and even public
6 displays of aection, are all linked
displays of aection, are all linked with this ‘will of construction.’ No doubt, these new regulations all caused frustrations in the secular circles of the society. ese frustrations were deepened by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan’s personal views over these issues, which were manifested through People stand on the ashpoint Taksim square in Istanbul during a wave of new alternative protests