Page 42 - Shahrvand BC No.1243
P. 42
English Section 421392 دادرخ24 جمعه- 1243 شماره/ سال متسیب
opposition supporters wishing to turn the clock In touch with Iranian diversity 42
back to the secular orthodoxy of yore but young
urbanites frustrated by the A.K.P.’s increasingly
unresponsive monopoly on power.
As in 19th-century Britain, if the ballot box
doesn’t offer the right choices, democracy
advances by direct action.
The danger in Turkey is that hard-liners in the
A.K.P. will use these events to further divide
society. They are already painting a picture in
which the protests are an attempt to claw back
the newly acquired powers of the previously
disenfranchised, labeling the young men and
women in the streets as alcoholics, looters and
leftists.
These hard-liners have been aided by the Turkish
news media, which, with a few exceptions, still
obediently toes the party line. In the short run,
they may well succeed, further polarizing Turkish
politics and cementing the A.K.P.’s control over
state institutions.
What makes these events a turning point, however,
is that the discontent of a large segment of the
Turkish public is now out in the open, and even
if the Turkish media continues to ignore it, the
knowledge of this discontent will spread.
The genie is out of the bottle. Neither it nor
Turkish democracy can be put back.
Daron Acemoglu, a professor of economics at
M.I.T., is the co-author, with James A. Robinson,
of “Economic Origins of Dictatorship and
Democracy” and “Why Nations Fail: The Origins
of Power, Prosperity and Poverty.”
In Turkey, these terms have nothing to do with Particularly troubling for the secular elite was the Google: Iranian Vol. 20 / No. 1243 - Friday, June 14, 2013
skin color. “White Turks” are the well-educated, fact that the wife of the new president, Mr. Gul, Gmail Accounts
wealthy secular elites who see themselves as the wore a head scarf, something banned in public Targeted
defenders of Ataturk’s legacy. They are often spaces by the Constitution.
associated with government bureaucracy, the Google says an operation has been
military and big businesses in major Turkish cities. Since 1997, these divisions have defined Turkish under way to steal the passwords to
“Black Turks” are those that the White Turks look politics. The military failed and the A.K.P. tens of thousands of Gmail accounts
down upon as poorly educated, lower class and withstood the challenge. Turkey has become belonging to users in Iran.
trapped by their piety. Elites tend to view them as more democratic in the sense that the previously
peasants or being unable to shake off their peasant disenfranchised have become empowered. The U.S. Internet company said the
heritage. But it has not taken many steps toward liberal attempts to “phish” -- or trick users
democracy. On the contrary, Turkish society has into giving up their user names and
Although the Turkish military periodically used become more polarized between supporters of passwords -- originated in Iran and
religion as a weapon in its struggle against the secular orthodoxy and the A.K.P., which, under appeared to be “politically motivated in
political left, particularly after the 1980 military Mr. Erdogan’s leadership, has used its newly connection with the Iranian presidential
coup, by the 1990s the most important challenge acquired power to exact revenge on the military, election” on June 14.
to the secular elite’s rule came from religious secular elites and its other critics with increasingly
conservative parties, who unabashedly represented authoritarian certitude. The statement did not suggest why
the Black Turks. a political motive was suspected but
This week’s protests are unlikely to topple the said the attempts began almost three
In 1997, the military toppled a government led by government or even force an about-face by weeks ago.
the A.K.P.’s predecessor, the Welfare Party, which the prime minister. Their import lies in their
was subsequently shut down by the constitutional symbolism. It said there were indications that the
court. It similarly threatened the A.K.P. in 2007, same group behind the latest incidents
with the Constitutional Court again following Suddenly, there is a diverse group of people was involved in a cyberattack targeting
at its coattails and threatening to ban the party pouring into the streets to demand not handouts Iranians about two years ago.
because its religious outlook violated the Turkish or policy concessions but a voice in Turkish
Constitution. politics. The protesters are not hard-core Eric Grosse, Google’s vice president
of security engineering, urged Iranians
to take precautions to protect their
accounts.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty © 2013 RFE/RL,
Inc. All Rights Reserved.
opposition supporters wishing to turn the clock In touch with Iranian diversity 42
back to the secular orthodoxy of yore but young
urbanites frustrated by the A.K.P.’s increasingly
unresponsive monopoly on power.
