I’ll be asking an important question is
there a silence regime change in Turkey
I was born in Turkey and I’ll make
neatly half Kurdish half Turkish I
remember during my childhood my
grandparents used to speak a different
language and home grew Mangia kurdish
dialects spoken in turkey but they
didn’t teach us and they didn’t they
didn’t speak outside home I remember
asking my grandmother why she didn’t
teach us including my mother and she
said you hit understand when you grow up
I think that’s why I have always been
interested in studying politics
nationalism and also contemporary Turkey
and the Middle East
I bet Turkey in 2001 just before the
pro-islamic government under the Justice
and Development Party came to power
sorry
just on the right button just before the
contact in there just before the I left
Turkey in 2001 just before the
pro-islamic government Justice and
Development Party the AKP came to power
and Turkey I lived was a secular modern
democratic country and why turkey is
important because Turkey was the first
Muslim country engaged with European
modernity that transformed itself from
the Islamic Ottoman Empire into a
secular nation state at the beginning of
the 20th century in 2001 the AKP warned
the party and they kept winning three
more elections in 2007 11 and 2015
especially the secularism has been
always a very sensitive and contested
essentially contested concept in Turkey
secularism meant and separation religion
and politics in domestic and foreign
affairs the last book in the last
sentence in my book especially when I
wrote the rise of Islamic fundamentalism
and the Kurdish question in the 1990s
can be interpreted as the result of the
problematic nature of democratization
and a reaction to the uneven development
of secularism and modernity on the
society level however the Turkish
transition to modernity is an incomplete
project which had its origins at the
beginning of the 19th century and Turkey
is still questioning its present the
Turkish transition to modernity is that
incomplete project with had its origins
at the beginning of the 19th century and
Turkey is still questioning its present
hence since 2002 the rise of political
Islam in the context of the AKP s tenure
in power can be seen
as turkey questioning his present
however turkey is present is deeply
worrying today turkey is bitterly
divided and deeply polarized society
since I left and it’s sad to see what is
happening in Turkish politics
what a KPD came to first power in 2001
it was a promising example of secularism
and democratization in the Muslim
context and again you may all remember
what happened in 2001 9/11 terrorist
attacks that put Islam on international
agenda not only as a regional context as
we see in the Middle East so my big
question is did Islam play a crucial
role for the rise of AKP into power my
answer is there is something no Islam
did not play a role to bring a clip into
power but following reasons they came
clear leaders highlighted they are
conservative Democrats like just
Christian Democrats in the West they
never highlighted the pro-islamic roots
of the Islamic the AKP
as an Islamic party and also they
accepted the secular character of the
state which allowed them not to have a
clash with the military which acted as
the guardians of secularism in Turkish
history more importantly it’s the
economy they promised to find an
economic solution economic development
to fix the financial crisis of 2009 1
the AKP has remained in power since done
by winning three more elections and
during the AKP role hi Raja Abram had
become the first Prime Minister who took
the party to three last landslide
victories and also became the first
elected president since 2014
one of the slogans akp highlighted was
the new turkey cotton cotton crop denier
Turkey
while some promoted advanced new Turkey
as a rising model the so called Turkish
model many including myself were very
skeptical about a hidden ideological
agenda to Islam sighs Turkish politics
well during the first term first decade
of Dec a Pierrot
decade under de KP Turkey has achieved
exemplary economic development tackled
the role of military in politics as main
obstacle in front of democratization and
also more importantly a peace process
was engaged with the peace process with
the Kurdish minority what we see is so
far so good
but unfortunately things have changed
since 2013 and I think that there is a
silent regime taking place and this has
been unnoticed in the West and the
regime change turned a promising Turkish
model into a authoritarian rule by
weakening
secularism and democracy this is not
because Islam was the main reason but
this is because the use and abuse of
religion in politics especially Turkey’s
importance has continued in the context
of the Arab Spring in 2011 and more
importantly the rise of Islamic state as
well as the Syrian civil war and the
continuing refugee crisis has put Turkey
as a necessary Ally not only for
promoting better relations with the
Western and the Muslim world in pre 9/11
context but as well as a reliable
for Western interest in the Middle East
and therefore a silent regime change
went unnoticed by some in the West what
we see is there were actually three
basic events that affected how the
regime change was taking place as the
knee of Turkey not only the model but
also Islam sizing the politics in in
Turkish politics as a silent regime
change three basic events highlighted a
change was taking place since 2013 the
first one was gezi protests in 2013
there was a second event a failed
military coup attempt in 2016 and the
third event was the presidential
referendum in 2017 let me just tell you
about the first event the gezi Park
protests in 2013 it was a turning point
in the sense that you may remember it
all started as an environmentalist
project a protest
especially when the government decided
