Win for democracy and loss for Turkey?
A lot has changed in Turkey since Erdogan came to power, as prime minister, more than a decade ago. The economy has turned around completely. The foreign debt is gone and per capita income has increased manifold. Delivery of justice is another success story. Erdogan successfully implemented deep-rooted judicial reforms, winning much respect. Then he was celebrated, far and wide, for his ‘zero problems with neighbours’ foreign policy brilliancy.
But his longevity, particularly of late, has also given rise to a fair degree of anxiety, in and outside Turkey. First he let his Islamist leanings filter into society at large, creating friction with the country’s secular outlook since the Mustafa Kamal days; an ideology fiercely guarded by the military. Then his foreign policy began developing serious confrontation with a number of countries; the standoff with Moscow almost invoking nato’s all-for-one clause. The tension caused a collapse in the lira and a run on the country’s equity market, hurting the economy. Now, after the referendum that gives him near dictatorial powers as president, jokes about Erdogan seeing himself as a neo-Ottoman Pasha no longer seem divorced from reality.
Yet no matter how much Erdogan is accused of clothing himself in ‘too much power’, he leveraged the democratic system to get where he is. The referendum’s final count – at 51-49 – was as close as it gets, but going by the norms of democracy it was as much an assurance of a win as a landslide. The social fallout, however, will be deep and long. Maybe jokes doing the rounds now of a win for democracy amounting to a loss for Turkey also turn out true?