As in 19th-century Britain, if the ballot box
doesn’t offer the right choices, democracy
advances by direct action.
The danger in Turkey is that hard-liners in the
A.K.P. will use these events to further divide
society. They are already painting a picture in
which the protests are an attempt to claw back
the newly acquired powers of the previously
disenfranchised, labeling the young men and
women in the streets as alcoholics, looters and
leftists.
These hard-liners have been aided by the Turkish
news media, which, with a few exceptions, still
obediently toes the party line. In the short run,
they may well succeed, further polarizing Turkish
politics and cementing the A.K.P.’s control over
state institutions.
What makes these events a turning point, however,
is that the discontent of a large segment of the
Turkish public is now out in the open, and even
if the Turkish media continues to ignore it, the
knowledge of this discontent will spread.
The genie is out of the bottle. Neither it nor
Turkish democracy can be put back.
Daron Acemoglu, a professor of economics at
M.I.T., is the co-author, with James A. Robinson,
of “Economic Origins of Dictatorship and
Democracy” and “Why Nations Fail: The Origins
of Power, Prosperity and Poverty.”
In Turkey, these terms have nothing to do with Particularly troubling for the secular elite was the Google: Iranian Vol. 20 / No. 1243 - Friday, June 14, 2013
skin color. “White Turks” are the well-educated, fact that the wife of the new president, Mr. Gul, Gmail Accounts
wealthy secular elites who see themselves as the wore a head scarf, something banned in public Targeted
defenders of Ataturk’s legacy. They are often spaces by the Constitution.
associated with government bureaucracy, the Google says an operation has been
military and big businesses in major Turkish cities. Since 1997, these divisions have defined Turkish under way to steal the passwords to
“Black Turks” are those that the White Turks look politics. The military failed and the A.K.P. tens of thousands of Gmail accounts
down upon as poorly educated, lower class and withstood the challenge. Turkey has become belonging to users in Iran.
trapped by their piety. Elites tend to view them as more democratic in the sense that the previously
peasants or being unable to shake off their peasant disenfranchised have become empowered. The U.S. Internet company said the
heritage. But it has not taken many steps toward liberal attempts to “phish” -- or trick users
democracy. On the contrary, Turkish society has into giving up their user names and
Although the Turkish military periodically used become more polarized between supporters of passwords -- originated in Iran and
religion as a weapon in its struggle against the secular orthodoxy and the A.K.P., which, under appeared to be “politically motivated in
political left, particularly after the 1980 military Mr. Erdogan’s leadership, has used its newly connection with the Iranian presidential
coup, by the 1990s the most important challenge acquired power to exact revenge on the military, election” on June 14.
to the secular elite’s rule came from religious secular elites and its other critics with increasingly
conservative parties, who unabashedly represented authoritarian certitude. The statement did not suggest why
the Black Turks. a political motive was suspected but
This week’s protests are unlikely to topple the said the attempts began almost three
In 1997, the military toppled a government led by government or even force an about-face by weeks ago.
the A.K.P.’s predecessor, the Welfare Party, which the prime minister. Their import lies in their
was subsequently shut down by the constitutional symbolism. It said there were indications that the
court. It similarly threatened the A.K.P. in 2007, same group behind the latest incidents
with the Constitutional Court again following Suddenly, there is a diverse group of people was involved in a cyberattack targeting
at its coattails and threatening to ban the party pouring into the streets to demand not handouts Iranians about two years ago.
because its religious outlook violated the Turkish or policy concessions but a voice in Turkish
Constitution. politics. The protesters are not hard-core Eric Grosse, Google’s vice president
of security engineering, urged Iranians
to take precautions to protect their
accounts.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty © 2013 RFE/RL,
Inc. All Rights Reserved.
