Thanks Yasemin for Turkish democracy

Submitted by Baran (Australia), Mar 8, 2010 at 16:41

Thank you Yasemin for your lengthy comment. I fully agree with you that darkness will never replace enlightenment -nor should it! It is just that I see democracy -the expressed will of the Turkish people- as enlightenment and Kemalist dogma which silences the voice of the Turkish people as darkness.

You have done an excellent job of memorizing Kemalist propaganda, but you need to do some critical analysis of this dogma. Remember the Turkish war hero Gen Kazim Karabekir said, "We won our independence, but lost our freedom through a single party regime." when Ataturk took over.

Your whole defense of Kemalism boils down to your belief that Turkish people were/are ignorant and cannot elect the "correct" people to represent them. I think you are wrong. Turkish people have elected the AKP to govern the country, not the generals. If AKP doesn't meet Turkish people's expectations, they will be kicked out in the next election and replaced by some other party -that's democracy and all Turks except hard-line Kemalists understand it very well. You should try to understand it, too.

You are saying, there were no empires when Ataturk took over. Well, there are still a lot of empires and kingdoms far more advanced than Republic of Turkey. It may surprise you to find out that England, Belgium, Sweden, Norway & Denmark are NOT republics but kingdoms, not despotic kingdoms, of course. People can get rid of the Kings & Queens through a peaceful referendum. On the other hand, Libya, Syria & Egypt are republics. Where would you rather live if you had a choice?

Ataturk changed the alphabet to cut off future generations of Turks from the 600-year heritage of the Ottoman empire and re-write history in line with his ego! You see you cannot read the massive Ottoman archives! There were other reasons, too.

Muslims are commanded to obey -not worship- legitimate authority in the interest of social order. In democracies, elected governments are legitimate authority, not generals armed to the teeth! You seem to think that the only choice in Turkey is Kemalism or Islamic teachings formed in the 6th century. That's not right. The real options are despotic Kemalist dogma enforced by guns or democracy which is the free expression of the will of the people. I prefer democracy.

Again, I thank you for your comment. With best wishes.....

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