TURKISH WRITER FEARS AUTHORITARIAN SHIFT!

Turkish writer fears authoritarian shift

11.06.2011 | Folha S. Paulo, Marcelo Ninio

Turkish writer fears authoritarian shift. Despite the economic success and expansion of the country’s regional influence has dominated the campaign for Sunday’s election in Turkey, the former division between Islamists and secularists is still an open wound.

Polls point to an almost certain triumph of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which should win a third consecutive term headed by the charismatic Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Confident of victory, the Islamists of the AKP are betting on the popularity of prime minister to win over two-thirds of Parliament, which would give them carte blanche to rewrite the constitution without a referendum.

The possibility scares secularists like the feminist writer Meltem Arikan, 43. She has had a book censored by the government and sees the concentration of power in the hands of a real risk Erdogan that Turkey immerse in Islamic authoritarianism.

Mr Erdogan’s ambitions to rewrite the Turkish Constitution are raising worries that the already powerful Prime Minister will jeopardize the democratic nature of the State, specially regarding freedom of expression. Are the worries justified, in your opinion?

Even though there has been small modifications in the Turkish constitution, which was established by the military dictate of 12th September 1980, our current constitution must be rewritten as it is still absent from the concept of freedom of speech and it still has limitations on freedom of individuals and human rights. It has not been established what sorts of changes Prime Minister Mr. Erdogan foresees on the Constitution. Due to rewrite the constitution singly in the Parliament, AKP is electioneering to win the majority thus they will not need to hold a referendum. Instead of approaching about the provisions of the constitution and what will become of the new constitution, they choose to give religious messages to the crowds.

Recently Mr. Erdogan attended in one of the television programs and said ‘Presidential system is my desire’. What we perceive from his words is that there has been a preparation on an Islamic formed authoritarian constitution based on presidential system. In Turkey the core of the concept of democracy has been emptied and the number of those who has the worry for the annihilation of our basic human rights are increasing day by day.

Another worry among many secular Turks is that a more powerful islamic government will curb secular liberties in the country. What do you think?

Since AKP has come into power, they suggested that they demand for a form of democracy that fits the EU norms and a large segment of the society trusted that Turkey is going to be joined the EU by AKP. In the course of time, AKP’s advanced democracy statement turned against the seculars but in favoured the Islamic politic movement. Although, the government has been continuously repeating this advanced democracy especially over the last few years, the anti democratic practises has risen and still continue rising.

The polarisation has been increased and solidified between those who support and do not support the Islamic form of life. Sometimes the government instigates this polarisation.

In the past a large segment of those who believed that AKP did not have an Islamic orientation, on the contrary, they were trying to make democratic change, now started to think the other way around. Especially women’s worries are increasing even more day by day. Today Turkey is certainly divided into two, those, who fear from a change on secularity of the existing regime and those, who believe in the necessity of changing the secularity of the regime.

There are frequent reports of discrimination and violence against women in Turkey, who are still underrepresented in politics. Do you feel women`s rights are improving in the country, or just the opposite?

Since AKP has come into power, the number of murdered women in Turkey has 1400%(fourteen-hundred percent) increased. By this sentence, it is not right to say that government is abetting women murders but usually Mr. Erdogan chooses to do politics over women’s bodies and he also claims that women and men are not equal at all.

The sociocultural climate created by the prime minister and his party who strongly support the male dominated society have trivialised women.

Just five days before the elections, with a sudden decision, they changed the name of ‘the Government Ministry responsible from Woman and Family’ by removing the word ‘woman’. Also the prime minister often utters that women must have three kids. In developed countries the employment ratio of women is 50% whereas in Turkey this ratio is 25%. According to the World Health Organization in USA 20%, in Europe 40%, in less developed countries 50% of women are exposed to domestic violence. In Turkey this ratio is estimated around 58% in the year 2010.
As a woman I feel that my existence in Turkey is more threatened day by day and I am decisive on struggling against this threat.

The Turkish regime has been pointed as a model of Muslim democracy in the Arab Spring. Would you recommend it is a successful model to those Arab populations, which are fighting for democracy?

I do not believe in the concept of a model for a country. Every country generates and should generate on its own dynamics of culture and history. We are in a transition period from analogue world to digital world order. All the thought patterns in the Analogue world order are losing their meanings. New concepts are under progress. In the digital world order existence of the individuals will be freed from fears and in this transition period a big responsibility falls upon women.

If women stay passive as they were in the analogue world, if they choose to be herded and stay motionless, this transition will be painful. By passing the border of fear, the Arab world has started to struggle for a new beginning and women played a big role in this struggle. I think those who are in this struggle must generate their unique solutions for freedom in each country depending upon their economical and social dynamics.