4. Turkish Model - Dr, Ozan Örmeci

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired?

Assist. Prof. Dr. Ozan Örmeci

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired?

PRESENTATION PLAN: 1. The Presenter 2. Introduction 3. Gezi Park Protests 4. Turkish Model 5. Turkish Model in question 6. Problems of Social Justice 7. Conclusion 8. Bibliography

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 1. The Presenter: - Ozan Örmeci was born in 1981 in İzmir, Turkey. - Graduated from Saint-Joseph French College in İzmir in 1999. - BA degree from Bilkent University Political Science department in 2004. - PhD degree from Bilkent University Political Science department in 2011 with his thesis entitled «Portrait of a Turkish Social Democrat: İsmail Cem». - Worked as lecturer in Uşak University between 2009-2012.

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 1. The Presenter: - Currently working as Assistant Professor and Head of the Department in Girne American University (http://www.gau.edu.tr) Political Science and Public Administration department. - Coordinator of Turkish Foreign Policy initiative UPA – International Political Academy (http://www.politikaakademisi.org). Around 50 representative clubs in 5 countries (Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, France, Northern Cyprus). - Author of many Turkish books, Turkish & English academic articles. - Author of Portrait of a Turkish Social Democrat: İsmail Cem, 2011, Lambert Publishing, ISBN-10: 3844328513, ISBN-13: 9783844328516. - Upcoming book Turkish Foreign Policy in the New Millennium. Personal Website: http://www.ozanormeci.com.tr.

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 2. Introduction: - A small environmentalist protest that started on 28 May 2013 in order to protect one of the rare green areas in Taksim called “Gezi Park” surprisingly turned into a massive social movement in Turkey during the summer. - Although the Turkish media -probably because of government’s pressures- did not seem willingly to publish news about the antigovernment demonstrations in the early days, after a huge interest shown by the international media, demonstrations became very popular in the country and spread to all “metropolis” cities in Turkey including İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir. - Some people from the international media called these events as the “Turkish Spring” by making reference to revolutionary wave in the Middle East and North Africa between 2011-2013.

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 2. Introduction: - Although it is not very suitable to compare Turkey, a country that has been trying to become a member of EU and has governed with democratic governments without interruptions since 1983, with previous one-man regimes of the Middle East, it is a fact that the new wave of demonstrations show that the so-called “Turkish model” should be updated. - Now, it is very well understood that authoritarian tendencies of Erdoğan government and especially the efforts to shape and socially engineer Turkish society is not accepted by modern Turkish youth that is open to world and that do know the advantages of liberal and social democratic orders compared to religious-based authoritarianism.

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 3. Gezi Park Protests:

It all started with this frame

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired?

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 3. Gezi Park Protests: Reasons of the protests could be listed as; 1. The fear of secular-minded Turkish people towards the increasing Islamist, authoritarian and one-man based political practices of the ruling JDP, 2. Excessive use of force by Turkish policemen, 3. Increasing interest into environmentalist issues in the last years 4. The use of social media, 5. Prime Minister Erdoğan’s arrogant response to protesters, 6. New group of victimized people including Kemalists, Kurds, anti-capitalist Muslims, environmentalists, gay rights activists, socialists, anarchists (Örmeci, 2013).

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 3. Gezi Park Protests: Consequences of the events (27 May-30 July 2013); - 7 deaths (6 civilians and 1 policeman), - 9.000 injured (8.100 civilians and 900 policemen), - 10 people lost their eye, - 126 arrested, - 150.000 gas bombs were used, - 3.000 tones of water were used, - Istanbul Stock Exchange Market had a sharp (% 10) decrease on 3 June 2013, - Euro and Dollar parity increased, - The government had to adopt a new democratization package (Wikipedia).

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 3. Gezi Park Protests:

From Taksim with love

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 4. Turkish Model: Pillars of so-called Turkish model are; 1. Secularism, Democracy and Political Islam, 2. Civil-Military balance, 3. Market-State relations, 4. Strong links to the Western world, 5. Turkish state tradition (Ülgen, 2011).

Turkish model but not in that sense

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 4. Turkish Model: Advantages of Turkish model for the Arab world; 1. Demonstration effect, 2. Muslim identity, 3. Turkey’s popularity in the Arab world, 4. Common foreign threat perceptions, 5. Turkey’s soft power (tv series), 6. Ottoman legacy & common heritage.

Maybe also in that sense.

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 4. Turkish Model: Difficulties for adapting Turkish model to the Arab world; 1. Lack of a visionary Arab leader, 2. Economic problems, 3. Lack of pluralism and democratic culture, 4. The nature of armed forces, 5. The nature of Islamist politics, 6. Other Arab states, 7. Western orientation, 8. Military industries.

