Islam as Cover for Corruption
Lee Smith's article about the AKP in Tablet today is excellent:
The fact is that Erdogan and his allies are running roughshod over fundamental democratic principles—which is to say that the problem with Islamic democracy isn’t Islam as such, but rather the corruption and conspiracies of the governing party and its allies, who use Islam as cover for their own hunger for power. Washington, meanwhile, doesn’t dare criticize the domestic machinations of a Muslim democracy’s ruling Islamist party, for fear of crashing its own plans, and alienating Muslims.
I'd add a few points: I do think it's important to note--again--that power-hungry, corrupt and conspiratorial political parties are hardly a novelty in Turkey. In this regard, the AKP's the norm, not the exception, and not even the worst in memory. There's a reason no one speaks nostalgically of the good old days of squeaky-clean, ethical Turkish governance under Tansu Çiller.
The AKP isn't precisely using Islam to justify its power-hunger, corruption and conspiracies: It's using domestic and international reluctance to criticize a government that's seen as friendly to Islam to get away with it. It's a subtle distinction, but an important one.
What the AKP is using to justify power-hunger, corruption and conspiracies, quite brazenly, are the words "democracy" and "reform." One of the reasons so few are willing to say, "Hey, what's so democratic about that?" and "Hey, when exactly was the last time you actually reformed anything?" is the fear of appearing anti-Islamic. Another reason, of course, is that some of them are getting very, very rich from their relationship with the AKP.
And a third reason is, frankly, that far too many observers are possessed of the very disdain and condescension for Islamic culture that they're superficially taking such pains to avoid suggesting. If you point out the gross forensic anomalies in the Ergenekon case, you can practically see the metaphorical shrug. What else can you expect. That's just the way it is in that part of the world and the way it will always be. They'll never really get the hang of something like "rule of law." It's the classic soft bigotry of low expectations, and it's a contemptible expression of disrespect for so many people here who, I can promise you, want clean governance just as much as any Westerner.
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May '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
Forget Islam. Based on what you've written here before, Claire, low expectations are justified by the government's vice grip on information and the local culture's preference for melodramatic ranting over actual arguments and reasonable actions.
When the Turkish people take basic earthquake preparations into their own hands, I'll expect more from their political actions. Like in most other nations, their political problems seem to stem from cultural problems.
But that perception is based purely on your personal stories about Turkey. Beyond that, I know nothing of the culture.
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
I'd say that if you're basing your judgment of Turkey on mine, you've got it exactly right, but then I would say that, wouldn't I.
May '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
I noted over at FB that, per the son-in-law's comment, I only know of one US citizen over there whom they could arrest to awake the attention of the US government.....
I honestly had never heard of Gulen before Claire began mentioning him here. Now I tend to wish that a commando unit would borrow from a Bruce Willis/Stallone script, go to the hills of Pennsylvania, and put him out of business. It always amazes me that there seems to never be anyone in the US DoS who follows this stuff closely enough to have any idea what a long term strategy looks like. Erdogan really plays us for fools.
Of course, QoR excepted, we are.
Aug '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
I have learned, or decided, that if I've been saying I want something, but after a long while still don't have it, this means I really didn't want it. Its absence says something important, and not necessarily flattering, about me. This elevated state of self-understanding I call "adulthood." In a wild intellectual leap, I treat foreigners as adults - they've got their own countries, don't they? - and assume that whatever they have or don't have, they truly wanted or didn't want. And if someone reminds 'em of that, they better buck up.
I can think of only one occasion in which a Turk explicitly stated what impelled or thwarted him. This was an engineering student in Iskenderun. He told me how hard it was to do things: go out, date a girl, basically be social. You had to ask your family, and you felt bad if you didn't, or you did and the answer was no. "Ayıp," he said. "You know ayıp?" "Yes," I said. "In English, 'shame.'" "In Turkey," he said, "everything is shame." Maybe. It sure ain't "can-do" or "high-octane."
Aug '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
How about " Islam as Cover for Misogyny " ?, not particularly germane, but I am trying to find some nice things to say.
Edited on Oct 20, 2010 at 2:18pmAug '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
Not to get all lawyerly and pedantic or anything -- or rather, yes, precisely to get all lawyerly and pedantic -- but your reasoning doesn't work for everything in life.
I would love, love, love to not break out into hives and have my throat close up simply for spending too much time around a cat. I adore the creatures, and I wish I could adopt one, or two, or three -- or however many my husband would allow. I've even spent the time and money to get cat desensitization shots -- on top of trying every antihistamine that's legally available in the US. (I've even contemplated smuggling in illegal antihistamines.) But no dice.
