Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2012.
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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the borderline dictatorial President of Turkey. He came to power as head of the Islamist Justice and Development Party, promising to solve Turkey's economic and social problems.

The JDP (rendered AKP in Turkish) is the first religion-based party to gain power since Turkey became a secular republic in the 1920s. Erdoğan himself is an authoritarian figure whose violent suppression of a protest in Istanbul caused a massive counterreaction lasting several weeks. His inflammatory, over the top remarks fuelled the protests and led to widening of support for the demonstrators.

While he has an autocratic style and thinks his majoritarian credentials gives him carte blanche to treat the opposition as scum, Erdogan has been the most important Turkish leader since Atatürk. He greatly reduced the power of the military, and is in the process of introducing a new, democratic constitution (the current one was written by the generals). He has also made great progress in bringing an end to the eternal Kurdish conflict.

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[edit] Military

Despite his autocratic style, and his Islamist influences (which are very mild compared to most Middle Eastern forms of Islamism), Erdoğan has largely been a good leader for Turkey and a great democratising force. Thanks to his reforms, the chances of a military coup occurring are slim to none.

But this isn't such an obviously good thing as it might first appear. To describe the role of the military in Turkish politics as "complex" is a massive understatement. Unlike other countries the Turkish military tends to act as a stabilizing force. It sees itself as the guardian of "Kemalism," the principles of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which include secularism and republicanism. In 1980 the military staged a coup after national politics was paralyzed by waves of political violence that killed thousands and brought the economy near total collapse. The military were hardly Boy Scouts – imprisoning and torturing many thousands in the aftermath of the coup – but they stabilized the economy and within three years restored at least a nominal democracy. Since then, the fiercely secularist military have intervened twice (in 1997 and 2007) to nudge out or forestall the election of Islamist presidents. These latter episodes cast Erdoğan's efforts to limit the military in an interesting light.

[edit] Justice

He's yet another Armenian Genocide denialist.Yet he has no issue accusing other nations of genocide like France [1] or Israel. [2] In 2008 he criticised a group of intellectuals who decided that the genocide really happened, saying "Muslims do not commit genocide."[3] He has also overseen a drift towards reduction of minority rights, freedom of the press and free speech.[4]

[edit] Mass protests in 2013

In 2013 Erdogan's government authorised the building of a supermarket in a small park in Istanbul, a large city with few parks. The sparked a protest by locals who wanted to keep hold of their local bit of greenery (and who already had enough supermarkets). Riot police moved in on a peaceful sit-in, provoking national sympathy for the protestors. Demonstrations erupted across Turkey against Islamism and authoritarianism. Erdoğan's inflammatory remarks (routinely calling people "looters" and, of course, "terrorists") only served to fuel the fire.

[edit] Putinism

Erdogan has been accused of following Putinism, which is a special blend of authoritarianism created by President of Russia Vladimir Putin that focuses on nationalism, religion, social conservatism, state capitalism and government domination of the media. [5]

These claims have some credibility as Erdogan has been pushing for social legislature that seems like it comes straight from the Qur'an such as curbs on drinking alcohol and abortion for women. This has led to some controversy in Turkey.[6] Erdogan frequently makes nationalistic speeches and has significant control over the media.

Much like Russia's Putin and the Communist Party of China, international analysts believe that Erdogan's power comes from the fact that Turkey's economy is growing and that the nation's people will generally let him do whatever the hell he wants in exchange for economic prosperity. Under Erdogan, Turkey has joined Russia, Hungary, and other states that mix free(somewhat) market capitalism with an illiberal democracy. [7]

[edit] References

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