No Endgame
I couldn’t have said it better!
Soli Ozel’s excellent article in today’s Financial Times (click here)
An excerpt:
Turkey’s constitutional court is considering a case to close the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) and ban 71 of its politicians from politics….
Many voters are offended by this crude attempt to nullify their vote. It is the judicial equivalent of a coup and a scandalous situation for any self-respecting democracy to find itself in, especially one aspiring to join the European Union.
Only a few months ago, such an indictment would have been inconceivable. Last year’s election, in which the electorate gave the civilian-military bureaucracy a bloody nose, appeared to have finally settled the issue of who rules.
Its huge victory gave the AKP an opportunity to overhaul Turkey’s political system through the drafting of a new, more democratic constitution. It had a mandate to continue political and economic reforms.
Unfortunately, the AKP has badly mishandled the post-election environment…. Through its missteps, the AKP has begun to lose support among many disparate groups of voters who are not necessarily part of a power bloc, but value secularism, oppose authoritarian solutions, and are committed to EU membership. Now, the expectation is that it faces closure. Beyond that, there is no visible endgame…
All the parties involved in this almost existential struggle over the direction of Turkey show a troubling propensity for authoritarianism, whether in their interpretation of the law or in their inability to appeal to a broader spirit of democratic and liberal reforms…
SEE THE ACCOMPANYING FT ARTICLE ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECISION ON THE HEADSCARF (click here)
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