Claire Berlinski's colorful dispatch from September 2010 hits all the important points about Turkey’s worrying political trends, and why the AKP is not quite the “model” that many in the West want it to be:
Turkey's Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish initials as the AKP, came to power in 2002. Journalists struggle to find the right catchphrase to describe the nature of this party, usually settling on something like "mildly Islamist" — to which the party's critics reply that this is like being mildly pregnant. The ensuing theological debate quickly crowds out what is perhaps the more important observation: whether this party is mildly Islamist or gravid with a mullahcracy, it is in its instincts, and in keeping with Turkish tradition, profoundly authoritarian. It is no different from other Turkish political parties this way.
The difference, Berlinski goes on to explain, is that Erdogan, by pushing the military out of politics, has convinced the Western media that the AKP is ushering in a new era of democratic politics in Turkey. However, replacing military rule with demagoguery is not democratization. I highly recommend you read the whole thing.
H/t to Cagdas
Turkey's Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish initials as the AKP, came to power in 2002. Journalists struggle to find the right catchphrase to describe the nature of this party, usually settling on something like "mildly Islamist" — to which the party's critics reply that this is like being mildly pregnant. The ensuing theological debate quickly crowds out what is perhaps the more important observation: whether this party is mildly Islamist or gravid with a mullahcracy, it is in its instincts, and in keeping with Turkish tradition, profoundly authoritarian. It is no different from other Turkish political parties this way.
The difference, Berlinski goes on to explain, is that Erdogan, by pushing the military out of politics, has convinced the Western media that the AKP is ushering in a new era of democratic politics in Turkey. However, replacing military rule with demagoguery is not democratization. I highly recommend you read the whole thing.
H/t to Cagdas
