Here in the rich, modern western world, we tend to forget our history pretty quickly. With the exception of Churchill our collective political memory scarcely stretches as far back as Heath, much less Atlee or Balfour. In Turkey, however, the ghost of one of the early 20th century’s truly great figures still walks the corridors of power and informs the actions of the rulers. Every office, not just the Government ones, contains a picture of him; no criticism is heard of him, and indeed it is doubtful if anything untoward is known about him. It is as if a god had walked the earth.
In the early years of the 20th century the Ottoman Empire was imploding under its social contradictions and its casual, caste-entitlement philosophy. In the First World War, adhering to a treaty to fight with Germany, it performed weakly: its outdated military, both in terms of equipment and lack of esprit de corps, crumbled in front of the modern Western armies.
Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk, had graduated from the military academy in 1905 and became the Ottoman Army’s most successful general, the only one undefeated in the First World War. He commanded at Gallipoli, defeating the Allied troops. He became the first leader of the Turkish Republican Party and it is not too much to say that he founded Turkey, which was the rump of the Ottoman Empire after everyone had chipped off a bit.
Ataturk’s primary consideration, having seen the outdatedness of the forces and indeed the whole Ottoman civilisation, was to modernise. His vision for Turkey was as a modern, educated, secular state, and that effectively became Turkey’s constitution. The army, which worshipped Ataturk, was sworn to uphold it and this went well (the pace of modernisation was slower than Ataturk might have wished, but the direction was the same) until the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which has Muslim leanings.
And that is what this whole crisis in Turkey is about. It is not an attempted coup for profit, it is not for democracy (Erdogan was properly elected) it is about defending the legacy of Ataturk. It is, unfortunately, not going to help Turkey’s application to join the European Union. Countries such as France, who fear Turkish access to their markets because of the low wage rates and high quality agriculture, now have an excuse: the ructions of the last week have highlighted the Islamist leanings of the government and the strength of the army.
My own view of Turkey and Europe is the opposite: that the Turks would be mad to join the EU, but Europe should be trying desperately to get them in. It would be Europe’s own little piece of Islam, which would be politically valuable, the well trained Turkish military would bolster the WEA (the proposal for a European Army) and Turkey would be our own China, making cheap goods for European markets.
I wonder now whether it will ever happen.
In the early years of the 20th century the Ottoman Empire was imploding under its social contradictions and its casual, caste-entitlement philosophy. In the First World War, adhering to a treaty to fight with Germany, it performed weakly: its outdated military, both in terms of equipment and lack of esprit de corps, crumbled in front of the modern Western armies.
Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk, had graduated from the military academy in 1905 and became the Ottoman Army’s most successful general, the only one undefeated in the First World War. He commanded at Gallipoli, defeating the Allied troops. He became the first leader of the Turkish Republican Party and it is not too much to say that he founded Turkey, which was the rump of the Ottoman Empire after everyone had chipped off a bit.
Ataturk’s primary consideration, having seen the outdatedness of the forces and indeed the whole Ottoman civilisation, was to modernise. His vision for Turkey was as a modern, educated, secular state, and that effectively became Turkey’s constitution. The army, which worshipped Ataturk, was sworn to uphold it and this went well (the pace of modernisation was slower than Ataturk might have wished, but the direction was the same) until the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which has Muslim leanings.
And that is what this whole crisis in Turkey is about. It is not an attempted coup for profit, it is not for democracy (Erdogan was properly elected) it is about defending the legacy of Ataturk. It is, unfortunately, not going to help Turkey’s application to join the European Union. Countries such as France, who fear Turkish access to their markets because of the low wage rates and high quality agriculture, now have an excuse: the ructions of the last week have highlighted the Islamist leanings of the government and the strength of the army.
My own view of Turkey and Europe is the opposite: that the Turks would be mad to join the EU, but Europe should be trying desperately to get them in. It would be Europe’s own little piece of Islam, which would be politically valuable, the well trained Turkish military would bolster the WEA (the proposal for a European Army) and Turkey would be our own China, making cheap goods for European markets.
I wonder now whether it will ever happen.
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