Turkey’s Syria policy prompts anxiety: Barcin Yinanc

Question: Let’s start off with, basically I guess, the beginning. Why did the government respond so harshly to what many say could have been just a minor protest?
 
Yinanc: Well unfortunately there are of course many answers that could be given to that. The Turkish prime minister has been elected for the third time and with an overwhelming majority of 50 percent. So, I believe he has gained a certain type of self-confidence that has sort of led him to become a very authoritarian and to sort of shut his ears to what’s being said outside.
 
Therefore, I think this is one of the reasons the one-man-rule, that he now likes so much, has been very effective in the government response against demonstrators.
 
Q: Well let’s talk about the very authoritarian tendencies that you just talked about. We know that [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan in general likes to portray himself as a supporter of democracy, but speaking of those authoritarian tendencies, he has been making lots, basically dictating, lots of rules lately, one such as demanding that everyone has to have three children and of course many other rules. Why is he doing this in your perspective?
 
Yinanc: Well it’s not a secret that the prime minister is a conservative person. He is a pious Muslim and I think in his mentality he has some kind of a standard definition of how Turkey should be, how the citizens should behave.
 
So, more and more he is trying to impose his vision of how people should behave, how Turkey should be upon the people.
 
Q: But, is that a democracy as you used the word correctly, imposing his will regardless of what his personal beliefs may or may not be. In a democracy, should it not be decided by the people themselves?
 
So, as you had said that he is going more and more in this authoritarian direction. Do you think that we are going to continue seeing protests like we have already witnessed. Or, do you think that it will put enough pressure on the prime minister that we will see him backing down from some of these decisions that he has made?
 
Yinanc: Well it is very hard to say. What I can say is that this is huge. It has been a long time since we have seen anything like that. There is this huge civil disobedience movement going on in Turkey.
 
Let me add that although the Turkish prime minister has implied that these are marginal groups, throughout the day, I have been in the streets, and really there is nothing marginal about these groups. They don’t carry anything. They have no violent intentions. They are just coming to protest at what they see as interference to their lifestyle.
 
At the end of the day, this comes as an ideological problem, because more and more people feel that the government has been too much interfering with their lifestyle and over the years this was coming step-by-step, but there was not this kind of organized reaction. So this is really a first and there is no one group dominating these demonstrators. Really everybody that has an iPhone or an internet have heard it and have come out.
 
So it is not representing any particular political party, but it is of course hard to say whether this will continue because - as I said - it is not oriented or organized by certain groups. It is really a lot of people coming there by their own. So it is hard to guess whether this will continue like that or not.
 
Q: Well Ms. Yinanc what is the difference this time around? Of course there have always been various demonstrations or rallies that didn’t last very long, but this time we have seen the numbers grow exponentially and so fast. What is the difference this time around?
 
Yinanc: Well the difference is that it comes as an accumulation because the government has sort of stepped up several of its steps, which are perceived to be as authoritarian rule.
 
    The prime minister comes out and makes a statement saying we are going to do this, we are going to do that, without feeling any necessity for any kind of participation from civil society movements.
 
 
So first of all it comes as an accumulation. Second the difference is that the people I saw in the street today - actually most of them - they have never been to the streets. They don’t have the culture of going to the streets to demonstrate. So most of the people that I have seen were maybe in the first time in their life going out to the streets and demonstrating for their rights. So I think that could be what differs these specific demonstrations from the rest.
 
Q: Recently a new bridge in Turkey has been named by the government after Yavuz Sultan Selim, the notorious Ottoman Sultan, known as Selim the Grim. Now, Selim also conquered Syria during this time (1516 to 1517, Ottoman-Mamluk War), attacked Iran and killed tens of thousands of Alevis. So, why would the government at this time want to honor such a controversial figure?
 
Yinanc: Well that is a good question. This is exactly what the people are asking for. The people that have been on the street today, when I’ve been talking to them and when they were telling me why they were on the street, they have been telling me one of the reasons they were saying they were counting the steps of the government that they felt offending themselves and some of the people told me the name of that bridge. And this is exactly what people are sort of asking - you know - why is the government feeling the necessity of sort of taking a decision that polarizes the society?
 
Because that really creates resentment and this is exactly what people are sort of asking: Why is the government so? And this is why they are feeling so vulnerable because they feel like the government is just taking steps without thinking about the possible reaction. So they are very much disappointed by this type of decisions that are taken by the government that sort of doesn’t care about certain groups in this country. So these groups feel really alienated and they feel like they don’t have any place in this country.
 
Q: What’s your perspective on what our guest said. Do you think that basically the straw that broke the camel’s back because a lot of people when looking at it and thinking, okay these demonstrations have started over an environmental project or started over a park. How could it have multiplied so rapidly and turned into what we are seeing now? That is for Ms. Yinanc in Istanbul. So sorry to interrupt you in New York, but that question is for Istanbul. Go ahead please.
 
Yinanc: Well let me remind you this. During the elections during the last elections when Prime Minister Erdogan was elected for the third time, one out of two Turks has voted for Mr. Erdogan another one has not voted for him.
 
What happened is this, the Turkish prime minister started to rule his country on his third term, not during his previous terms… but in his third term he gained such a self-confidence that he started to rule the country according to the worldview of the 50 percent of Turkey. And the other 50 percent of Turkey started to become more and more resentful, so as I said, it has become an accumulation.
 
Now, the problem is, much more than the government, the problem is also the lack of opposition in Turkey because today the Turkish prime minister was very clear-cut. He said if you are not happy with the government, come to the ballot box and vote us out instead of making demonstrations. Because he trusts in the fact that he got the support of the other 50 percent.
 
Whereas those who have not voted against him are very much disorganized, not only are they disorganized, but the two opposition parties - one of the two opposition parties - they don’t give confidence to those demonstrators that they can come up with an effective form of governance if they were to be elected.
 
That is why I am saying that these demonstrations are important, but whether they will be canalized during the elections, which would sort of get the ruling justice and development party out of power, that remains to be seen.
 
Q: What do you think? There are some that are saying that with Erdogan getting involved in the Syrian situation that it has opened up Turkey for possible terrorist activities as we saw not that long ago in Hatay Province (southeast Turkey). What had happened, that there was no reason for Erdogan to actually get involved and that the Turkish people never wanted to get involved in that situation in Syria.
 
What’s your take on that and does that play any role in those demonstrations that we are seeing?
 
Yinanc: Well it is my conviction that the majority of the demonstrators are critical of the government’s Syrian policies. During my interviews in the course of the day I have heard people when they were saying why they were demonstrating. Many have also named the government’s Syrian policies.
 
    But, let me add that when it comes to the government’s policy on Syria, we know that, according to the polls, that even the classic constituency of the ruling justice and development party is very anxious and is critical of the ruling party’s approach to the Syrian crisis.
 
 
A lot believe that Turkey has intervened too much and has become unnecessarily a side to the conflict. For years actually, Turkey has tried traditionally to maintain equidistance whenever there is conflict in the Middle East.