New agents of change

Thursday, 6 June 2013 01:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

FOR anyone who has been keeping track of international news, the developments in Turkey could not have failed to strike a chord of familiarity. Here was an extremely powerful government that was being challenged for its authoritarian ways by educated urban people filling the vacuum left by an impotent opposition. Certainly rings a bell.

A week ago the police attacked a group of people protesting against the building of a mall on a public park. The activists were set upon by Police who tear gassed them and used other forms of excessive force to clear them out. This triggered an unprecedented response from the people, who decided that it was time to send a clear message to the Prime Minister who has been increasing his power at the cost of civil liberties. The initial protest quickly spread around the country with a powerful trade union joining in the protests on Monday and declaring a two-day warning strike for the following day. This is the largest threat to the ruling party since it gained ascendance a decade ago.

Turkey Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has of course chosen to take a belligerent view of the protests, denying government suppression and insisting that the crowds are the extremists. Having overseen an economic boom and three election wins, Erdogan is clearly not interested in listening to the protestors. He has even less patience with people who point towards the increasingly religious leanings of the government and the law courts since he came into power.

Since taking power in 2002, Erdogan has curtailed the influence of the army, which has ousted four governments in the second half of the 20th century. He then proceeded to jail hundreds of army officers, journalists and academics for an alleged coup plot against him. The Judiciary has also been subjected to the winds of change with a musician jailed recently for a tweet that reportedly mocked Islam.

Such actions have understandably worried the more moderate and urbanised groups of society. What is significant about the protests is that they are largely driven by urban professionals and youth, with no political affiliations. This has prompted international analysts to look at the protests as a landmark movement quite removed from the Arab Spring type of demonstrations that the world is used to seeing from the region.

This is also an important lesson for other countries that have very powerful governments that follow agendas that could be divisive and dangerous in the long-term. Turkey, at least for the protestors, needs to remain a largely secular country along the principles on which it was founded in the days of the Ottoman empire. Moreover Istanbul in their eyes is an ancient city that deserves to be protected and the government cannot be allowed to build what they please where they please. The standpoint is not for Erdogan to go home, but to have a more inclusive governance process that takes the views of the people in account.

With his supporters firmly entrenched in the provinces, it is unlikely that Erdogan will have to worry about going home – but the warning has been heard. Turkey has shown the world what can be done by people who care and it can only be hoped that they too choose to be agents of change.