Republicanism Compared: Turkey and the US

By Stephan Richter

Why is standing up to one-man rule and presidential family nepotism actively pursued among AK Party grandees in Turkey, but not by Republicans in the U.S.?

The stirrings of Republicanism in Turkey are still feeble. But they are noteworthy for two reasons. First, as witnessed by the “Istanbul coalition,” there is an impressive and unexpected sense of unity among the parties standing in the municipal elections in the country’s top metropolis in opposition to President Erdogan.

Second, those stirrings are coming to the forefront within the ruling AK Party itself. They are led by some of its grandees and long-time stalwarts, including a former President, Prime Minister and the economic reform team.

Rise of political courage in Turkish politics, but not U.S.

That speaks to the rise of political courage and a strong sense of ethics in Turkish politics. These stirrings are all the more impressive when compared to the situation in the United States.

There, especially in the U.S. Senate, which advertises itself as “the world’s most deliberative (legislative) body,” the majority party Republicans excel only in one way – their shameless submission to the strong man rule of Donald Trump.

More significantly, the lack of any sense of principle and self-respect among the Republicans makes a global mockery of often-heard references to the greatness of U.S. democracy.

Long list of charges against the President

After all, which Republican Party grandee in the United States

• warns against the country being “sacrificed to cronyism, increasingly swollen egos and fruitless strife” and suffering from the lack of “any sense of humility”?

• argues that politics in the country at present is dominated by a relentless effort to “consolidate the influence of an entire family and circle by forgetting the fact that assumed duties are exclusive to an individual”?

• warns against “the proliferation of all kinds of slander, including social media operations, in order to destroy people seen as political rivals”?

• charges that the ruling party does not stand up against “severe contraction in the social inclusivity” and sees it as “detached from the coastal regions” (which also happen to produce most of the country’s GDP)?

• asserts that “our country, founded on the nation’s tears, labor, hearts and minds, cannot be abandoned to the status-seeking concerns of a narrow, self-serving circle that is a slave to its own ambitions”?

• acknowledges that “election competitors are not enemies, they are political rivals.” And adds that “whoever emerges from the ballot, the winner is our nation and democracy. Respecting the result is the duty of politicians before anyone else”?

• finds that “attempts to take control of the judiciary should be seen as the greatest crime,” regardless of “whoever does it and under whatever justification”?

• reminds everyone that a President has to “function as representative of the whole of society, embracing all its sections”?

• lays out in no uncertain terms that “journalists, politicians or anyone who expresses their ideas should never have to face stigma, social media lynching or abusive threats”?

• says that “the freedom to criticize and to express one’s ideas must be protected to the end?”

• explains that the precondition for “the effective governance of a state is that its politics and public administration are based on competence and merit”?

• asserts that “self-confidence that is not backed up by knowledge and experience and propped up by personal close relations only gives the impression of an exaggerated show that appears to lack seriousness”?

It is tempting to think that this long and on-point list of charges is directed against Donald J. Trump and was expressed by a leading Republican in the United States.

Hollow assertions of American political courage

Actually, it shouldn’t be tempting to think that. It should be a self-evident conclusion, given all the wrecking ball maneuvers Donald Trump hurls daily at the fabric of American democracy and the constant, but ever more hollow assertions of American political courage.

But you would be wrong. All the statements above are drawn from a “Manifesto” that Ahmed Davutoglu, Turkey’s former Prime Minister, published on April 29, 2019.

Turkish courage on display

Now, a manifesto does not make a political turnaround. And there have long been concerns that Mr. Davutoglu is mostly a former academic and no power-hungry man able to stand up to Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The same may be said of former President Abdullah Gül and Ali Babacan and Mehmet Simsek, the pair of economic reformers who laid the cornerstone for Mr. Erdogan’s political success (which is very much rooted in the – now past – rise of Turkey’s economy).

Wish U.S. Republicans were similarly clairvoyant

And yet, the stirrings inside the AK Party are undeniable. At a minimum, many in the conservative party are worried about three self-destructive factors being in play:

1. First, that they are sacrificing their entire party to Mr. Erdogan’s insatiable appetite for power.

2. Second, that they are hostage to his uncontrolled lust for the self-enrichment of his clan.

3. And third, that they are but pawns in his blind devotion to cronyism that hollows out their country’s standing in the world and the health of its national economy.

One could only wish that similarly full-throated and courageous displays of a strong sense of political ethics as Mr. Davutoglu has now expressed were on display among the U.S. Republicans, that country’s majority party.

Shamefully, and in blatant contrast to the constant flow of self-aggrandizing statements about the uniqueness of the United States and the superiority of its democracy, none can be found.

At least not in anywhere near the same, consolidated fashion in which they are now coming to the fore in Turkey. The people who built the AK Party alongside Mr. Erdogan understand full well that not only their party’s future hangs in the balance, but that the entire country is on the wrong path, owing to the dominance of one-man rule.

Conclusion

It says quite something about the state of world affairs today that standing up to these twin threats is something that is now strongly pursued among AK Party grandees in Turkey, while there is still deafening silence among the Republicans in the United States.

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