AKP Principal Strengths and Weaknesses in the Office - Report Example

Introduction The Justice and Freedom Party (AKP) is widely credited for profoundly influencing the transition of Turkey from a religious and militant state to its current secular and democratic condition. This was a considerable feat taking to account the country’s history and geopolitical structure. Over the years, the party has embodied a number of strengths that have enabled it to midwife the gradual birth of a more democratic, peaceful and relatively economically stable Turkey. This was and remains an ambitious and complex goal but one which the party appears to be slowly achieving. The major strengths of the party include the fact that it enjoys seemingly unambiguous backing by the majority as well as the capacity to bring about positive economic growth. In addition, it has been vigorously involved in efforts to have Turkey admitted into the EU, a move likely to significantly improve the social, economic standing on the nation. Kramer (2005 p.25) argues that while the EU countries have for several years been divided on whether Turkey is a worthy candidate for the union, there has been a consensus that a more economically and politically stable turkey with an embedded democracy would be a highly desirable state of affairs. Following the 2011 election result, it is clear that the people of Turkey still invest significant trust in the Justice and Development party (Bozkurt 2002, p.72). The party won the election with a majority of nearly 50% although it did not attain the 330 parliamentary seats required for a constitutional change which has been one of its goals. The victory is important for the party because in addition to serving as a vote of confidence from the people, it has quelled growing concern over the purported autocratic tendencies of the party. From the result, it apparent that the citizens of Turkey are rewarding their government for the significant steps it has made in social, economic and infrastructural growth (Criss 2010, p.60). AKP thus continues to demonstrate that even with few resources, it can achieve a great deal which gives the citizens immense confidence and faith in the leadership. The Justice and Development Party is referred to as the AKP party; the names translated from Turkish are written (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi), which is abbreviated as AKP or JDP in Turkish and English respectively. It is the centre-right and social conservative party which was initially founded on the Islamic traditions, but later shifted to conservative democracy (Burhanettin 2008, p.80). It is currently the biggest party in Turkey with a membership of 327 in parliament under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Prime Minister and Abdullah Guh, the former prime minister and incumbent president. The party was founded in 2001 by coalition the members of several conservative parties and it won a historical landslide victory in 2002 taking over one third of the parliamentary seats, Abdullah Guh was the premier but after a constitutional amendment on 2003 (Casier 2008, p.170). Erdogan assumed the post. In 2007, AKP increased its share of votes to 47% though the parliamentary majority dropped to 341 seats. Erdogan was re-elected as premier and his predecessor was made the president. In the most recent elections, the party garnered 49.95% of the vote although they lost the parliamentary numbers of change the constitutions as they have only 327 seats while they would need 330 to amend the law (Fabbe 2011, p.657). Over the years, AKP has established itself as a pro-western and American party advocating for a liberal market economy that includes the entry of Turkey in the European Union (Cook 2012, p.52). The progress made in this endeavour is evident in the fact that it was granted observer membership in 2005, in the European People’s Party. The party’s ideology is described by some media sources as an Islamic and the country is labelled and Islamic democracy, with other tags such as; mildly Islamic, Islam based or with an Islamic agenda among others. Erdogan and his party have vehemently decried these tags, which they dismiss as misleading and insist that the partys government is a conservative democratic one. Another poplar media tag that the premier has been quick to denounce is the Neo-Ottomanism. The implied ideology promotes the renewing of the retrospective Ottoman state with efforts to renew its engagement in the former territories of its predecessor. AKP has so far been able to consolidate its image as a reformist party, this has been a very strategic strength given that very few of its opponents are willing to attempt radical change in matters such as the constitutions. Case to point; one of the pledges of the APK in the 2007 elections was constitutional reform, and this put them at an advantage because the main opposition party was not particularly interested in reforming the constitution (Cengiz and Hoffmann 2013, p.206). However, it was impossible for the ruling party to get the two thirds majority required for it to instantly pass bills into law; it however managed to garner 326 parliamentary seats which were enough to necessitate a referendum. The people supported APK in the referendum with a 58% majority and the changes went through in September 2012, the conservative oriented people’s voice party that was only two years old was dissolved and it merged with the AKP. The merger has been instrumental in strengthening the party and, in fact, it is speculated that the former head of the new party may be the person Erdogan plans to make his successor. Such open minded and all inclusive political maneuverer