New, Self-Delusional Turkey

To be honest, I can't stand it anymore, these overblown and bombastic references to a “New Turkey” by the just-installed Turkish president, his successor as prime minister and their acolytes in the media.

What is so irritating about a concept that is still quite vague and that includes some positive elements as well? I am indeed happy with the end of military tutelage, the economic growth Turkey has enjoyed in the last decade, the improvements in many public services and the efforts to solve the Kurdish problem. If all the current rhetoric would only be about solving these problems of the so-called “Old Turkey,” I would not have sat down to write this article. My problem is with the tone and the content of the rest of the “New Turkey” narrative.
I must admit I have a deep-rooted suspicion of public relations campaigns based on the suggestion we are about to enter a totally new era after having made a sweeping break with the past. Especially when that claim comes with the symbolism of the great leader who will guide his people into the glorious future, towards a Turkey that “will rise again from the ashes.” Most of the time such promises are made to hide the fact that much will remain the same and to sustain the hold on power of the people who have already been there for a long time.
Skepticism turns into serious misgivings when the pledges made in this Theater of Dreams constitute an astonishing and discouraging world of difference with the Turkey of today ruled by the same people making these pompous declarations. How, for instance, can I take the “New Turkey” slogans about consolidated democracy and the wish to join the EU seriously when the reality on the ground contradicts these stated aims? Looking at some of the key markers of a mature democracy (freedom of the media, separation of powers), Turkey has only been taking steps back in the last five years. On the EU, I don't trust general statements anymore after years of stalled reforms and backtracking on European standards.
To many Turks and all foreign observers, the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) “New Turkey” increasingly looks like the “Old Turkey” because its rulers use the same old methods of social engineering, repressing dissent and monopolizing the state bureaucracy. The only difference is that since 2002 the religious conservative majority has replaced the Kemalist minority as the dominant social group.
The most important positive exception seems to be the AKP's handling of the Kurdish problem. On that point, Ömer Taşpınar made an apt observation on the P24 website: “The ‘newness' of Turkey will only be confirmed when all issues related to democracy (…) will improve parallel to Kurdish rights and liberties. [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan may have his own political priorities and agenda in addressing the Kurdish problem. But as Turkey's new president, Erdoğan should know that his image in the world is poisoned by Turkey's democratic deficit. Prioritizing the Kurdish question at the expense of all other crucial shortcomings of Turkish democracy will not improve the situation. As the world is watching him, Erdoğan would be better off paying attention to his critics in the West than listening to sycophants in the pro-government media at home.”

Taşpınar's last remark touches upon the third reason behind my aversion to the “New Turkey” hot air. It is really an illusion to think that anybody outside of Turkey is impressed by the grandiose panoramas of the new Turkish leadership. Okay, the Turkmen and Kazakh presidents might be impressed, and I am sure Russian President Vladimir Putin, too busy invading Ukraine to be present at Erdoğan's coronation, is happy to welcome a new follower of his strategy to establish anti-Western, illiberal democracies allover Eurasia. But the countries that really matter for Turkey's further economic and democratic growth, whether Erdogan and Ahmet Davutoğlu like it or not, are situated in Europe and on the other side of the Atlantic. There, nobody buys the all-too-transparent plans and promises under the “New Turkey” flag because they contradict so clearly with the worrying developments in the real Turkey of today.
Tragically, that makes the entire ‘New Turkey” operation an act of self-delusion that will prevent Turkey from doing the things it urgently needs to do to become a prosperous and respected nation.

JOOST LAGENDIJK (Cihan/Today's Zaman)