Gül's Impasse

I really admire President Abdullah Gül's ability to paint a rosy picture even during the most stormy of times when democracy, rule of law and basic rights and freedoms are being undermined. President Gül's speech at the high advisory meeting of the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (TÜSİAD) followed the same pattern.
I must acknowledge that even his decision to attend a meeting by an organization that was labeled a "traitor" by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan -- who is quick to accuse any person or organization that happens to voice a dissenting opinion of treason -- is a courageous message itself that deserves appreciation. But this does not change the fact that he connives to commit crimes against democracy and rule of law by either supporting or silently endorsing these abhorrent attacks and by refraining from using his powers and authorities to prevent these antidemocratic and arbitrary efforts.

I will now try to identify and ascertain the presence and impact of President Gül as regards the recent developments in Turkey, governed by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) -- from which he came -- or more correctly, by Erdoğan.

Is there anyone who remembers President Gül ever emphasizing transparency or rule of law with reference to the recent scandalous developments, particularly including the allegations about large-scale graft, theft, fraud, irregularities and cases of embezzlement as well as in the face of the fact that the country is further disgraced with the continued governance by those who are implicated in these scandals?

Did anyone feel Gül's presence while the Erdoğan administration completely disrupted the regime's mechanism of checks and balances and breached the principle of separation of powers in an effort to cover up its involvement in graft, theft and bribery? Or when it bypassed the audit by the Court of Accounts and set to re-engineering the media sector for increased compatibility with an autocratic system? Or when it replaced rule of law with primitive arbitrariness and savage coercion. Or when it imposed a fait-accompli system characteristic of tribal administrations?

As the sphere of the most fundamental rights and freedoms, such as the freedoms of expression and of the press, was being constricted by the government in an urge to hide their foreign and domestic policy blunders and graft and bribery scandals in which it was wallowing, or as Turkey was being derailed from democracy and rule of law and being distanced from democratic, liberal and rights-based orientations, did anyone hear President Gül ask, "Stop, what are you doing?"

Have you known any move made by President Gül to prevent the Erdoğan government from violating the freedom of enterprise, a sine qua non component of liberal democracy, by shuttering the dershanes (prep schools) or banning access to social networks such as Twitter and YouTube?

As the country was suffering from utter failure after failure on all fronts of foreign policy because of unfounded and fanciful assumptions by certain incompetent, ambitious and greedy politicians, and as Turkey was quickly driven away from the civilized, democratic and liberal world in an unprecedented manner, and as the country's foreign service was having problems with neighbors in an environment when the country's ties with the United States and European Union were terrible, did you hear any remarkable objection from President Gül, who had once served as a successful foreign minister for years?

For some reasons -- I will discuss the reasons below -- President Gül failed to adopt a bold attitude in favor of freedoms, democracy and public interests, but he was quick to endorse the bill that dealt a fatal blow to the education sector as well as the bill that subordinated the judiciary to the government -- although he said he had "discovered 15 points of unconstitutionality" with the bill -- and the bill that fettered the Internet and social media, which is favored by the public as the sole reliable media venue.

President Gül's moves -- which were well-meaning, but extremely artificial nonetheless -- such as bypassing the Twitter and YouTube bans by posting a tweet or a video, although the bans were in place thanks to his endorsing the Internet bill in question, will be remembered as cute acts -- like him riding a bike or greeting his visitors with a cavalry unit in the courtyard of the Çankaya presidential palace -- but useless efforts.

Why was President Gül forced to adopt such a cowed and unobtrusive attitude despite the fact that he knows that rule of law, democracy and freedoms are important for the country's interests and economy? Why did he keep silent when rule of law, democracy, freedoms and transparency -- which he glorified during his speech at the TÜSİAD meeting on Thursday -- were being undermined, why did he even lend support to the effort to destroy them? Really, what did he expect to obtain by wielding a middle-of-the-road approach and by not supporting democratic principles, rule of law and freedoms? Did or will he obtain what he expected?

In my opinion, President Gül's pragmatic and self-seeking attitude, far from being described as bold or dignified, has made everyone, including himself, the country, democracy and rule of law, suffer damages. In the first instance, his image as a "principled democratic leader" was considerably undermined both inside and outside Turkey. President Gül opted to go against the will of the majority in order not to be at odds with the AKP because he wants to run for president for a second term, or because he wants to become the AKP's chairman if Erdoğan chooses to become president. In complete disregard of principles, laws, rights or freedoms, he sought to obtain the endorsement of the 43 percent -- which corresponds to the AKP's vote -- at the expense of 57 percent of the population. But is this attitude beneficial for himself?

I must note that there is no guarantee that the obscure attitude President Gül has adopted to promote his political interests will give Gül what he intends to obtain. But there are numerous indications that this attitude has already made him lose many things. President Gül put all his eggs in the AKP's basket, but he failed to realize the fact that the AKP had already become Erdoğan's undisputed property and Gül can be welcomed to this property only to the extent Erdoğan allows. In the meantime, President Gül's futile efforts have largely undermined his image for the rest of the public.

According to survey, the public's trust and endorsement for Gül had long stayed at 76-78 percent, and it even rose to 81 percent in December 2012. On the other hand, this rate has recently dropped down to the magnitude 45 percent. Until one year ago, President Gül could easily win any race for presidency even if it be against Erdoğan. Now, he is far from posing any remarkable challenge to Erdoğan.

Although he has great potential to become a self-acting political leader, President Gül has opted to accept what is granted by Erdoğan. And this has made both him and the country a loser. Now, we will wait and see if President Gül continues to maintain this obscure and unobtrusive attitude by endorsing the bill that seeks to reorganize the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) so that democracy and rule of law can be completely eliminated and Turkey can be turned into a Middle Eastern dictatorship.

BÜLENT KENEŞ (Cihan/Today's Zaman)