I'll grant you, though, that as I adjust to the impossibility of taming my cat allergies, I'm learning not to pine so hard for a cure. But that's the reverse of what you describe: that's deciding not to want what you know you can't have. Sour grapes.
Edited on Oct 20, 2010 at 10:44pmJul '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
Culture and religion are awful tough to untangle. Unfortunately, the tenets of Islam seem to insitutionalize a top-down, authoritarian model. So the "easy" political card to play is to use Islam as cover for good old fashioned political corruption. Perhaps a bit like the the monopolistic Catholic church? (Medicis, anyone?)
This reinforces one of the fundamental problems of our day - the forces of good that seek to fight against the default religious/cultural template of Islam swim against a mighty current. Those who seek to leverage it for nefarious purpose ride an easy wave.
I speak on intuition, I am largely ignorant of the reality. Claire, what say you to this?
Aug '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
Point taken, Cascavelzinha. (Like all HyphenRejectingAmericans, I lapse into my non-native Portuguese when forced to the defensive.) But surely you're not saying that foreigners' ongoing failure to get the political world they pretend they want is biologically determined.
Your lawyerliness and pedantry are, however, not by the way. A little-appreciated fact (at least I think it's a fact) about the Third-World condition is that these places, seemingly lawless, are quite the opposite. I hesitate to judgeTurkey, as violent as it is, but surely Latin America is FULL of laws. Never met a law student in Turkey but in Brazil at least it's the default major for college students, and there is a faith, either touching or idiotic, in the idea that somewhere there is a lucky dispensation for everyone. So you never know. Foreigners may yet be pleading a DNA-deep incapacity for good behavior.
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
You want low taxation, less government spending, John H? I guess you don't want itenough, or we'd have it now, right?
That said--I actually agree with you about 90 percent, both at the personal and political levels. The people here who want clean, transparent government are far too timid, pessimistic and hopeless, and the culture encourages that. But this is reinforced--shamelessly--by the West. When Western leaders show up in Turkey and congratulate the Turkey for becoming so much more democratic and reformed, those who know that they shouldn't even bother bidding for tenders because they aren't in the AKP and their wives don't wear headscarves are left to ask--maybe two plus two does equal five. Maybe I'm the one who's nuts. And either way, the forces against me are clearly just too powerful. Even the US is on their side. So all that will happen if I speak up is I'll get crushed.
Aug '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
Cascavelzinha? For little rattlesnake, right? I like it.
Of course not. Rather, I was pointing out that sometimes you don't have something because you don't want it badly enough, but other times you stop wanting it because you believe you can't have it.
And discerning which is which is sometimes tough. So when Claire says
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
The people here who want clean, transparent government are far too timid, pessimistic and hopeless, and the culture encourages that. [And] this is reinforced--shamelessly--by the West.
I wonder, how much is it them not having it because they don't want it and how much of it is them giving up on wanting it because they believe they can never have it?
I suspect it's a vicious cycle of both.
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
Midget Faded Rattlesnake I wonder, how much is it them not having it because they don't want it and how much of it is them giving up on wanting it because they believe they can never have it?
I suspect it's a vicious cycle of both. · Oct 20 at 11:31pm
You're right, it is.
May '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
I would love, love, love to not break out into hives and have my throat close up simply for spending too much time around a cat. I adore the creatures, and I wish I could adopt one, or two, or three -- or however many my husband would allow. I've even spent the time and money to get cat desensitization shots -- on top of trying every antihistamine that's legally available in the US. (I've even contemplated smuggling in illegal antihistamines.) But no dice.
I'll grant you, though, that as I adjust to the impossibility of taming my cat allergies, I'm learning not to pine so hard for a cure. But that's the reverse of what you describe: that's deciding not to want what you know you can't have. Sour grapes. · Oct 20 at 5:17pm
Edited on Oct 20 at 10:44 pm
God is protecting you. Now you can have a dog....
Aug '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
Duane Oyen
God is protecting you. Now you can have a dog.... · Oct 21 at 9:25am
We-ell... dogs might be a problem, too. Might have to settle for a nice, cuddly iguana or something.
But who says cats and dogs can't get along?
May '10
Re: Islam as Cover for Corruption
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Duane Oyen
God is protecting you. Now you can have a dog.... · Oct 21 at 9:25am
We-ell... dogs might be a problem, too. Might have to settle for a nice, cuddly iguana or something.
But who says cats and dogs can't get along? · Oct 21 at 9:46am
As one who never exhibited symptoms of asthma till #2 daughter got her puppy in 1993, and today inhales 700 mcg of corticosteroid daily, you'd have to take the house by force to get Charlie away from me. But I admit that he doesn't make my eyes water.