Erdogan as TIME’s Person of the Year? The top 3 reasons why the answer is a resounding “no”
This week, TIME Magazine profiles Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan and has selected him to be one of thirty-four possible candidates for TIME’s 2011 Person of the Year. From TIME‘s profile:
Erdogan has greatly enhanced Turkey’s international reputation, has reined in its once omnipotent military, has pursued economic policies that have trebled per capita income and unleashed new entrepreneurship, and has for the most part maintained a pro-West stance.
He has, it is true, also displayed an occasional autocratic streak, running roughshod over political rivals, tossing enemies into jail and intimidating the media. Many political analysts, in Turkey and the West, suspect his desire to rewrite the constitution is designed to amass more executive power. But to his admirers, these failings pale against his successes. Democratic, economically ascendant and internationally admired: as political templates go, Turkey’s is pretty irresistible to people shaking off decades of authoritarian, impoverishing rule — and for Westerners worried about what those people might do next.
While it is true that Erodgan has sought the international limelight and has successfully established an international reputation, beyond the public relations initiative is a politician leading a country in a way that precludes any sort of praise or award, much less TIME’s Person of the Year. Here are just three of many reasons why you should cast a “NO” vote against Erdogan:
1. DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO
Despite proclaiming a “zero problems with neighbours” foreign policy, the Erdogan government has received warm neighborly relations to Iran, Hamas, and — until recently — Syria. When it comes to pro-Western, democratic neighbors, Turkey has made even formal allies wish they could move. Turkey continues to violate Greek airspace, and has an official policy of “casus belli” (justification for war) if Greece exercises its right under the International Law of the Sea. Turkey — once Israel’s staunchest ally in the region — has taken to supporting Hamas and played an integral role in the flotilla efforts against Israel. Finally, Turkey has threatened force to prevent Cyprus to prevent exploration of its own natural resources in its own territorial waters.
Steven Cook, Council on Foreign Relations: “The combination of deft public relations, the help of some parts of the national press all too willing to engage in national self-aggrandizement, and an emerging consensus among international foreign policy elites about the benefits of the “Turkish model,” has rescued the AKP’s foreign policy from the gap between Ankara’s principles and its actual conduct in the region.
Sinan Ulgen, Chairman of the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM): “A more vocal Turkish policy on issues related to fundamental freedoms and democratic reform in the region will necessarily alter Turkey’s relations with its less progressive neighbors. Indeed, if Turkey’s new agenda is to become credible, Erdoğan’s government cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the gross human-rights violations in neighboring Iran, where Erdoğan’s government was the first to congratulate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following Iran’s tainted elections in 2009. An equally important component of the new policy’s credibility will be Turkey’s ability to resolve its own democratic shortcomings, particularly with regard to freedom of expression, non-interference with the media, and minority rights.
2. A SHOCKING RECORD ON HUMAN RIGHTS
No other country jails more journalists than Turkey. Not even China. Turkey’s infamous Article 301 is a criminal statute used to prosecute journalists for “insulting Turkishness.” It’s not just journalists who feel the over-arching arm of Turkey’s laws. Other laws, like anti-terror laws, are interpreted so broadly as to catch even opposition activists in their net. Just this month, the Turkish government arrested twenty political activists, “including a prominent political science professor and a leading human rights activist.”
The Economist: “The West does not seem to notice the steady deterioration in human rights in Turkey, instead extolling it as a model for the Arab spring. “Europe is too mired in its own problems and America needs Turkey for regional security,” shrugs a European ambassador in Ankara. It will fall to Turks themselves to battle for their rights—so long as they can keep out of jail.”
TIME: “There are more than 1,000 cases before the European Court of Human Rights concerning the Turkish government’s alleged quashing of freedom of expression.”
As one Turkish journalist summarized it:
Any column you write may become a reason for you to be summoned to the office of the prosecutor. There are 40 articles in the criminal code that can restrict freedom of expression; you may step on one of these mines at any time.
[H]undreds of retired and active military officers, journalists and political dissidents have been gathering dust, many accused of conspiring against the government in alleged coup plots known as Ergenekon and Sledgehammer. “You have journalists labeled as terrorists because they dared criticize the AKP. And they’re talking about democracy? That’s been under siege here since 2003 (when Erdogan was first elected),” said Buket Sahin, an Istanbul-based writer/photographer and contributor to the country’s oldest daily, Cumhuriyet (Republic). “Now Ergodan speaks as if he owns the country, just like a neo-sultan. The ones who were not put in jail were effectively bought, including many of my friends, and the result is silence as Turkey slides toward Islam and away from the secular society.
Meanwhile, Erdogan has also continued to crack down on internet access. Some 8,000 websites are blocked by Erdogan’s government, with estimates as high as 20,000. Erdogan’s government famously blocked YouTube for two years because it allowed the hosting of videos critical of the country’s founder.
3. AN UNRELIABLE ALLY
While TIME claims that Erdogan “has for the most part maintained a pro-West stance,” there is little doubt that Erdogan’s actions have repeatedly gone against the interests of the United States and its allies. From Turkey’s 2010 vote against U.N. sanctions against Iran to its severing of diplomatic ties with Israel, Erdogan has proven time and time again that he is not immune to directly opposing U.S. interests. As The Los Angeles Times reports, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman “has been shocked to see Obama cajoling a nation that has been working against key U.S. diplomatic goals.”
Turkey’s rigid opposition to natural gas exploration off the coast of Cyprus also belies its unreliable alliance with U.S. interests. A Texas-based U.S. firm, Noble Energy, will be conducting the drilling. Administration officials “have told the Turks that they view the Turkish move as a threat to American business interests.”
These three reasons alone are enough to disqualify Erdogan from being TIME’s Person of the Year. Click here to head on over to TIME’s website and make sure to cast your vote and make your voice heard.
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