the last remaining green area in in in
Islam was dizzy Park in Taksim Square
and group of peaceful protesters
occupied the park peacefully by campaign
singing dancing and reading books but
the government’s reactions were really
harsh with the extensive use of force
and this was for me was the first
turning point an example that I don’t
give Turkey would not democratically
engaged with anti-government protesters
around 2.5 million people according to
official figures and what became very
clear that during the gezi protests the
brutality of state violence and terror
them showed the changing nature of AKP
role and despite its democratic policies
take a peep war the last election in
2015 again but this time with the really
small margin as 49.5% and I believe
since then
turkey is internal turmoil with a
bitterly divided and deeply polarized
society and the second key event after
the gezi Park protests was a failed coup
attempt again you might remember that to
place in a 2016 the failed coup attempt
was just a tip of the iceberg and much
worse followed the symbol of the Turkish
parliamentary the Grand National
Assembly was bought by the members of
the country’s own security forces and
coup plotters attacked civilians on the
streets of Istanbul and Ankara the
thankou attempt united people on the
streets as well as the party leaders
including the AKP s opponents which
sided with democracy or rather they’re
retired on one start on was issued that
the government had taken control of the
situation
he quickly announced that the failed
coup was a gift from God that would help
him to cleanse Turkey for turkeys
internal enemies including the army and
the pro-islamic colonist movement and he
quickly highlighted that he killed
Islam’s be like movement of running a
parallel state with the aim of
overthrowing AKP government
paradoxically while people were more
supporting democracy and Dawn was seen
as the defender of civilian rule while
similar
clamping down on civil liberties and
this is this take us to the third event
that shows a silent regime change has
been taking place is the presidential
and random in 2017 because I Don used
the failed coup attempt to increase
support for his suggested changes
especially to transfer to change turkeys
political system from a parliamentarian
democracy to an executive presidency and
this is one the presidential referendum
took place in 2017 again that deeply
divided society became very visible
because only 51.4 people voted yes to
change Turkey is a political system and
the democratically have brought change
of political system and the Constitution
leads to a stronger presidency with
extended powers and president Adan will
remain in power probably as late as 2029
in short Turkey will be ruled by the
same leader for 30 years this has never
happened before unless it was under
Ottoman Sultans this never happened in
modern Turkey I lived
there a silence regime change in Turkey
I was born in Turkey and I’ll make
neatly half Kurdish half Turkish I
remember during my childhood my
grandparents used to speak a different
language and home grew Mangia kurdish
dialects spoken in turkey but they
didn’t teach us and they didn’t they
didn’t speak outside home I remember
asking my grandmother why she didn’t
teach us including my mother and she
said you hit understand when you grow up
I think that’s why I have always been
interested in studying politics
nationalism and also contemporary Turkey
and the Middle East
I bet Turkey in 2001 just before the
pro-islamic government under the Justice
and Development Party came to power
sorry
just on the right button just before the
contact in there just before the I left
Turkey in 2001 just before the
pro-islamic government Justice and
Development Party the AKP came to power
and Turkey I lived was a secular modern
democratic country and why turkey is
important because Turkey was the first
Muslim country engaged with European
modernity that transformed itself from
the Islamic Ottoman Empire into a
secular nation state at the beginning of
the 20th century in 2001 the AKP warned
the party and they kept winning three
more elections in 2007 11 and 2015
especially the secularism has been
always a very sensitive and contested
essentially contested concept in Turkey
secularism meant and separation religion
and politics in domestic and foreign
affairs the last book in the last
sentence in my book especially when I
wrote the rise of Islamic fundamentalism
and the Kurdish question in the 1990s
can be interpreted as the result of the
problematic nature of democratization
and a reaction to the uneven development
of secularism and modernity on the
society level however the Turkish
transition to modernity is an incomplete
project which had its origins at the
beginning of the 19th century and Turkey
is still questioning its present the
Turkish transition to modernity is that
incomplete project with had its origins
at the beginning of the 19th century and
Turkey is still questioning its present
hence since 2002 the rise of political
Islam in the context of the AKP s tenure
in power can be seen
as turkey questioning his present
however turkey is present is deeply
worrying today turkey is bitterly
divided and deeply polarized society
since I left and it’s sad to see what is
happening in Turkish politics
what a KPD came to first power in 2001
it was a promising example of secularism
and democratization in the Muslim
context and again you may all remember
what happened in 2001 9/11 terrorist
attacks that put Islam on international
agenda not only as a regional context as
we see in the Middle East so my big
question is did Islam play a crucial
role for the rise of AKP into power my
answer is there is something no Islam
did not play a role to bring a clip into
power but following reasons they came
