In a country where two continents meet and empires have risen and fallen for millenia, Turkey continues to struggle with its contrasts. A predominantly Muslim country with a secular government, a growing economy increasingly influenced by capitalism but with a recent rise in conservative tendencies.
Last weekend protesters took to the streets, accusing the government of forcing urban redevelopment projects upon a public that doesn’t want them. Representing the opposition opinion, Istanbul’s Bogazici University historian Edhem Eldem stated (reported in the New York Times) that the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is “drunk with power. They lost their democratic reflexes and are returning to what is the essence of Turkish politics: authoritarianism.”
Erdogan tried to downplay the gatherings, dismissing the participants as “a few looters” looking to disrupt law and order based on inaccurate interpretations of government actions.
Erdogan has held power for about 10 years, overseeing a dramatic period of growth but also antagonizing divisions along religious, social, and political lines. He instituted civilian control of the military — certainly a move in the democratic direction — but also undercut Turkey’s secular establishment. Movement of Erdogan’s new conservative base into established liberal territory in urban centers has irked the old guard. Liberals have decried Erdogan’s behavior as dictatorial and dismiss today’s Istanbul as unrecognizable from its glorious past.
Government plans to transform a number of traditional Istanbul locales into shopping malls and luxury housing complexes seems to have instigated the recent demonstrations. Some feel Erdogan has overstepped his bounds and is not respecting the will of the people.
Obviously, we’ve recently seen that protest movements can lead to significant change. One change has already taken place- after initial confrontations between protesters and police, the police backed off and allowed people to gather unimpeded. According to Sinan Ulgan, head of an Istanbul research group, “It’s the first time in Turkey’s democratic history that an unplanned, peaceful protest movement succeeded in changing the government’s approach and policy.”
The ball is now in Erdogan and the ruling group’s court as to how to respond to the protests. They could tighten their grip on power and ignore the opposition, or work with the people in support of democracy.
This could become an important turning point in Turkey’s political evolution.
