Towards a Post-Kemalist republic
14 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010
İHSAN DAĞI
People power is rebuilding Turkey politically by getting rid of Kemalist tutelage through referendum. By approving overwhelmingly the constitutional package people have overcome by democratic means the resistance of the Kemalist power elite that did everything to defend their position.
It has become crystal clear once more that people in this country have always opted for a more democratic regime when they are asked.
For this very reason, for many years the Kemalist elite tried to hijack power from the people through authoritarian means. They produced hundreds of excuses not to give the right to choose to the people who were treated by the Kemalists as uneducated and unable to make decisions about their lives. Yet each democratic election in this country since 1950 proved the democratic maturity and wisdom of the people, and the poverty of Kemalist thinking. Whenever the people had the right, they gave historic lessons to the Kemalist Jacobeans as was the case in 1950, 1961, 1983 and 2007.
The referendum results shows once more that the Kemalist elite in media, politics, academia and business are incapable of reading the new dynamics of Turkish politics and understanding the democratic aspiration of the people. This is a pity for them. Those foreigners who look to them to make sense of Turkish politics miss what goes on in Turkey. The Kemalist elite live in a dream disconnected from the realities of Turkey and the world. Even the top social scientists among them are blinded by ideological/Kemalist prejudices — unable to grasp the process, dynamics and actors of change in Turkey.
Let me explain what has happened: The referendum result has proved people are capable of making their own constitution and that the CHP and its Kemalist allies are not in a position to stop it.
The liberal/democrat/conservative alliance for democratic reform has won over the nationalist pro-status quo front. Once more it has been proved that the Kemalists’ resistance to change is futile. They have been defeated by the dynamics of change.
This is a step forward to a post-Kemalist republic. A republic that is not ruled by the state elite but by the people like in all democratic regimes; a republic in which power is not monopolized by a few high bureaucrats and judges but shared by the people. This is a move from a republic under the tutelage of a civilian-military bureaucracy to a fully functioning liberal democracy.
The masses at large understand quite well that sovereignty belongs to people, and this comes only through democracy.
The referendum results will have political implications. First, it demonstrated that there exists a very strong pro-change and pro-reform social base that is undoubtedly represented by the ruling AK Party. From now on AK Party leadership is expected to be bolder with democratic reforms. My guess is that the AK Party will abandon its hesitant reformist stand and embrace its reformist agenda that includes a brand new constitution and a solution to the Kurdish question.
The CHP with its Kemalist allies, the white Turks and civilian and military bureaucracy, will hopefully understand the limits of their power, that they cannot veto the process of democratization and that they cannot sustain their unfair privileges, which were acquired in the ancient authoritarian regime. Otherwise they will remain as marginal elements in Turkish politics hopelessly fighting for privileges in an open society and democratic polity.
Turkish and Kurdish nationalists who allied with the CHP are the absolute losers. The MHP leadership will certainly face increasing opposition in the coming days. Traditional MHP voters will never forgive Devlet Bahçeli for allying the party with the CHP. This may push the MHP below the 10 percent national threshold in the upcoming elections in 2011. A leadership change in the party is inevitable. Another loser is the BDP. While the grassroots of the party was overwhelmingly positive about the constitutional package, the leadership insisted on a boycott. The result is a defeat.
Anyhow, a post-Kemalist republic is in the making…
Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/columnists-221514-towards-a-post-kemalist-republic.html
