By Maximilian Popp
in Istanbul
Photo Gallery: The Erdogan Way Photos
DPA
Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on the way to becoming the most successful
leader of his country since Atatürk. But he has reacted to recent protests as a
tone-deaf despot. It is a tragedy for him and his country.
Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has often sought out influential opponents. First there was the secular
elite that tried to thwart his bid to become mayor of Istanbul. Then there were the courts in Ankara, which tried to
ban his conservative Muslim Justice and Development Party (AKP). Finally, there
were the generals, who had been in control since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded
the country, and whose power he broke.
ANZEIGE
After 10 years
as prime minister of Turkey,
Erdogan had so much power that, in the end, only one person could stop him: Erdogan
himself.
Journalist
Fiachra Gibbans aptly described Erdogan’s political career in the Guardian
recently as a “Shakespearean tragedy.” The prime minister, who defied attempted
coups and survived a court challenge, is now in trouble because of a few
hundred trees in a city park. He is becoming the victim of his own hubris.
Looking back at
the last few weeks of the Gezi
Park revolt, there is one
thing that is particularly disturbing: The way Erdogan has missed even the best
opportunities to settle the conflict. And how he has outraged the protesters,
who initially demonstrated merely to preserve Gezi
Park on Taksim Square in Istanbul, through his implacability and the
brutality of his police force.
A word of
understanding or an appeasing gesture would likely have been enough to at least
soften the uprising. Instead, Erdogan flew to Africa
when the unrest began. Back in Turkey,
he called the demonstrators “looters” and “terrorists,” and he allowed the
police to deal with them harshly. Still, the protests did not end. On the
contrary, they expanded throughout the country. Only after almost two weeks of
rebellion did Erdogan meet in Ankara
with representatives of the protest movement. But even as he was promising
dialogue, he sent the police to go after the demonstrators once again.
An Iron Fist
Insiders say
that there have been discussions within the AKP over how to deal with the
protests. Representatives of the moderate wing, including Turkish President
Abdullah Gül, advised Erdogan to deescalate the conflict, they say. Moderates,
however, were apparently unable to prevail against government hardliners.
Erdogan is seeking to resolve the conflict in the same way he has resolved
disputes throughout his life: with an iron fist.
Erdogan grew up
in the rough Istanbul waterfront district of
Kasimpasa, as the son of a fisherman from Anatolia.
In the old Turkey,
men of his background could count themselves lucky to be shining shoes in front
of the Grand Hotel de Londres. But Erdogan was ambitious. He studied business
administration and became involved with the Islamist Refah Party of Necmettin
Erbakan. He acted as an agitator for the aging party leader, and he eventually
became mayor of Istanbul.
When Erbakan lost support within the party, Erdogan staged a coup against the
old man. Together with Abdullah Gül, he founded the AKP in 2001 and, a year
later, unexpectedly won the general election.
Erdogan is one
of the most fascinating politicians of his time. His rise to power is
stupendous, and so are at least some of his political successes. He has built Turkey, a
country of crises and coups, into a regional power. He has modernized the
economy and helped it achieve previously unheard of growth. And he is on the
verge of settling a conflict that has tormented Turkey for three decades: the
struggle with the Kurds in the country’s southeast, which has cost the lives of
tens of thousands. The leader of the Kurdish terrorist group PKK, Abdullah
Öcalan, recently called upon his fighters to lay down their arms.
Erdogan appeared
set to go down in history as the most successful Turkish prime minister since
the country’s founder, Atatürk. But now he is in the process of squandering the
successes of more than a decade in the space of just a few weeks.
‘Tremendous Damage’
There is even
growing discontent among Erdogan’s supporters. The pro-government newspaper
Zaman writes that Erdogan has done “tremendous damage” to the “national psyche.”
It now seems out of the question that, after 11 years as prime minister, he
will be able to have himself declared president next year as he had planned.
But Erdogan
himself doesn’t seem willing to recognize his mistakes. In many respects, he
has developed into precisely the type of autocratic ruler he had promised to
replace upon taking office. He wants to control everything and relentlessly
persecutes dissidents. Turkey
has more journalists in prison than any other country in the world.
Last Sunday,
Erdogan gathered hundreds of thousands of his supporters for a rally in Istanbul. His choice for
the site for the rally was not accidental. He gave his speech on a field on the
city’s outskirts where Mehmet the Conqueror launched his attack on Constantinople in the 15th century.
A Confused Despot
Erdogan called
upon his supporters to fight the “terrorists” demonstrating against his
government in Taksim Square.
In countries like the United
States, where political conflicts are also
sometimes waged with great intensity, new presidents insist, after each
election, that they represent “all Americans,” including those who did not vote
for them.
Erdogan
abandoned this notion long ago. Instead, he is rallying his supporters and
dividing the country. On Sunday night, Erdogan supporters marched through Istanbul, hunting down
regime critics.
It seems unclear
whether Erdogan is truly aware of what he is saying and doing. He denounces the
uprising against his government as a conspiracy by the foreign media and has
the police arrest doctors who treat injured protesters. At times, Erdogan seems
more like a confused despot than the democratically elected premier of one of
the world’s largest economies.
Translated from
the German by Christopher Sultan
