Sassounian: Who Is Responsible for Turning Erdogan into a Fanatical Tyrant?

“Was he a wolf in sheep’s clothing to start with, or was he spoiled by the international community’s blind support and lavish praise? ”

I think it’s easy to point the finger at Erdogan and claim he was always a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s also easy to blame the international community for their undying praise of a “moderate Islamist government.” The only people to take the blame is ourselves (Turks). We put him in power, we re-elect him, we reward his corruption and neo-Ottoman fantasies with votes.

We have no concept of democracy. Even during the secular past, we always dealt with left/right conflict with coups and military control rather than try and solve them through the democratic processes that existed. We don’t value democracy, we value power. We (“we” being the majority, not a blanket statement on Turks) don’t value LIBERAL democracy; we content ourselves with majoritarianism. No minority rights, no real religious freedom, no real freedom of expression attest to this. For a long time the majority, though fairly religious, bought into Kemalism through institutionalized validation of what Ataturk stood for. Now things have changed; now the majority support what Erdogan and AKP stand for in principle. Now the secular Kemalists are crying out, now they criticize the government and the issues of freedom that exist. I have zero sympathy for these so-called “progressives of Turkey.” The secular regimes were the ones that ruthlessly persecuted Kurds (“mountain Turks”), Alevis, Armenians, Greeks (1955 pogrom), Jews (Varlik Vergisi), and the more religious parts of our society (including the childish headscarf ban that lasted until 2010). Where was their concern for minority rights, religious rights, and freedom of expression then? Doesn’t matter when YOU aren’t the one being persecuted does it? Just look at Today’s Zaman. When Erdogan was buddies with Fetullah you couldn’t find an article that criticized AKP. Now that things have changed, the editor of TZ has the audacity to complain about freedom of speech when the newspaper magically seemed to go silent whenever a journalist would get imprisoned or threatened by AKP before the rift.

So to answer the question “who is responsible for turning Erdogan into a fanatical tyrant?”

80 years of alternating periods of sham and failed democracy. No respect for minority rights on either side of the political spectrum. The concept of a real democracy never taking hold in people’s minds. The never ending creation of in-groups and out-groups, where those with differing opinions (like me right now) are traitors to the state. We’re all to blame. Yes, Erdogan is a fanatical tyrant. But do we deserve any better? That should be the questions we ask ourselves.