... that isn't the equivalent to those of China or Saudi Arabia.
But they do have the undercurrent of a strong military, which is heavily supported by our aid, etc. over the years that heavily influences whatever government is in power. It had more influence earlier with the CHP party in charge that was Kemalist and more secular than the AKP that Erdogan heads up that is in charge now. Each party has had its strengths and weaknesses:
AKP:
Strengths:
- has been growing the business sector better than the CHP was earlier, especially in the aftermath of the first Gulf War which hit Turkey's economy hard.
- has been trying to actually provide some liberties to some Turks like Muslim women a freedom to wear head scarves in public which was banned under the CHP. BTW, men were also kept from wearing the fez earlier too (those who are used to seeing Turks with fez hats over the years in movies like Yellow Submarine, etc. should know what that is). During Ataturk's time, there were many restrictions on religious behaviors that were put in place (much like schools in L.A. would keep students from wearing "colors" to avoid gang violence) that restricted people from wearing head scarves, etc. Personally, I think that time of the scope of some of those restrictions has come and gone, and the CHP should have "lightened up" a bit earlier before they had been beaten out by the AKP in elections a while back.
- perhaps not as much ties to the military, which has had less military coups since they've been in power than beforehand, where periodically the military would intervene and put in a new regime in charge while the CHP was in charge in bloodless coups to tweak Turkey's leadership in a way that kind of defied the rule of democracy then. The recent Ergonekon trial mess shows what happened when this was tried recently with the AKP in charge. If the Turkish military tries to follow through with another coup now that they failed with Ergonekon to do, then it might not be as bloodless this time around.
- willingness to take on Israel at times when Turkey should on issues like the Gaza people's struggles with the Gaza flotilla effort that happened. Turkey was willing to jeopardize a good relationship with Israel over the years to do the right thing in this instance.
Weaknesses:
- though business has been stronger, some of the same problems with increased business presence in government that we have had (aka corporatism and cronyism) has been a problem for the AKP and Erdogan. It was one of Erdogan's family that had the contract to build the shopping mall in Taksim Square that was part of the original focus of the protestors resistance. Look up Ahmet Calik. He's a crony of Erdogan, and has been using Erdogan to help him build a media monopoly as well as energy company monopoly with Calik Holding company in Turkey that has built more monopoly power over the years. Look up Calik's history with Turkmenistan, where arguably he was made a part of their government as a businessman there by a very corrupt regime. It is one of the major subjects of a good documentary to watch on Turkmenistan called "Shadow of the Holy Book", which also indicts American companies like John Deere and Caterpillar as well. If I was a Turk, I don't think I'd want Calik to get too much power from the government any more than we don't want the Koch brothers here to get that kind of power.
- a bit more Islamist than many Turks, who are more secular than their neighbors around them, want in a leader. For a while, this wasn't that pronounced and was just about getting freedoms as outlined above with headscarves, etc. But now it is about putting in place restrictions too that Turks will hate, like their ability to drink alcohol, and women's access to abortions, etc. too.
- press freedoms and the right of dissent has been squashed more lately too. Independent media entities like Taraf have been squashed and many journalists jailed at times when trying to squash them.
- damage to the relationship with Israel. Ataturk had carved a good relationship with Israel that has lasted over the years and built them in to good allies, when he helped provide Jewish people from Germany a safe haven from Hitler's regime in the times leading up to World War II. I don't think many Israelis have forgotten that good gesture over the years, and that has been valuable to Turkey. Though at times "damaging this relationship" is good when used to help try to apply pressure on Israel to do the right thing. Sometimes it could damage the whole situation around Israel, Palestinians, etc. that much more which might destabilize that situation more too.
- recently using the police and the military in harmful ways to squash dissent in Turkey with these protests. I think this relatively newer in severity, etc.
CHP:
Strengths:
- more secular: provides a way to provide more freedom from religious oppression as a tradition started by Ataturk, and continued on over the years even in to these protests now. A strong sense of the need for democracy.
- better able at times to work with the military in a peaceful way. If the military feels the need to "take charge" to fix a problematic situation, the "CHP" is more cooperative to work with them to do this and then subsequently reestablish a democratic order.
- more westernized. This attracts more from the outside from here in this country and in Europe, and also helps add more fuel to their earlier efforts to become part of the European Union when that was a more attractive option for them.
- provides more civil freedoms for people in many cases.
Weaknesses:
- has had problems in managing economic situations when they go bad.
- have clung on to restrictions from the age of Ataturk (like banning of headscarves and fezes) which now seem rather arbitrary, and fueled the rise of the AKP as a party that wanted to have more religious freedoms for many of their muslim population that were of the kind that most of us wouldn't feel threatened by and value in this country for all religions.
- too many ties to the military, that have at times limited democratic freedoms when the government felt threatened enough.
Both of these parties have had a problem with small d "democracy" and empowering people to just live freely, and now both seem to have problems with having a military that doesn't get too heavy handed at times. Both have had problems over the years allowing more freedom and participation of religious and ethnic minorities like the Armenians and the Kurds. Something that many that are engaged in protests now I think really want to see get resolved from the next generation's more global perspective. Still a long way from resolving these, though in recent elections, native Kurds have run for office, even one as the challenger to Erdogan from the CHP...
I think that Erdogan needs to step back and realize that he can't run a crony corporatized and more religiously strict country for his people to accept him and continue to keep the AKP in power, even if he might be perceiving that "working" here in this country of ours in the U.S. (where many of us here reject that kind of disease we have in our government as well). If he doesn't, he's destined to be history soon, one way or the other.
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