Critical thinking about the regime in Turkey

By Ahmet Abidin Ozbek:

Some of the most deceptive statements by Turkey’s regime are about ‘democracy’ and ‘reform’ and make false claims about the AKP government being the envoy of democracy. The AKP is a blend of the ‘old regime’ elite and Islam. The old regime was in turn a combination of Kemalism and Turkish Nationalism. The AKP’s Islam is like that of the Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Libya, or Pakistan – which are historically corrupt countries. They are against humanity, which is nothing to do with real Islam. By this I mean that the AKP’s Islamic approach is against reforms and opposed to democracy, free thinking, atheism, agnosticsm or secularism. The bottom line is that neither the AKP nor their partner, the Fettullah Gulen groups, truly believe in western-style modern democracy although they certainly believe in taking advantage of democracy in the west like any other radical Islamic groups.

Minorities such as Kurds, Alevis, Christians, non-believers, Jews or others are especially worried about the AKP’s daily politics. Whether we accept it or not, a majority of the population of Turkey unfortunately fail to understand the consequences. Unfortunately, most ethnic Turkish people (excepting intellectuals) have been easily manipulated by the state since the 1920s (or even since the Ottomans). Both Islam and Turkish Nationalism (Turanism) have brainwashed the people. Loyalty to state, military, nationalism and religion has become a sickness for the people of Turkey. They are not thinking healthily anymore.

Recent polls show that most people still support the AKP. If they don’t want the AKP, they will vote for the MHP or CHP. But none of them are really different. None of them intend to support radical change, democracy or reform.Thus there is still uncertainty about one of the most critical issues – changes to the Turkish constitution. The only party in congress that is clear about the changes it wants is the BDP.

Why don’t they want democratic changes? Let’s think about it this way. Those parties – the AKP, MHP or CHP – are variously ‘oppressive’, ‘nationalistic’, or ‘sunni-Islamic’ pieces of the old regime. They have differences on certain things but not about minorities and democracy. Their very existence depends on the undemocratic constitution of the state. So, if they freely support radical change in the new constitution, they will destroy themselves. That is why it will not happen. If real democracy existed today, those parties and their ideologies could not enslave the people any more.

The minorities, such as Kurds, Alevis, Christians or others know that only fundamental change can transform the history of Turkey.

Let’s now forget about the discussion on the constitution. What about other things happening every day? Thanks to the AKP regime, today more people believe that Turkey doesn’t need to be a part of the European Union. More people are arrested because of their opinion, criticism or writing against the government. It is also more clear why the AKP were in dispute with the military in Turkey. Even the intellectual writer, Ahmet Altan at Taraf newspaper, has confessed that he did not fully understand the AKP and Erdogan’s politics. We should understand very clearly that the new regime has arrested more military people than ever only because of their opposition to the AKP regime. We know that both the corrupted military and the AKP regime are against democracy. But the AKP wanted to transfer full control of the regime from the ‘old elites’ to a new generation of ‘Islamic totalitarians’.

This is what they think about Kurds and Alevis. The Kurds are good if they are dependent on the Turkish race. Of course, federation or equal citizenship will not be accepted by the regime. The Kurds can talk freely their language, says the AKP. But, in reality, they can only talk (whether in Turkish or Kurdish) about the goodness of the AKP tyranny. Anything critical of the regime will be punished immediately. The Alevis are in an even worse situation than before. The AKP regime has not recognized the Alevis as an independent religion, institution or belief. What they say is, “The Alevis are part of Islam”. So they can’t even follow their own faith. In reality, the Alevis were always against the Turco-Sunni Islamic regimes since the Ottoman Empire. Sadly, the Christians were all but exterminated by the regime in Anatolian history a long time ago. In conclusion, the essence of the Turkish regime hasn’t changed and there is only a new style of assimilation of the people.