1. Relevance of the Turkish
Democratization in the Arab World :
Turkish Model
Aswini K. Mohapatra
2. – The SubjecT headingS:
1. Evolution of the Turkish Polity
2. Transition to Liberal Democracy
3. Democracy in the Arab World
4. Relevance of the Turkish Model in the
Arab World
3. evoluTion of The
Turk ı Sh poliTy
evoluTion of TurkiSh
republic
• In 23rd of April,1923, Turkish
Republic is established
• The Republican People’s Party
(RPP)
• Small group of Westernized
elites
• ’’Bureaucratic ruling tradition’’
from the Ottoman times
• Bureaucracy was the part of the
political centre
• Supported by military
• Paternal state : Devlet Baba
4. evoluTion of The Turk ı Sh poliTy
6 fundaMenTal principleS of aTaTurk (6
arroWS)
• Republicanism:
• Kemalism believes that it is only the republican regime which can best represent
the wishes of the people.
• Populism:
• This was a revolution led by an elite with an orientation towards people in
general. Women received the right to vote in 1934.
• Secularism:
• Kemalist secularism did not merely mean separation of state and religion, but also
the separation of religion from educational and legal affairs.
• Reformism:
Turkey made reforms and that the country replaced traditional institutions with
modern institutions.
Nationalism:
• Kemalist nationalism believes in the principle that the Turkish state is an indivisible
whole comprising its territory and people.
• Statism:
• The state was to regulate the country's general economic activity and the state
was to engage in areas where private enterprise was not willing to do so, or where
private enterprise had proved to be inadequate, or if national interest required it.
5. evoluTion of The Turk ı Sh poliTy
• Turkey had signed UN Charter in 1945
• Competitive Party System-after World War II.
• The Democrat Party is established (DP) in 1945
• Intense Conflict between RPP and DP
• The Military Coup in 1960
• The Government of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was
overthrown
• The 1961 Constitution framed
• Justice Party (The Successor of the DP) formed the
government
• The Semi Military Coup in 1971
• Deep Political and Ideological Polarization between JP and
RPP
6. evoluTion of The Turk ı Sh poliTy
• The Economic Package announced by Süleyman Demirel
• Displeasure among Other Parties
• The encounters the Kurdish Separatists and the Ultra-
Nationalists
• Party leaders warned by the Military
• The Turkish Military made an official declaration in 1980 “
It had a duty to step in.”
• The Main Reason: The Massive meeting organized by
Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of The National Salvation
Party (NSP)
• Kenan Evren, the general of the coup elected as President
• Motherland Party (ANAP) by Turgut Özal
• 3 Party Coalition among – RP , DSP and RPP
7.
8. TranSiTion To liberal deMocracy
probleMaTic SideS of Turkey’S deMocracy
• The Absence of Democratic Political Culture
• High Level of Human Rights Abuse
• Denial of Cultural Liberties to the Minority Kurds
• Kurdish Separatism
• Islamic Extremism
• Intense Polarization as Left wing and Right wing
• Primacy of The Military
9. TranSiTion To liberal deMocracy
• After Justice and Development Party (AKP) :
• Supporting for Turkish Integration into global
economy
• Supporting Membership in the European Union
• Overall alignment with the West
• Electing AKP was a YES to :
• Democratic Reforms
• Market Economy and Open Society
• The EU Membership Process
• Opening up to the World
10. TranSiTion To liberal deMocracy
• With AKP, The Proposed Reforms:
• Complete Freedom of Expression
• Assosiation to Removel of Legal Provisions on
the usage of mothertongue
• Protection of Minority and Human Rigts
• Democratic Control of Armed Forces
• Decentralization of Power
13. relevance of The TurkiSh Model
• It contradicts correlation between levels of socio-
economic development and propensity for democratic
rule
• The success of electoral democracy in Turkey
• It had debunked the claim that Islam is incompatible
with democracy
• Turkish- Islamic Synthesis
• Turkey’s historical and institutional linkages with the
West and its resolve to maintain these linkages have
made the military sensitive to external pressures
14. relevance of The TurkiSh Model
• Turkey’s democracy can’t be a model ;
• The absence of Turkey’s historical and structural conditions
in the Arab World
• Inherrited strong state-traditions from Ottoman Empire
such as:
Statecraft and respect for state
• Absence of a strong landed class in Anatolia
• Powerful upper landed class in Arab States
• Consolidation of State Authority
• Escaped from colonialism and mandate
15. relevance of The TurkiSh Model
• Authoritarian state structure emerged in the Arab
World, was consolidated by 3 factors;
• Conflict with Israil
• Entanglement of the region in superpower rivalry
during the Cold War period
• The Oil Economy of the 1970s –Huge Oil Reserves
and Geo-Strategic Utility
16. relevance of The TurkiSh Model
“The winds of democratic change have swept all parts
of the world except our region, because America
wants us to have dictators and monarchical
presidents to ensure that we remain weak and
vanquished. The geo-strategic imperatives such as a
reliable oil supply, necessity to find new markets,
protection of the Jewish state of Israel and
containment of political Islam have all played a
decisive role in exempting the Arab world from
Western pressures to democratize.”
The Editor of Al-Quds al-Arabi
17.
18. concluSion:
• As a conclusion, even though Turkish Model of
democracy does provide an example for Arab liberal
reformers, currently campaigning for democracy and
political pluralism in the region, Turkish experience is
sui generis and cannot be replicated by any other
state in the region.