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 5. Turkish Model in question: Problems arising with the Turkish Model recently; 1. Increasing authoritarianism, 2. Increasing limitations on different lifestyles, 3. Problems with EU relations, 4. Political partisanship, 5. Erdoğan style: Kemalism, Reformism or Rejectionism? 6. Satisfying the new middle class, 7. Kurdish & Alevi Question, 8. No real opposition, 9. Neo-Ottomanism discussions, 10. Lack of capacity.

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 5. Turkish Model in question: - Gezi Park demonstrations put Prime Minister Erdoğan’s style of government into question whereas President of the Republic Gül’s softened approach got more credit by many observers including Murat Yetkin (Yetkin, 2013). - Opposition parties did not get extra credit because of their old fashion rhetoric yet, but a new smell of optimism was felt in Turkey according to many analysts. - The new duty of opposition parties is to find an answer to question; “How to organize the heterogeneous opposition”: Kemalists, Social Democrats, Socialists, Anarchists, Kurdish opposition, anti-capitalist Muslims, secular liberals and environmentalists in the same bottom.

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 6. Social Justice: - One of the most important problem in Turkey and Muslim dominated societies is -with no doubt- social justice. - Social justice refers to income distribution and equality of opportunity in a country. - According to a report by OECD in 2011, Turkey is ranked at 31st place in OECD countries in terms of social justice. - According to Gini coefficient index for measuring income equality also Turkey is not performing very well. - Social injustices could be very dangerous especially in developing countries with large young population.

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired?

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 7. Conclusion: - The weakening of the Turkish Model and the problems of democratic transitions after the Arab Spring make “anachronistic” regimes of the Middle East even more justified and legitimate than before. - In this context, radical Islamism becomes a good pretext for anti-democratic regimes in the region. - Economic crisis of the West directs Western countries to political realism rather than idealism based on democratic supremacy. - Sectarian and religious divisions are used to create new conflicts (Friedman talks about Thirty Years War in the Muslim world).

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 7. Conclusion: What is to be done: - Revision of Turkish model (less authoritarianism, more social justice and better working democracy where the governmental power is shared between different political actors and parties), - The use of diplomacy instead of war and support to terrorist groups in the region, - New constitutions that will prevent authoritarianism and guarantee democracy, - Visionary leaders, - Kurdish Question to be solved, - Regional organizations similar to European Coal & Steel Community and European Atomic Agency.

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? - An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. (Mahatma Gandhi) - If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. (Mother Teresa) - If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. (Nelson Mandela) - Imagine all people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one. (John Lennon) - Peace at home, peace in the world. (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk)

Gezi Protests: Turkish Model Expired? 8. Bibliography: - Şener, Berkin Şafak (2012), «Arap Halk Ayaklanmalarında Türk Modernleşmesinin Yeri: Modellik Mi, Rehberlik Mi?», Uluslararası Politika Akademisi, Date of Accession: 30.10.2013 from http://politikaakademisi.org/araphalk-ayaklanmalarinda-turk-modernlesmesinin-yeri-modellik-mi-rehberlik-mi/. - «Can the Turkish Model Gain Traction in the New Middle East?» (2011), A Speech by Sinan Ülgen for Cargenie Endowment, Date of Accession: 30.10.2013 from http://carnegieendowment.org/2011/12/19/can-turkishmodel-gain-traction-in-new-middle-east. - Yetkin, Murat (2013), «Erdoğan fails to get the point, Gül does», Hürriyet Daily News, Date of Accession: 30.10.2013 from http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/erdogan-fails-to-get-the-point-guldoes.aspx?pageID=449&nID=48148&NewsCatID=409. - Örmeci, Ozan (2013), «Turkish Spring: Occupy Gezi», Uluslararası Politika Akademisi, Date of Accession: 30.10.2013 from http://politikaakademisi.org/turkish-spring-occupy-gezi/. - «Triumph in Taksim Square?», Foreign Affairs, Date of Accession: 30.10.2013 from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139471/emiliano-alessandri-nora-fisher-onar-and-ozgurunluhisarcikli/triumph-in-taksim-square. - Paul, Amanda & Seyrek, Demir Murat (2013), «Gezi Park one month on: what lies ahead?», European Policy Centre, Date of Accession: 30.10.2013 from http://www.epc.eu/pub_details.php?cat_id=4&pub_id=3623. - Cagaptay, Soner (2013), «The Middle Class Strikes Back», The New York Times, Date of Accession: 30.10.2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/opinion/turkeys-middle-class-strikes-back.html?_r=2&. - “2013 Taksim Gezi Parkı Protestoları”, Vikipedi, Date of Accession: 03.11.2013 from http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Taksim_Gezi_Parkı_protestoları. - “Social Justice in OECD”, Date of Accession: 07.11.2013 from http://www.sginetwork.org/pdf/SGI11_Social_Justice_OECD.pdf. - “List of countries by income equality”, Wikipedia, Date of Accession: 07.11.2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality.