{"id":36276,"date":"2011-06-22T06:25:08","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T03:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=36276"},"modified":"2014-01-06T09:52:31","modified_gmt":"2014-01-06T07:52:31","slug":"arabs-should-follow-turkish-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2011\/06\/22\/arabs-should-follow-turkish-model\/","title":{"rendered":"Arabs should follow Turkish model"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Ramzy Baroud<\/strong> writes: Success of its democracy is clearly institutionalised, not merely inspired by one charismatic individual<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>By Ramzy Baroud, Special to Gulf News<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li id=\"imageTitle\">functioning and growing economy, a vigorous civil society,  and a largely free media, while simultaneously maintaining an Islamic  political identity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-36279\" title=\"538105140\" src=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/538105140.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"475\" height=\"313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/538105140.jpg 475w, https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/538105140-300x198.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/>The  third consecutive victory of Turkey\u2019s Justice and Development Party  (AKP) in the country\u2019s parliamentary election on June 12 was noted by  many for its timing, and its relevance to the political turmoil  currently under way across the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>Commentators in the Arab world have long been fascinated with  Turkey\u2019s success at achieving a stable democracy, a thoroughly  functioning and growing economy, a vigorous civil society, and a largely  free media, while simultaneously maintaining an Islamic political  identity. With the exception of Turkey, political Islam in the Middle  East and North Africa has been trapped between different ideas as to  whether Islam and democracy are compatible.<\/p>\n<p>Islamic politics as a whole has seemed less than encouraging. The  Taliban\u2019s \u2018Islamic emirate\u2019 experience in Afghanistan represented an  example of political Islam gone wrong. The Algerian army\u2019s violent  crackdown on Islamists following their 1991 election victory \u2014 and the  civil war that followed \u2014 left behind hundreds of thousands of dead and  wounded.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, when Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections  in 2006, the Islamic movement in Palestine began to explore various  models for combining Islamic ideals with a pluralistic political system.<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-ad\">\n<p><small>Article continues below<\/small><\/p>\n<p><noscript><br \/>\n<span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/gulfnews.advertserve.com\/servlet\/click\/zone?zid=1013&amp;pid=0&amp;custom5=Columnists&amp;custom6=&amp;lookup=true&amp;position=1\"><\/p>\n<p><\/span><br \/>\n<\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Some Hamas officials continue to speak of the need to emulate the example of modern Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>Evidently, \u2018modern Turkey\u2019 cannot be reduced to the political  successes of the AKP. It goes back to earlier generations, starting with  Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey. A  larger-than-life figure in the eyes of several generations of Turks,  Ataturk was able to win Turkey\u2019s independence \u2014 no easy feat at the  time. However, he was unable to resolve the question of Turkey\u2019s  cultural and political identity, as a majority Muslim country that  defined modernity based on western ideals.<\/p>\n<p>Ataturk reformed his country\u2019s political infrastructure and laid the  foundation for a civil society. But \u2018Kemalism\u2019 was hardly enough to  transform Turkish society. It was the resentment of some European  governments towards Turkey\u2019s full incorporation into the European Union  that strengthened a political current in the country, one which sought  to reach out to Turkey\u2019s long deserted Arab and Muslim neighbours.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, such an approach defined the foreign policy of late Turkish  prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, who served a short term between 1996  and 1997 before resigning amid intense pressure from the military. The  powerful Turkish military had staged three coups since 1960, and  appointed itself as the protector of Turkish secular nationalism.<\/p>\n<p>Erbakan, who passed away recently at the age of 85, is largely  credited with laying the roots of political Islam in Turkey. He was also  one of the first modern Turkish leaders to seek serious economic  integration with neighbouring Muslim countries.<\/p>\n<p>Even though he was eventually pushed out of politics, Erbakan\u2019s  legacy continues. His students have become the leaders of a Turkey that  is arguably at peace with itself.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan \u2019s immense popularity,  the success of the Turkish model is clearly institutionalised, and not  merely inspired by one charismatic individual. This sets Turkey apart  from most countries in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>And while the interface of the military in Turkish politics is  progressively becoming a historical footnote, the AKP is looking beyond  maintaining the balancing act of yesteryear. It is more focused on  revamping the constitution, cementing civil liberties and continuing  with the process of reforms.<\/p>\n<p>This peaceful democratic transition must be juxtaposed with another alleged attempt at democratisation.<\/p>\n<p>In 2005, former US president George W. Bush outlined his policies  regarding the democratisation of the Middle East. He presented Iraqi and  Afghani elections as his models. Foreign-occupied, politically  fragmented, and economically devastated, the two Muslim countries were  the least inspiring democratic models by any definition.<\/p>\n<p>Turkey, largely governed by its own political diktats \u2014 and with a  self-assured \u2018zero problem with the neighbours\u2019 policy (as expressed by  its Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu) \u2014 is distancing itself from the  aggressive foreign policies of the US, and has rendered the Iraqi  \u2018model\u2019 simply abhorrent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFew Egyptians or Tunisians appear to have much appetite for European  or American sermons about the right way to build a democracy or market  economy,\u201d wrote Katinka Barysch, Deputy Director of the Centre for  European Reform in YaleGlobal Online.<\/p>\n<p>She argued that although \u201cTurkey\u2019s democracy is far from flawless\u201d  and \u201cthe political scene is deeply split,\u201d it is \u201cthese very  imperfections that might add to its appeal in the Muslim world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the growing appeal of the Turkish model owes some of its  success to the failure of US foreign policies in the Middle East.  Considering its waning influence in the region, the US is finding itself  in the precarious position of having to accept the ascendency of a  regional power, and to contend with the implications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTurkey\u2019s rise signifies the emergence of modernist Islam, which  seeks to balance the religion with the modern world,\u201d wrote Frankie  Martin for CNN, shortly after the ousting of Egypt\u2019s Hosni Mubarak. He  once more underlined the fact that \u201cmany Arabs are increasingly looking  to their northern neighbor, Turkey\u2026as a model of a modern, democratic  and Islamic nation nurturing pluralist ideals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It will take Arab countries more than enthrallment with Turkey\u2019s  success to engender their own successful democracies. However, looking  at Turkey for possible answers to current political crises will  certainly prove much more rewarding than seeking answers from those who  tailor democracy to serve their specific political agendas and military  ambitions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist and  the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a  Freedom Fighter: Gaza\u2019s Untold Story.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ramzy Baroud writes: Success of its democracy is clearly institutionalised, not merely inspired by one charismatic individual By Ramzy Baroud, Special to Gulf News functioning and growing economy, a vigorous civil society, and a largely free media, while simultaneously maintaining an Islamic political identity. The third consecutive victory of Turkey\u2019s Justice and Development Party (AKP) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":36279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[1211],"class_list":["post-36276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-akp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}