Turkey and Erdogan
October 28, 2009 Student # 301017453
Turkey’s Political reforms in Light of Domestic and International Pressures
In this essay I will explore the different aspects leading to the successful implementation of political reforms in Turkey during the last decade, and Political Islam’s rise as the agent of change for such reforms. This political process will also be discussed in the context of its affect on Turkey’s outstanding issues in both the domestic (Constitutional Institutions, Army and the Kurdish Minority) and foreign (EU accession, US-Turkey relations, PKK fighting) perspectives.
There were many factors leading to the successful political reforms formulated in Turkey during the last decade. The financial inflation in 2001 followed by an economic recession in 2001-2002 brought high rates of unemployment. The Islamist rooted AKP (Justice and Development) Party was able to utilize the people’s dissatisfaction with Turkey’s political and economic systems as a means to gain influence. The public perceived the governance systems in place as having inherent problems that in turn produced inequalities and patronage networks. (Mecham 340) Persecutions of the Islamist parties and its leaders especially during the 70s, culminating in the Military’s Coup D’état in the early 80s gained sympathy for Political Islam and its leaders. It questioned the integrity and democratic nature of the state endorsing such interventions that were aimed at securing its secular nature, mainly by excluding political Islamist actors and behaviours from the decision making bodies and institutions. The Islamist stream didn’t lack support before Erdogan’s election as Turkey’s Prime Minister in 2002. The support gained by Islamist representatives such as Turkey’s former Prime Minister Erbakan were significant enough to implement constitutional changes in 1987 that lifted the ban over him and his supporters’ participation in the political process in Turkey. This process
Turkey’s Political reforms in Light of Domestic and International Pressures
In this essay I will explore the different aspects leading to the successful implementation of political reforms in Turkey during the last decade, and Political Islam’s rise as the agent of change for such reforms. This political process will also be discussed in the context of its affect on Turkey’s outstanding issues in both the domestic (Constitutional Institutions, Army and the Kurdish Minority) and foreign (EU accession, US-Turkey relations, PKK fighting) perspectives.
There were many factors leading to the successful political reforms formulated in Turkey during the last decade. The financial inflation in 2001 followed by an economic recession in 2001-2002 brought high rates of unemployment. The Islamist rooted AKP (Justice and Development) Party was able to utilize the people’s dissatisfaction with Turkey’s political and economic systems as a means to gain influence. The public perceived the governance systems in place as having inherent problems that in turn produced inequalities and patronage networks. (Mecham 340) Persecutions of the Islamist parties and its leaders especially during the 70s, culminating in the Military’s Coup D’état in the early 80s gained sympathy for Political Islam and its leaders. It questioned the integrity and democratic nature of the state endorsing such interventions that were aimed at securing its secular nature, mainly by excluding political Islamist actors and behaviours from the decision making bodies and institutions. The Islamist stream didn’t lack support before Erdogan’s election as Turkey’s Prime Minister in 2002. The support gained by Islamist representatives such as Turkey’s former Prime Minister Erbakan were significant enough to implement constitutional changes in 1987 that lifted the ban over him and his supporters’ participation in the political process in Turkey. This process
Bibliography: Mecham, Q. (2004). From the Ashes of Virtue, A Promise of Light: The Transformation of Political Islam in Turkey. Third World Quaterly , 25, pp. 339-358. Somer, M. (2006). Political Islam and Kurdish Nationalism in Turkey. 5 (3), 89-108. The importance of backing Erdogan. (2004, January 31). The Economist . Watts, N. (2004, June 14). Turkey 's Tentative Opening to the Kurdishness. Retrieved from Middle East Research and Information Project.