When Has Islam Become Present in Turkey Again Mustafa Kemal Presidency
With an Islamist government in power, Turks are debating the roles of religion and of secularism, a major principle of first president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Istanbul parade-goers walk past behemothic posters of Ataturk during a commemoration of the 1919 state of war of independence. (AP)
For decades, the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the Republic of Turkey'due south get-go president, has served as the country's guiding force. However, amid an unprecedented contend on the role of secularism, has Turkey begun to steer abroad from Atatürk?
Hero-worshipped similar a Vladimir Lenin or George Washington, Atatürk, even more than 70 years after his death, remains an inescapable feature of daily life in Turkey - his portrait omnipresent, his eyes always watching.
If "you ask for someone [among Turkey's political leaders] who y'all tin can put in a Hollywood movie there is really only Atatürk," commented Atilla Yeşilada, an Istanbul-based consultant for Global Source Partners, a political and economic consulting house, and a frequent regime critic.
Atatürk set in motion "a cultural revolution considering he saw no value in Islamic tradition," said Andrew Mango, the writer of "Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey."
But the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Political party (AKP) that has ruled Turkey since 2002 takes a polar contrary view, setting in motility a rethink on Turkey's relationship with Kemalism, the radically secular credo of Atatürk.
"I call up there is a cultural war unfolding," said Mustafa Akyol, a popular columnist for the English-linguistic communication Hürriyet Daily News.
Under the AKP, Islamic organizations became confident plenty to hold protests confronting "Our Oath," a national pledge of fidelity that asserts Turkey'south secular identity and glorifies "Turkishness" while non acknowledging other ethnic groups living in Turkey.
The political power of the military, which traditionally saw itself as the guardian of Kemalism, has been eroded. This yr, the AKP dispensed with the parade of tanks and troops that usually marked the May xix celebrations of the commencement of the 1919-1923 State of war of Independence, a conflict fiercely pursued past Atatürk confronting European invaders that led to the 1923 foundation of the Democracy of Turkey by the army officer and his supporters.
Erdoğan has described the national holiday equally "now a symbol of change and transformation," rather than an event that brings to heed the one-time "Iron Curtain countries."
The liberalization of Turkey'due south economy, which began in the 1980s and continued with the AKP, is another stride abroad from Atatürk, who believed that the state should take a big part in the economy.
Others fearfulness, though, that the most damaging consequence of Turkey'south motion away from Kemalism is the loss of the strictly secular state. Recently passed legislation makes information technology possible for students to receive a religious teaching one time they are 10 years old and for parents to domicile-school their daughters, which could accept the affect of lowering education levels for women.
Another issue is ballgame, legalized under Turkey'southward military regime in 1983, but currently facing a possible ban favored past the prime government minister, who has called for all Turks to have at least three children. Yeşilada termed the dispute a "ruby-red line" that is seen as a symbol of the AKP rolling back the Kemalists' sense of modernity.
Certain similarities betwixt the style of rule of Atatürk and the AKP practice seem to exist, nonetheless. Never known as a leader who suffered critics gladly, Atatürk tried to modernize Turkey "past force, if necessary," noted Yeşilada. Similarly, many observers fearfulness that recent arrests of scores of journalists, senior armed services officers and Kurdish activists show that Erdoğan, as he consolidates ability, has little tolerance for opponents of his reforms.
Yet columnist Akyol maintains that, ultimately, it was inevitable that Turkey, as a democratic state, would try to redefine its human relationship with Atatürk and Kemalism.
"Atatürk's legacy ... is undemocratic," he said. Even Turkey'due south attempts to bring together the European Wedlock are against Atatürk, who espoused more isolationist, nationalistic beliefs, he added.
Merely while Turkey starts to debate that legacy, direct, public criticism of Atatürk -- even amongst many practicing Muslims who dislike his belief in secularism -- still remains exceptional.
The reason is that "insulting Atatürk" remains a criminal offense in Turkey. After describing the erstwhile leader as "a dictator," Turkish journalists Nagehan Alcı and Ahmet Altan faced charges of "insulting Atatürk," a crime punishable with six years in jail. The cases are ongoing.
Akyol besides claims to have faced criticism later he wrote a column in Turkey's Star newspaper before this yr suggesting that the "Our Oath" pledge, written in 1933, should be considered for removal from schools considering it has "racist tones."
What will accept Kemalism's place, however, is nevertheless unknown. But Atatürk biographer Mango suggested that the disharmonism of religious and secular Turks over Kemalism could testify a passing phase.
"Many devout Muslims seek knowledge in the West, simply as Atatürk did," he noted. Eventually, similar other countries that have faced a philosophical separate, compromise may ultimately prove the most beneficial option, leaving both sides to agree 'to follow the path of Atatürk.'"
This article originally appeared at EurasiaNet.org, an Atlantic partner site.
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/as-turkey-changes-so-does-its-view-of-the-founding-national-hero-atat-rk/258802/
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