Turkey’s new ruler

In his new term, Erdogan has got absolute power which he must use for the betterment of his country

Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s hyperbolic and populist campaign film was a prelude to the decisive verdict in his favour that has so stunned the West, global media and liberal thinking. It showed a young boy running from a dusty village, gathering gale storm force of ordinary farmers and workmen along the way, all of them seeking deliverance under a red flag and reclaiming their destiny. An impassioned voice led them on to a revolution as it were. So as Turkey’s newly anointed Islamist strongman consolidates his ideas after a 15-year tenure and pushes a more authoritative presidential form of Government, backed up by a referendum last year, it is probably the end of Kemalism as we know it. Erdogan’s images, in fact, may now overshadow those of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who made Turkey a modern, secular republic and was an architect of the liberal Muslim ethos that defined the country, more than the geographical line, as a bridge between the East and West, an eclectic haven. Yet a closer look reveals how the pursuit of Western liberalism and NATO’s inclusion of Turkey by virtue of that strategic tokenism gave it little else than stooge or a neo-colony status and imprisoned its own people, a denial that led to the birth of a demagogue like Erdogan. For it is him who first and foremost salvaged Turkish pride, focussing on economic revival by pulling a vast arc of the population out of poverty and increasing incomes. Even though the economy slid the last couple of years, almost 80 per cent of the population, who were left out of the national discourse that was clustered around liberal hubs of cities, felt empowered enough to return the favour. While Kemal’s secularism was upright — he had banned adorning Islamist headgear in public life — it became posited against native religiosity as a deliberate crusade. To the vast hinterland, where Erdogan himself began his journey, the right to practise one’s faith on one’s terms was never seen as inimical to politics. In fact, he is intolerant of Islamist terrorists and was able to ward off a coup attempt by a hardliner cleric, which the US had backed to topple him as he increasingly crafted his own nationalist legacy and stakes in geo-politics. Needless to say Erdogan himself has used the “Turkey is a Muslim State” card to polarise and solidify his loyal constituency. His highly qualified wife and daughter wear the headscarf too in public appearances.

Armed with a mandate, which came from a high turnout of voters, he has scoffed the US in particular, which has been supporting the Kurdish fighters and whom he considers terrorists. Unlike earlier regimes, Erdogan finds the US overlordship of internal affairs meddlesome and has swung over to Russia, committed as he is to Turkey’s relevance in Europe and seeking EU membership. Yet the West needs Turkey to stem the flow of refugees and Erdogan has made sure he has the greater bargaining chip. The only problem is that he becomes one of a tribe of monolithic and autocratic leaders of the world as he seeks to reprise the latent, unbridled powers of the presidency. Yet such leaders are also feeding populism. It is a conundrum like no other.