clear leaders highlighted they are
conservative Democrats like just
Christian Democrats in the West they
never highlighted the pro-islamic roots
of the Islamic the AKP
as an Islamic party and also they
accepted the secular character of the
state which allowed them not to have a
clash with the military which acted as
the guardians of secularism in Turkish
history more importantly it’s the
economy they promised to find an
economic solution economic development
to fix the financial crisis of 2009 1
the AKP has remained in power since done
by winning three more elections and
during the AKP role hi Raja Abram had
become the first Prime Minister who took
the party to three last landslide
victories and also became the first
elected president since 2014
one of the slogans akp highlighted was
the new turkey cotton cotton crop denier
Turkey
while some promoted advanced new Turkey
as a rising model the so called Turkish
model many including myself were very
skeptical about a hidden ideological
agenda to Islam sighs Turkish politics
well during the first term first decade
of Dec a Pierrot
decade under de KP Turkey has achieved
exemplary economic development tackled
the role of military in politics as main
obstacle in front of democratization and
also more importantly a peace process
was engaged with the peace process with
the Kurdish minority what we see is so
far so good
but unfortunately things have changed
since 2013 and I think that there is a
silent regime taking place and this has
been unnoticed in the West and the
regime change turned a promising Turkish
model into a authoritarian rule by
weakening
secularism and democracy this is not
because Islam was the main reason but
this is because the use and abuse of
religion in politics especially Turkey’s
importance has continued in the context
of the Arab Spring in 2011 and more
importantly the rise of Islamic state as
well as the Syrian civil war and the
continuing refugee crisis has put Turkey
as a necessary Ally not only for
promoting better relations with the
Western and the Muslim world in pre 9/11
context but as well as a reliable
for Western interest in the Middle East
and therefore a silent regime change
went unnoticed by some in the West what
we see is there were actually three
basic events that affected how the
regime change was taking place as the
knee of Turkey not only the model but
also Islam sizing the politics in in
Turkish politics as a silent regime
change three basic events highlighted a
change was taking place since 2013 the
first one was gezi protests in 2013
there was a second event a failed
military coup attempt in 2016 and the
third event was the presidential
referendum in 2017 let me just tell you
about the first event the gezi Park
protests in 2013 it was a turning point
in the sense that you may remember it
all started as an environmentalist
project a protest
especially when the government decided
the last remaining green area in in in
Islam was dizzy Park in Taksim Square
and group of peaceful protesters
occupied the park peacefully by campaign
singing dancing and reading books but
the government’s reactions were really
harsh with the extensive use of force
and this was for me was the first
turning point an example that I don’t
give Turkey would not democratically
engaged with anti-government protesters
around 2.5 million people according to
official figures and what became very
clear that during the gezi protests the
brutality of state violence and terror
them showed the changing nature of AKP
role and despite its democratic policies
take a peep war the last election in
2015 again but this time with the really
small margin as 49.5% and I believe
since then
turkey is internal turmoil with a
bitterly divided and deeply polarized
society and the second key event after
the gezi Park protests was a failed coup
attempt again you might remember that to
place in a 2016 the failed coup attempt
was just a tip of the iceberg and much
worse followed the symbol of the Turkish
parliamentary the Grand National
Assembly was bought by the members of
the country’s own security forces and
coup plotters attacked civilians on the
streets of Istanbul and Ankara the
thankou attempt united people on the
streets as well as the party leaders
including the AKP s opponents which
sided with democracy or rather they’re
retired on one start on was issued that
the government had taken control of the
situation
he quickly announced that the failed
coup was a gift from God that would help
him to cleanse Turkey for turkeys
internal enemies including the army and
the pro-islamic colonist movement and he
quickly highlighted that he killed
Islam’s be like movement of running a
parallel state with the aim of
overthrowing AKP government
paradoxically while people were more
supporting democracy and Dawn was seen
as the defender of civilian rule while
similar
clamping down on civil liberties and
this is this take us to the third event
that shows a silent regime change has
been taking place is the presidential
and random in 2017 because I Don used
the failed coup attempt to increase
support for his suggested changes
especially to transfer to change turkeys
political system from a parliamentarian
democracy to an executive presidency and
this is one the presidential referendum
took place in 2017 again that deeply
divided society became very visible
because only 51.4 people voted yes to
change Turkey is a political system and
the democratically have brought change
of political system and the Constitution
leads to a stronger presidency with
extended powers and president Adan will
remain in power probably as late as 2029
in short Turkey will be ruled by the
same leader for 30 years this has never
happened before unless it was under
Ottoman Sultans this never happened in
modern Turkey I lived
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