"But foremost, I do not subscribe to the view that Islamic culture and democracy cannot be reconciled"Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkey is on the verge of a major shakeup to its power structure - and it all comes down to what happens to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Hey guys, we’re looking at the life of the man touted as the most popular politician in Turkey, who has also been described as a power-grabber, authoritarian, totalitarian- and, increasingly: “Erdoğan is becoming a Turkish dictator”“Remember how President Erdoğan was asking people to vote - democratically - to make him a dictator?” But it wasn’t always this way. Toward the beginning of his time in political leadership, he was known more for progressive reforms like bolstering freedom of the press, revamping the national currency, and promising to spearhead Turkey’s membership into the European Union. But in recent years, Erdoğan has aggressively and at times, violently, doubled down on aggregating as much power as he can. As well as what his critics argue has been his goal all along: building a new, religious Turkey from the ashes of its secular past. Erdoğan's religious roots date back to his upbringing.
Born on February 26, 1954, to a devout Muslim, working-class family, he attended a religious school designed to train imams. “Imam-hip ” schools were created under
Turkey’s first President and founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923 after he abolished Islamic schools, or “madrasas,” to secure government control over religious schooling. Erdoğan has previously spoken about the discrimination he felt attending one of these schools amid a secular society. That feeling stayed with him. At University, Erdoğan was mentored by Necmettin Erbakan, who would go on to become the country's first Islamist Prime Minister. He joined the youth movement of Erbakan’s party, National Salvation, which would later rebrand as the Welfare Party, aspiring to reintegrate elements of religion and spirituality in deeply secular Turkish society. That secularism was a result of Atatürk’s rule, who created modern Turkey from the ruins of the Ottoman empire. And although Atatürk initially implemented progressive reforms his firm belief in the separation of church and state led to the banning of religious-based clothing like the hijab, mosques were put under state control, and Islam was removed from the constitution as the state religion. This caused some of the country’s majority-Muslim population to feel isolated.
Meanwhile, in 1994, Erdoğan was elected Mayor of Istanbul. Many scholars and journalists alike referred to him as the “first Islamist” mayor of Turkey. And he was pretty popular - blending transparent and open leadership with the implementation of religious policies. He cleaned up the streets, restored the freshwater supply, and even reportedly created an open-door policy at City Hall - giving out his personal email address. He didn’t quite advocate to overhaul the entire secular system, but he did refer to himself as the “imam” of Istanbul, promise to build a mosque in the city center, and ban alcohol from government buildings. But he painted this steady move away from secularism as something driven by the people rather than his own beliefs. Then, in 1997, he pushed the envelope a bit too far for the military. At a rally, he read a religious poem that got him arrested for allegedly inciting hatred. After being released from jail, Erdoğan co-founded the party that he continues to lead today - the Justice and Development Party, also known as the AKP party. Likely having learned lessons from his jail time and the ousting of his former mentor, Erdoğan loosened up a bit. He moved away from anti-Western tendencies and advocated for Turkey’s admission to the EU. In 2002, the AKP party won a sweeping majority in Parliament - the first single-party majority in 15 years, and soon after, Parliament reversed Erdoğan’s lifetime ban on political office.
He was appointed Prime Minister in March of 2003 - and reportedly promised not to interfere with anyone's way of life. The country was seemingly on a path to democracy. He enacted political reforms like boosting freedom of the press and reducing the military’s power over government. The EU even extended an offer to begin negotiations for membership in 2004 - on the condition that specific political reforms were met. Economic reforms resulted in a booming GDP. But some experts say it was nothing more than a facade.
But things started to change in 2007 when the military made a public statement promising to protect Turkey’s secularism and expressing opposition to the beliefs of presidential candidate and AKP co-founder Abdullah Gul. Erdoğan responded to the challenge to his authority with a call for early elections, confident his party would prevail. And they did. The party won two consecutive national election victories - in 2007 and 2011. Another threat to Erdoğan’s power came in 2013 when his government was being investigated for corruption. A few of Erdoğan’s confidants and top ministers had to resign, and on their way out, some called for him to resign, also. The corruption investigation involved officials accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes to approve unregulated construction projects, which Erdoğan denounced as an effort to delegitimize his government, blaming a religious leader he’d previously been aligned with - Fetullah Gülen. Erdoğan overhauled the judiciary - reassigning more than 100 judges and prosecutors - many of whom were Gülen supporters - and tightening his grip over the military. Around this time, protesters started organizing - calling on Erdoğan to resign and calling attention to the alleged bribery. The government cracked down on dissent - jailing protesters, people who criticized Erdoğan on social media, and journalists. Then in August 2014, in an effort to further consolidate his power, Erdoğan moved from Prime Minister to President of Turkey.
Historically, the role of President had been mostly ceremonial, but Erdoğan essentially absorbed the power of the Prime Minister’sposition into his new office as well. He started using religion as a means to implement his conservative policies - declaring that Islam defines a woman’s primary role as a mother and that women and men can’t be treated equally because it goes against “the laws of nature,” He restricted alcohol and abortions and started closing private schools - converting some into religious Imam Hatip institutions or building new ones entirely. And in 2017, he took the power grab even further, narrowly winning a referendum that created an executive presidency, dispensed with the role of Prime Minister, and could provide a path for him to rule until 2029.
Mudassar Sharif
Info_Tech_Biography
P: 0308-8566542
E: mudassarsharif.rvn@gmail.com
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