Kemal Ataturk & Sustainable Democracy

Turkey is going through a very interesting turmoil right now. The government of Tayyip Erdogan decided to nominate his foreign minister Abdullah Gul for the President position. To everyone's surprise, Turkish army pushed back and said that they would not accept a president from the ruling Islamic party. You would think that this is yet another case of army interfering in the working of a well functioning democracy...seems like another coup brewing similar to the ones in Pakistan and Thailand. I contend, not really. This situation is very specific to Turkey and requires a little more understanding. It all goes back to the days of Kemal Ataturk.

Kemal Ataturk founded the Republic of Turkey after a successful campaign against Allied armies that had earlier defeated the Ottoman empire. Though in modern day definitions, he would qualify as a dictator but he did establish a very forward looking republic. Some people have called it "enlightened authoritarianism"!!.The state was to be strictly secular with women banned from wearing the hijab. in 1915 he wrote:
In November 1915, he wrote in his journal "The social change can come by (1) educating capable mothers; knowledgeable about life; (2) giving freedom to women. (3) A man can change, his morals, thoughts, and feelings by leading a common life with a woman as there is an inborn tendency towards the attraction of mutual affection"
He wanted Turkish women to be taught not only child care, dress-making and household management, but also the tools which they can use to become part of general economy.
Fascinating, isn't it? This when Istanbul at that time was the seat of the caliphate!!

So Kemal Ataturk left a legacy of a secular state with a strong belief in western values of economic independence and separation of religion and state.The legal system was based on western law rather than sharia.

Fast forward to modern Turkey. Turkish is definitely the most progressive predominantly Muslim nation around the world. It has even had a woman prime minister in 90s. The opposition from the Turkish army to the candidacy of Tayyip Erdogan first and then Abdullah Gul lies in the strong secular ethos that Kemal Ataturk left and the legacy still runs strong. Tayyip Erdogan leads AKP which is definitely not that Islamic in character from the standards of organizations like Hamas, Islamic Jihad or Mulim Brotherhood but from Turkish standards, it is definitely a religious party. No wonder that in support of army's position, more than one million people marched in Istanbul last week to express their opposition to the decision by Erdogan to run for president.

So I ask EU to think a little bit before denouncing what is happening on the ground in Turkey. Things are not black and white. No one wants to see the army anywhere except the barracks but sometimes the situation requires some drastic action. Even in case of Pakistan and Thailand, army intervened to stop phenomenally corrupt leaders. Nawaj Sharif had stifled opposition and was planning to declare himself Allah's representative when Musharraf kicked him out. Thaksin Shinawatra in Thaliand had embezzled tons of money and was becoming a public nuisance.
Clearly, if army can correct the corrupt leaders and then quietly go back to barracks, it would be great. Problems happen when they decide to hang on. Musharraf seems to be on that path but I still believe that he is a better alternative for both people in Pakistan and outside.

Finally, there are some broader lessons out of the things happening in Turkey. Kemal Ataturk essentially laid the foundation for a sustainable democracy. Secular state, gender equality, economic independence( and the existence of a merchant/middle class),universal education, independent judiciary and a working bureaucracy. He built this institutions using an iron hand and used enforcement rather than consensus but the legacy was long lasting. As soon as Turkey became multi party, democracy was there to stay. Democracy is sustainable only if laid on these pillars.( By the way, I strongly recommend reading Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria if you want to read a very compelling argument about the same) There are a lot of examples of countries that tried democracy without these tenets and fell into chaos but Turkey is on solid foundation and therefore, please think for a while before criticizing the army there.