have played a huge part in endearing Erdogan to the people which can explain why the number of votes for his party, and by extension his leadership keep increasing even as parliamentary seats drop. Democracy is one of the greatest achievements by the AKP in Turkey so far, while several of the countries in the Arabic peninsula have been engaged in violent protests and such was witnessed in the Arab spring in attempts to become democratic, Turkey has been by large personified the concept. Today, the AKP is in power not through military might or religious right but through an open and fair democratic process. Given the background of Turkey in respect to military leadership, it is easy to appreciate the efforts at democratization. In a recent court case, the former chief of staff Hilmi Oztok claimed that, in 2003-2004, there were plans supported by many highly ranked military leaders to overrule the popular will and wrest power from the AKP and by such impose martial law. Considering the ex post factors the Turkish political landscape, this would hardly have been surprising. For the duration of its republican life starting since 1923, Turkey has experienced a series of coups with the most recent case of military interference being the departure from office of Necmettin Erbakan. He was given an ultimatum by the military that required he quit his political career for the next five years; this was tantamount to a bloodless coup which was motivated by his Islamic agenda. There have been other coups in 1960, 1971 and 1980 in which the Military seized power for a period and given the history of the country (Sakallioğlu 1998, p.152), that a coup did not take place after the 2002 elections was a surprise. Although most of Turkey lies in Asia, far western Turkey is in Europe and Istanbul, which was retrospectively known as Constantinople before 1930 is in Europe with a population of over 9 million. Geographically speaking, Turkey can be said to straddle both Asia and Europe and this makes it at least in that sense eligible for membership of the EU. Although it first applied for membership before the AKP’s tenure, in 1987 (Morelli 2011, p.2) the party’s tenure in power has seen to the most progress in the country’s projected accession in to the EU (Fittipaldi 2004, p.44). First, Turkey is still considered by many, more so in the EU to be an Islamic or Islam related state, the prime minister has been unequivocal in his opposition of these associations has severally insisted that Turkey is a secular nation (Yeşilada, and Noordijk 2010, p.10). In numerous many ways, the party has managed to improve on the secularism and this is especially evinced in the 2010 constitutional amendments. They include among other issues the right of individuals to appeal to the highest court in the land, the possibilities of national labour contracts, affirmative action to combat the gender based discrimination as well as the rights of civil servants to go on strike, privacy and other progressive changes. The liberalization of Turkish social, political space has been a key strength for the ruling party as it contributed a great deal to the projected acceptance in the EU. One of the challenges that have been put forward in regard to Turkey’s entry into the EU is that the EU nations and Turkey hold radically divergent social and religious traditions. It has been argued that Turkey cannot possibly hope to achieve a reasonable level of secularism or democracy in Europe (Kramer 2005, p.29; Yıldırım et al., 2007, p.7). Nevertheless, the EU has been on record saying that while they value common social, political ideology, the Union is not a religious one and cannot discriminate possible member states for religious reasons as freedom of worship does not preclude any particular religion. However, the EU has taken issue with AKP’s policies that allow for the discrimination of non-Muslims. It has made it clear that Turkey will have to change policies that cause non-Muslim individuals and societies to be treated with less consideration than Muslim ones before they can be admitted into the EU. AKP’s pro-western and American ideological stands are responsible for the progressive changes that have seen the country stand out among its contemporaries in the Arab world. Its secular ideology sharply contrasts with the strict religious dictates that govern the citizens of Islam dominated nations such as Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan among others. Women in turkey for instance have significantly more freedom with issues such as compulsory head scarves for them being popularly opposed for engendering non secular attributes. AKP will in posterity be remembered for the steps it took to bring about not only democratization but also, the secularization of what used to be a Muslim state. This flexibility is without doubt one of its main strengths and an invaluable contributing factor the possibility of Turkey becoming the first predominantly Muslim nation to join the EU. Although Turkey is currently undergoing economic hardship, it would be unfair not to take cognisance recognize the fact that, in the recent past, its ability to spur and maintain economic growth has been one of its major strengths. This is embodied in its key objectives on the same; for one, the party seeks to achieve economy and scientific development to such an extent that it can emerge as one of the Asian economic tigers such as Singapore in the competitive global economy. Naturally, these objectives cannot be achieved unless the party embraces the capitalist paradigm which is among the components on the globalization framework. AKP has recognized this and it is working with regional and international