Turkey

[Picasso]

‘Islamic capitalism’ faces secular resistance

Monday, December 18, 2006


Mustafa AKYOL

ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News


One of my primary school memories is of “domestic goods week.” Our teachers used to order us to bring all kinds of authentic Turkish products, such as nuts, raisins and figs, to our classrooms and eat them collectively to celebrate the homegrown wonders of our motherland. “Don't ever buy foreign products,” our teachers also said. “If you do so, foreigners will be exploiting us and our nation will become their slave.”

That was in the early '80s, at a time when Turkey was run by a military dictatorship and still believed in the import-subsidization policies of the past two decades, which had been compatible with the economic wisdom of the times. Then came the Turgut Özal years (1983-93) during which Turkey opened its borders to foreign goods and capital and started to build a real market economy. Along with his good friends Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister (and later President) Özal was a revolutionary leader who argued that free markets are the only path to economic prosperity. His motto was “the three freedoms” -- of ideas, worship and entrepreneurship.



The Kemalist-socialist synthesis: Yet the spirit of “domestic goods week” never vanished. Özal's political opponents continuously accused him of deviating from the path of Atatürk, Turkey's revered founder. One of Atatürk's Six Principles was “statism,” which was actually a practical solution in the years of global stagnation following the Great Depression. Moreover, Turks had the bad memory of the “capitulations,” the unfair economic concessions given to foreign investors centuries ago, and which had been hazardous to the economy of the late Ottoman Empire.

After Atatürk, the combination of statism and the “anti-capitulationist” allergy to foreign capital became even more vindicated thanks to the rise of socialistic ideas among Turkey's intellectual elite. The same elite used to accuse the non-Kemalists -- who came to power in 1950 during Turkey's first free and fair elections -- of being agents of “American imperialism” and “international finance.” Özal was the perfect scapegoat for the proponents of this “Kemalist left,” but since 2002, there is an even better one: The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.



AKP and business: Not everybody in Turkey is the greatest fan of Erdoğan's government, especially because of its Islamic credentials, but virtually nobody can deny its pro-business attitude. As Wall Street Journal Editor Matthew Kaminski noted (in his Oct. 22 piece, “Turkish Tiger”), the government has initiated “the most far-reaching privatization program in Turkish history” and has created “a thriving Muslim market economy with a large, independent private sector and a shrinking state.”

Local businessmen agree. “We see that the conditions of economic freedom are improving,” says Jeffrey P. Kemprecos, the Istanbul-based Director of External Affairs of the Merck Sharp & Dohme Pharmaceuticals. “Generally, foreign investment and technology transfer is welcomed, and in recent years, Turkey has taken steps to ensure intellectual property rights.” Indeed attracting more foreign direct investment is one the government's most ambitious goals. Some of its staunchly secular critics accuse it of bringing in “Arab money,” but it has been welcoming Israeli financiers as well. “Whoever wants to invest in my country is welcome,” said Erdoğan in a famous speech. “Money has no religion or nationality.” This is, of course, all bad news to the champions of the Kemalist left. They deeply abhor public religion and capitalism, and now they are getting both.



Globalization as colonialism? Those who are alarmed by the rise of what some have called “Islamic capitalism” are not only the campus Trotskyites but also some of the top officials of the state, including President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. In an address on Nov. 10, the anniversary of Atatürk's death, Sezer gave a reminder that Turkey had prospered in Atatürk's time “thanks to a fully independent economic policy.” Turkey should resist globalization, the president added, “because it is indeed colonialism; they [the colonialists] couldn't succeed with guns, now they are trying it through economics.” In recent years Mr. Sezer and the like-minded Constitutional Court have vetoed several new pieces of legislation that would have helped attract more “colonialism,” i.e., investment. (That's why many foreign investors are unhappy about the never-ending impediments of “the bureaucracy.”)

The country's generals seem to think along the same lines. Gen. Yener Karahanoğlu, the chief of the navy, recently declared “imperialism and universal capitalism” to be the enemies of the Turkish Republic, along with “irtica,” a euphemism for public Islam. The speakers of the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), repeatedly echo the same messages.

And all this creates an interesting contrast with Turkey's age-old modernization rhetoric. A government with a Muslim outlook is championing economic freedom, whereas the secularists, who traditionally define themselves as “modernists” and “progressives,” are standing against it. It is a new Turkey in which faith and freedom flourish hand in hand. Max Weber and Alexis de Tocqueville should have lived to see.

[LebArmenian]

picasso . whats the point of this threads ? glorifying turkey ? demonising it ? almost everyone here is not friendly with the turks .

turkey is like borats kazakhistan . i do know some turkish and watch their news , most of it is abt local fights , this killed that and so on , dont be fooled with some of what you see in the modern part of istambul or ankara , or the touristic compounds , outside is the old ottoman empire , with poverty and wife beating men.

[Jay]

Originally Posted by LebArmenian

picasso . whats the point of this threads ? glorifying turkey ? demonising it ? almost everyone here is not friendly with the turks .

turkey is like borats kazakhistan . i do know some turkish and watch their news , most of it is abt local fights , this killed that and so on , dont be fooled with some of what you see in the modern part of istambul or ankara , or the touristic compounds , outside is the old ottoman empire , with poverty and wife beating men.

