The turmoil in Turkey

Turkey remains in the news for the wrong reason till today as President Recep Erdogan continues his sweeping coup against the democratic institution in that country. This has sadly been his response to an earlier attempt by some soldiers to disrupt the political process in a bloody but failed coup d’état against his government. Democracy is now a casualty and the Turkish people are the greatest losers.

Precisely on July 14, the world was shocked by the news of a military uprising in Turkey involving men and officers from the Turkish Air Force, Armoured Corps and the Military Police against the government of Erdogan while the president was on holiday. The putschists announced that they seized power because “Erdogan is clearly a threat to Turkish democracy and secularism… He’s cracked down on Turkey’s freedom of the press and pushed constitutional changes that would consolidate dangerous amounts of power in the president’s hands.”

In a twist of irony, President Erdogan was, however, able to rally the people and urged them “to convene at public squares and airports,” while affirming the political sovereignty of the people as supreme and the repository of political power. People responded and took over the Taksim Square in Istanbul, Ankara and Gaziantep, thereby helping to quell the coup attempt.

As feared, Erdogan, whose increasingly authoritarian streak had been the subject of worldwide worry, is currently using the failed coup to purge Turkey’s institutions of all his perceived opponents. In doing this, he has been very ruthless.

Against the original putsch, the United States had expressed absolute support for Turkey’s democratically-elected, civilian government and democratic institutions. Similarly the General Secretary of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg called for deference for Turkey’s democratic institutions. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights praised the resilience of the Turkish people and urged the government of Turkey to uphold the rule of law, by strengthening or protecting human rights and by reinforcing democratic institutions.

Nigeria’s president also lent its voice to the global call to respect democratic institutions. Nigeria’s President Buhari also said that the change of government by force was no longer acceptable and could only complicate matters and retard the progress of society. Erdogan has proceeded to arrest an unprecedented number of people, including teachers, civil servants, army officers and judges in a self-serving comprehensive move to purge all state institutions of elements perceived as opponents of his government. It’s intriguing that one of Erdogan’s declared enemies is his former ally Fethullah Gulen.

Erdogan and Gulen had been allies and worked together in the past to purge the military of opponents and to strengthen Erdogan’s hold on power. The alliance crumbled especially over Erdogan’s ambition to transform himself into an executive president, even after he himself had been prime minister before. Since their disagreement, Erdogan has hounded anyone in any institution perceived to be a supporter of Gulen. The attempted coup has given Erdogan more ammunition to continue along this line.

Now, there is profound division in Turkey and many are edgy about the ruling party’s Islamist inclination as well as the truncation of the democratic process. No doubt, the Syrian civil war has led to an upsurge in terrorist attacks on Turkish soil. Importantly, a resurgence of military engagement with Kurdish PKK and above all, political Islamism which repudiates the modern Turkish national creed of secularity have played a part in the political instability that has plagued Turkey.

A number of lessons can be glimpsed from the Turkish experience. One is that any conflict in a society, if not well handled, could lead to violence. The incumbent government in 2013 suppressed civil society’s rising against his government and it took the courage of the citizens to save democracy in Turkey. This underscores the need for government to respect the democratic freedoms of its people and entrench good governance. There is no alternative to good governance in a political community if the goal of development and wellbeing of the people is to be realised.

It should be remarked that Nigerians should learn from the ongoing crisis in Turkey, that their leaders should work to create a national creed that should be the locus of politics and development endeavours. They should not provoke the kind of contradictions that have engendered the Turkish putsch. When there is anger and disillusionment in the land, government should address these, because, above all, power belongs to the people.

President Erdogan is in a position of advantage today, having put out the coup attempt but he should be reminded that the Turkish people who saved his regime came in defence of democracy and not just his government. Unless his government addresses the contradictions in Turkey, respects democracy and eschews official high-handedness such as is on display in the massive purge of the Turkish society in the aftermath of the coup, the world may not have seen the last of instability in that country.