powers to facilitate economic growth primarily so as to improve the lifestyle of its people and also help it qualify for membership in the EU. After a steep recovery from the global financial crisis in 2008, the Turkish economy has grown by over 9% annually; this accompanied a 10.2% GPD growth in the first half of the 2011 fiscal year (European Commission 2011, p.45). The party has gradually steered the economic progress of the nation such that it has grown exponentially with strong capital inflows as well as rapid growth in bank credit. In a trend typical to capitalist economies, the main driver for growth has been the private sector which was instrumental in bringing about the post crisis recovery. Domestic demand and the deterioration of trade and current account balances, as well as the increase in exports by 4.2%, while imports of goods and services by 23% were among the major contributions to growth in the 2010/2011 economy. This growth is confirmation of the party’s ability to create wealth for its people through liberal trade policies. The rapid economic progress was referred to by the UK Telegraph as Erdogad’s “economic miracle” (Goldman 2012, p.26), however, this has proven hard to maintain and as shall be discussed presently. The economy straddles both the strengths and weakness of the party as it is currently threatening to discredit the party despite the accolades it earned it a few years ago. The party has been criticised on the basis that it is characterised with numerous weaknesses; among these are the tendencies to apply autocratic tendencies that have no place in the current political dispensation (Çarkoğlu 2009, p.13). Furthermore, there is widespread discrimination based on tribal and religious affiliations, Arikan (2004 p.19), offers that this is one the major reasons the EU has yet to admit Turkey especially the poor human rights record. The nature of leadership despite the tag democracy has proven to be a major weak point for the Turkish ruling party as it has been accused by its critics of trying to impose dictatorial rule as well as being and illegitimate democracy. While conceding that AKP has done a great deal to bring about democracy and eliminate military regime rule in Turkey, the party is being accused of using the democratically bestowed mandate to create a civilian autocracy. Ergo, the party’s image of championing democracy is being weakened and not without reason. Critics have claimed that the premier is attempting to shift the parliamentary system into a presidential one with interest in the position. The prime minister, according to critics is inconsistent and it difficult to tell exactly where he stands or how he defines democracy. For instance, when he ascended to power he broadened the political rights and foreign policies to effectively bring about the rise of Turkey into a soft power and middle income society. However, after he was once again elected by a huge margin, in 2011, he assumed that endorsement in the election was carte blanche for him to fulfil his long term objectives irrespective of what the public felt about it. In fact, post 2011 criticism of the premier has been based on accusations that he is governing in an authoritarian manner and appears to want to drag the nation back into the dark days of dictatorship. This negative perception is slowly turning out to be a major stumbling block and weakness for the party. Erdogan was recently forced to address it by assuming a very defensive position in an attempt to save face. In an address to his provincial leaders reported by the Turkey Daily New, he said that those accusing him of being a dictator should wait until the next general election and oust the so-called tyrant through the ballot box (Yetkin, 2014). Despite the win in the ballot, AKP has been accused of not being a genuinely democratically elected party; this is because the principle of democracy is based on the rule of the majority and in the 2011 poll, the party won by 45% while the other two split the 55%. This has been used to critic the legitimacy of AKPs democracy on the basis that 55% of the citizens they govern did not vote for the party. As aforementioned, despite the “economic miracle” Turkey is currently undergoing considerable economic hardships and the economy that was at one point it major strength is gradually turning into a weakness. In the last few years, the Turkish Lira has fallen by 25% and it has become one of the fastest falling currencies in the world (Parkinston, and Blackstone, 2014). In addition the stock market fell by 40% in dollar term and after Egypt, it was the worst performer in the MSCI Tradable share index. Some of the country’s most critical markets are in a sharp decline and this is likely to make matters for the country worse (Parkinston, and Blackstone, 2014). Africa and the Middle East which buy the bulk of Turkey’s exports are undergoing economic decline and this will constrict the exports. In addition, although Turkey has managed to reduce its trade dependence from by 10% between the years 2005 to 2010, the economic problems in Europe still weigh heavily upon its recovery. The sudden economic setback which came just after AKP’s re-election was instrumental in weakening its capacity to govern on the strength of pragmatic capitalism, as opposed to Islamic ideologies. Furthermore, it greatly undercut the effectiveness of economic incentives to defuse the Kurdish separatist movement; it also weekend the claim of Ankara to being a leading regional entity. Consequently, AKP is under pressure to address a reversal of economic fortunes both in the short and medium term. Unlike nations like Brazil or Russia, Turkey has no natural resources