What is your point?
<o:p> </o:p>
In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region></st1:place> you still have people who beat their wives (still not as much as those who beat their husbands though)
<o:p> </o:p>
Don’t let your hate drive you
<o:p> </o:p>
Break free

[LebArmenian]

Originally Posted by Jay

What is your point?
<o:p> </o:p>
In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region></st1:place> you still have people who beat their wives (still not as much as those who beat their husbands though)
<o:p> </o:p>
Don’t let your hate drive you
<o:p> </o:p>
Break free

jay

its a turkish tradition the beeting wife thing. non turks who live in turkey also adopt that tradition , and carry it with them whenever they go .

im free :) i know many turks , dont worry about me.

[Picasso]

تركيا في النادي البنّاء

تركيا اليوم كما تاريخياً صاحبة تجربة غنية، ولا يمكن أن تتخذ من بعض الأحداث التاريخية الأليمة منطلقاً لهجاء تركيا بعيداً من فهم أهميتها وغناها ودورها

اليوم، تحاول تركيا الدخول إلى الاتحاد الأوروبي، هذا يعني مزيداً من الانفتاح والازدهار، هذا يعني مزيداً من الحريات والديمقراطية. الذي يقود تركيا للدخول إلى الاتحاد الاوروبي هو حزب العدالة والتنمية، الآتي من بيئات لا "تحبذ" مؤسس تركيا الحديثة أتاتورك، لكنها أيضاً لا تنوي إحياء الماضي العثماني

لا يمكن أن نظل نعيش في مستقبل ماضينا، على الأرمن أن يتطلعوا إلى المستقبل ولا يغرقوا في إنتاج مخاوف الماضي وهواجسه. كثيرون في الغرب لا يطالبون تركيا بالاعتذار محبةً بكم لكن طمعاً بمصادر الطاقة. هذا لا يعني أنّ على تركيا أن لا تعير جراحكم أذناً، لكن لا يمكن لكم باسم الجراح أن تجعلوا الحاضرَ ينزفُ لتهربَ من أمام الأرمن والأتراك فرص التعاون لأجل بلدين حرين مستقلين و... مزدهرين

Originally Posted by LebArmenian

im free :) i know many turks , dont worry about me.

بلى، أنا قلق عليك، لأنكَ لا ترى الموضوعَ من جوانبه المختلفة

أن تكونَ حراً يعني أن تتطلع إلى الأمام وتسير، لا أن تظل تردد ما تربيتَ عليه لتكونَ مشاركاً في توفير الظروف لحروب وصدامات جديدة بين تركيا وأرمينيا

لا عجبَ أنكَ لبناني أيضاً، فاللبنانيون لا يقرأونَ في تاريخهم ولا يرَوْنَ سوى أحقاد الماضي والأنفاق
ولهذا تراهم لا يبنونَ وطناً ويتناحرون

اكشفْ هذه الغشاوة عن عينيك
الاوروبيون تجاوزوا حروباً دموية لأجل الوحدة والقوة
وفي هذا العالم لا قوةَ ولا ازدهار إلا للتكتلات وتركيا جار مهم لكم ويجدر بكم أن تتكاملوا معها

وأن تعرف بعض الأتراك لا يعني أنك تعرف الواقع التركي

اقرأ أكثر

[orangekid]

Turkey is a place that claims secularism but its people are the most sectarian of all. They are violating human rights by what they are doing to Kurds and other communities. They tend to give an image of openess about themselves while they are extremly behind. I am against their entry to E.U. and feel that all of our problems are inherited from the Turkish age.

[zevaco]

Originally Posted by LebArmenian

picasso . whats the point of this threads ? glorifying turkey ? demonising it ? almost everyone here is not friendly with the turks .

turkey is like borats kazakhistan . i do know some turkish and watch their news , most of it is abt local fights , this killed that and so on , dont be fooled with some of what you see in the modern part of istambul or ankara , or the touristic compounds , outside is the old ottoman empire , with poverty and wife beating men.

How refreshing, enlightening, objective, non-childish, non-stereotyping and respectful.

I understand you hold a grudge, and I sympathize with you, but what you said above is far, far from being useful/meaningful (not to use other terms).

[orangekid]

Originally Posted by zevaco

How refreshing, enlightening, objective, non-childish, non-stereotyping and respectful.

I understand you hold a grudge, and I sympathize with you, but what you said above is far, far from being useful/meaningful (not to use other terms).

You don't have the right to say that. You have to respect LebArmenian view of the subject and his ideas objectively. In fact i totally agree with LebArmenian and i think u should rather care about how to kick the Turkish forces (in the south) out of our country. Turkey have plunged us into mysery, secterianism, wars, divisions, retardation, etc...... They have massacred millions of Armenian, they are cooperating with "israel", they are opressing kurds and christians, Why should we like them.

I want to tell you, since i don't recognize "israel" as a country, turkey will be the country that i hate the most on this planet really!!

[orangekid]

The real face of Turkey:



[]

[Lebanese_Nationalist]

Originally Posted by LebArmenian

picasso . whats the point of this threads ? glorifying turkey ? demonising it ? almost everyone here is not friendly with the turks .

turkey is like borats kazakhistan . i do know some turkish and watch their news , most of it is abt local fights , this killed that and so on , dont be fooled with some of what you see in the modern part of istambul or ankara , or the touristic compounds , outside is the old ottoman empire , with poverty and wife beating men.

So Turkey is like Iran?