Testing Turkish Democracy

The road to democracy is beset with danger on all sides. I’ve taken a keen interest in Turkey’s transition to real democracy and noted some of the tests of it in the past. Now, according to the Washington Post, prominent Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, who wrote Snow and My Name is Red, is being charged with “public denigrating of Turkish identity” for discussing two touchy topics in an interview with a Swiss Newspaper. What those topics are, is pretty hard to imagine eh? The Armenian Genocide and the ongoing war against the Kurdish insurgency in south eastern Turkey both of which don’t rank high on Turkey’s list of favorite topics.

“Thirty-thousand Kurds were killed here, 1 million Armenians as well. And almost no one talks about it,” Pamuk told the newspaper, Tages-Anzeiger. “Therefore, I do.”

Turkey considers the Armenian deaths a consequence of war, with severe casualties on both sides, while Armenians say the deaths constitute a genocide. Under Turkish law, people can be jailed for differing with the government’s line on the deaths, as well as on the presence of Turkish troops in Cyprus, which Turkey invaded in 1974, and other “fundamental national interests.”

While both Curzon and I don’t consider what happened to the Armenians genocide, it is indeed a topic that must be dealt with openly so it can be put aside. The same goes for the Kurdish insurgency as well as Cyprus. Considering the Turks have been jumping through fiery hoops to get into the EU, they’ve sure gone and shot themselves in the foot….again. Yet, though many see this as a setback for Turkey, a little perspective is in order. This is merely a small bump on the road to democracy and surely no one expects little things like this not to creep up now and again. The numerous reforms Turkey has passed aren’t worth the paper they’re written on to Europeans nor the world in general. Though they garnered lots of publicity, it is rather events like these which will put Turkey and her new reforms to the test.

However, the Turks, at least those who favor joining the EU, need be more vigilant and this merely provides more ammunition for European political parties who oppose Turkey’s joining such as the CDU in Germany. But don’t expect Pamuk himself to comment on the case, another Turkish law forbids him from doing so while it is pending!