and also lacks the human capital to compete with emerging Asian powers; this is because despite the fact that Turkish universities produce a crop of highly qualified engineers and other professionals. The education level in the country is poor compared to most of its contemporaries, only 26% of Turkish children graduate from high school; this is relatively low compared to Mexico at 44%, Portugal 64 % or Poland at 83%. The human capital issue presents a serious challenge for the party since it portends a high and likely unsustainable wage bill as the country will be forced to import labour from abroad. Another of the weakness of the AKP government and one of the reasons it has yet to gain admittance into the EU is the human rights record; this is exemplified by recent treatment of protesters at the Taksim protests by the government. Police responded in a brutal and unequivocal way with excessive force; they used water cannons laced with chemical irritants as well as live ammunitions; injuring over 15 and killing 5 Protesters. These protests were sparked off by the government’s intention to develop Gedi Park which is deemed to be a major cultural and environmental landmark (Alexander, 2013). The fact that the state is engaged in violent and fatal exchanges with its citizens because of the issue of environmental conservation and freedom of expression is evidence of a nation that has not yet matured both in the democratic and liberal sense. So much so that the British government which provides riot control equipment is considering halting the sale of further weapons to the Turkish authorities; amnesty international is also calling upon the western governments that supply similar equipment to halt the sales to Turkish law enforcement agencies. Escalating matters further, the Turkish authorities have expressed their intention to suppress the riots and such future occurrences by any means necessary even if it involves deploying gendarmes and the armed forces. As a result, there has been much criticism by Turkish citizens and civil right activist who are accusing the state of being hypocritical and trying to bring back the old military governance. The Kurd issue is also projected as a major point of weakness for the AKP government since one of its re-election promises was to resolve this and other underlying historical injustice once and for all. However, despite the promise, there have been eruptions of violence and it is evident that the AKP government has failed to live up to its pledge to fix the problems (Fabbe 2011, p.664). The manner in which the government has responded to the Kurd uprising has been questioned by both local and international bodies as in several occasions there have been gross human rights violations. It has been accused of among other things, genocide and a degree of tolerance for discriminative practices and this are some of the issue it has to clear up before it can be accepted by the EU. There is no doubt that Turkey has come very far in terms of social, political and economic progress and today, it is significantly more liberalized than most of its contemporaries in the Muslim world. The fact that it is in the process of being assessed for admittance in the EU bespeaks of decades of progress and improvement. Although this paper is by no means exhaustive or conclusive, there can be no doubt that the strengths of the party that has contributed to the rapid development significantly outweighs the weakness otherwise, Turkey would be worse off than it was when they took over power in 2002. However, it is worth noting that many of this challenges and weaknesses do not explicitly emanate from the party or its structure. To a large extent, the party is weakened by the environment in which it is trying to achieve its goals, the issue of secularization which has proved a challenge for several decades embodies this separation of the party from the weakness it suffers. Irrespective of how secular Turkey were to become, many of the western powers will still find it difficult to separate the Islamic religion to the ruling party based on the historical understating of predominantly Muslim countries. Nevertheless, the AKP has achieved significant success in the process of democratization, economic growth (despite challenges) and liberalization of trade. The party’s attempt to enjoin Turkey with the EU have served a crucial role in promoting the economy, values of equality and fighting discrimination since Turkey is forced to adjust to a higher social, political and economic standards not unlike a company that is expecting to be audited by ISO1000 in consideration for accreditation. It has made it easy for the country be kept under constant surveillance and in as much as there are challenges the exposure to the west has made the party sensitive to their actions and their implications as it is trying to live up to their standards. For example, after the brutal handling of the protesters, the UK and other EU nations expressed disaffection and since the AKP is trying to be accepted by them it had to respect the criticism and try to solve its human rights issues. Conclusion At the end of the day, if the outcomes of last four elections are anything to go by, the people of Turkey are mostly happy with their government and the direction in which the AKP is leading them. Irrespective of the many weakness and challenges the party has undergone, it is apparent that the current state of the nation is by far the best in many years. The citizens are the most affluent in the country’s history and the levels of freedom are not only remarkable but would have been inconceivable in the 90s. 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