Fearing a Democratically Elected Government in Turkey: It may seem curious to those of you who live in the Western Democracies why a significant portion of the Turkish Society is so fearful of the ruling political party, AKP, who came to the power for a third time with an overwhelming support after free and fair elections just two years ago in 2011. After all during the last 12 years under the management of AKP, Turkish economy grew almost 4 times from $196 Bln to $776 Bln according to the World Bank. During the same period the Political Liberties improved from 4 to 3 (the lower the better) according to the PoliticalTerrorScale.Org, while there hasn’t been a significant change in Civil Liberties according to the FreedomHouse. Org. So it seems quite puzzling why there is so much more “fear” that the ruling AKP party is driving Turkey towards a Religious Totalitarian Regime. Let me start by saying, in my opinion, this “fear” is well founded albeit being too pre-mature. Almost everything AKP did so far would also be expected from any ruling party with an overwhelming support in any democratic society. Ironically it is this growing democratic support that makes them a dangerous political factor which could push Turkey towards totalitarianism if left unchallenged. Democracy is like a stool that stands on its four legs. Free and fair elections, Constitution, Independent Judiciary, and Free Press. Free and fair elections decide who rules the State, Free Press informs the public of the actions of the rulers, Constitution protects Individuals, Minorities and the Free Press against the Ruling Majority, and the Independent Judiciary makes sure Constitutional protections are respected by the State. Only when all four of these basic institutions are strong, can a country enjoy a fully functioning democracy and no one needs to be fearful of their state. A well written Constitution is just as important for a democracy as having Free and Fair Elections. It is the only document that protects Minority Rights and Individual Liberties against the ruling majority. Of course the protection it provides is only as strong as the ease in which it can be changed or modified. In most Western democracies an amendment to the Constitution is extremely difficult. For example to amend the Constitution of the United States, a two thirds majority in both houses of the Congress is needed. After that at least there quarters of the States need to ratify it before it can become the law of the land. In a well-functioning democracy, THE CONSTITUTION CAN NOT BE CHANGED OR MODIFIED BY A SIMPLE MAJORITY REFERANDUM. Because then individuals and minorities have no real Constitutional Protection against the Ruling Majority if all can be taken away with a simple referendum. This is where the Turkish Democracy is the weakest. A loophole allows the State to hold referendums to change or modify the Constitution (with the exception of four amendments that are specifically stated as “cannot be changed under no circumstances”). So a Very Strong democratic support for AKP is dangerous for the Turkish Democracy because it can then strip most minority rights and Individual Liberties with a simple referendum (a la Hitler in Germany). In fact this is exactly what happened in 2010 when the entire structure of the Judiciary was changed with a referendum and as a result the Judiciary lost most of its independence. Imagine after a simple referendum Obama changes the number of Justices in the Supreme Court from 9 to 19 and moreover he gets to appoint all the new 10 members!!!. So there is good basis why certain groups in Turkey should be fearful of the Democratically Elected AKP Government. But what is even more scary from my perspective is the fact that not a single Justice or Academician came out declaring the 2010 Referendum as Unconstitutional. In recent days, a significant portion of the Turkish Population came out on the streets to protest against the AKP Government. They know they fear the AKP but they don’t know why exactly they should fear a democratically elected government. They are not sure what they really want (except to stop the renovation of a small city park). Well here it is; Turkish People are fearful for their Individual Liberties because they cannot count on the Protection of the Constitution and the Independence of the Judiciary. The former is not even as strong as the paper it is written on, and the latter doesn’t exist (anymore). But acting out on this fear is pre-mature. Soon there is going to be a new referendum to change the Constitution yet again. I hope two of the proposed changes include a ban on all future referendums to change the Constitution and another one to restore the Independence of the Judiciary. The time to act is when and if AKP asks for Constitutional changes and modifications that limit the protection of Minority Rights and Civil Liberties by granting the State extra-ordinary powers. In summary it is not that people are really fearful of a democratically elected government. They are in fact fearful of the loophole that a very popular political figure (like Erdogan) can easily change the entire Constitution and suspend all Civil Liberties with a simple referendum. As long as this loophole exists the Turkish Democracy will never be safe whether or not Erdogan tries to exploit it to advance his ambitions. So it is not that people should come out on the street to topple Erdogan. They should come out on the streets to get rid of this loophole from the Turkish Democracy once and for all.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 20:16:15 +0000
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