{"id":40069,"date":"2013-06-08T01:37:23","date_gmt":"2013-06-08T00:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/erdogan-should-quit-while-hes-ahead\/40069\/"},"modified":"2013-06-08T01:37:23","modified_gmt":"2013-06-08T00:37:23","slug":"erdogan-should-quit-while-hes-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/erdogan-should-quit-while-hes-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Erdogan should quit while he\u2019s ahead\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Published time: June 08, 2013 00:17 <\/span>
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\n Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the opening session of the Ministry For European Union Affairs Conference on June 7, 2013, in Istanbul (AFP Photo \/ Stringer) <\/p>\n

\n Download video<\/a> (36.71 MB)
Embed<\/a><\/p>\n
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Code<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s hardline stance towards the ongoing anti-government protests will only serve to further damage his reputation and the Turkish model of a modern and functional Muslim state, foreign policy expert Barbara Slavin argues.<\/p>\n

\n On his return from a four-day trip to North Africa on Friday,
\n Prime Minister Erdogan delivered a charged speech in which he
\n vowed to end the \u201cillegal\u201d anti-government protests which have
\n raged on since late last month.\n<\/p>\n

\n He further pledged to carry on with plans to demolish Gezi Park,
\n the site of a small sit-in demonstration which snowballed into
\n mass, nationwide anti-government protests after police used tear
\n gas and water cannon to break up the small civil action last
\n Friday.\n<\/p>\n

\n Although Ergodan\u2019s fiery speech inspired the party faithful to
\n ‘lay down their lives’ for the Turkish PM, his \u201ctough guy
\n approach\u201d will likely hurt both the prime minister and his
\n country in the long turn, Slavin told RT.\n<\/p>\n

\n RT:<\/b> What\u2019s your impression of how Prime Minister
\n Erdogan is dealing with the protests against him?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\n Barbara Slavin:<\/b> Well, so far I don\u2019t think he\u2019s doing a
\n very good job. This a huge blow to him personally \u2014 to his
\n image \u2014 and also to the Turkish model which he has been
\n touting around the Middle East as something that Arab countries
\n should emulate.\u00a0
\n <\/p>\n

\n RT:<\/b> Is his government united enough to prevent the
\n Taksim protests from undermining his leadership?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\n BS:<\/b> No, I think the damage has already been done. As has
\n been pointed out, this was a small environmental demonstration
\n which turned into something huge after police used excessive
\n force against the demonstrators. It\u2019s now spread throughout
\n Turkey, and what it\u2019s shown is that there is now a great deal of
\n opposition to Erdogan personally and to the kind of creeping
\n Islamization he is trying to promote in Turkey. It comes just a
\n couple of weeks after he had a trip to Washington where he
\n bragged about Turkey\u2019s economic success and again talked about
\n Turkey as a model. So I think it has done damage if you look at
\n what has happened to the stock market in Turkey, to the value of
\n the Turkish currency, clearly he needs to recalculate. I don\u2019t
\n think this tough guy approach is going to help Turkey in the long
\n run.\n<\/p>\n

\n RT:<\/b> Erdogan is clearly sending the message that those
\n who are protesting against him are clearly in the minority. Do
\n you agree?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\n BS:<\/b> I don\u2019t think that\u2019s at all clear and frankly, we will
\n find out if he goes through with his plans to run as president in
\n 2014. He wants to change the constitution to create a sort of
\n imperial presidency, and then run for two terms as president.
\n This kind of behavior is alienating people who are religious as
\n well as those who are secular. So I think he\u2019s taking a big risk
\n by deepening the divide among Turks.\u00a0\u00a0
\n <\/p>\n

\n RT:<\/b> Let\u2019s now take a look at the issue of popularity.
\n Erdogan has already spent more than 10 years in power and can be
\n re-elected an unlimited number of times. If he was getting things
\n in the country so wrong, why isn’t he being voted out?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\n BS:<\/b> Well, it\u2019s a parliamentary system, and the AK (Justice
\n and Development) Party has been the largest party in terms of
\n seats. But I wrote a piece for Al-Monitor this week talking about
\n the importance of term limits. I think most people around the
\n world understand that there is a limit to how long you can stay
\n in power. When you go beyond two terms, and in Erdogans case,
\n more than a decade, people begin to get tired of you no matter
\n what country, whether it\u2019s an authoritarian country or a
\n democracy. He really should quit while he\u2019s ahead, because
\n obviously, the longer he\u2019s there, even people who were
\n predisposed to like him in the beginning begin to tire of his
\n manner of governing. He\u2019s somebody who lectures, who sermonizes,
\n he doesn\u2019t listen very well in my experience. And I think this is
\n really not a good model for a country to purports to be a modern,
\n Islamic democracy.\n<\/p>\n

\n RT:<\/b> At this point we can see a society that is divided.
\n There are people in the pro-Erdogan camp, and people who are
\n against him. How will these pro and anti-government protests
\n progress? Are we likely to see more confrontations between
\n them?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\n BS:<\/b> I\u2019m afraid so. It appears as if they are allowing
\n people to remain in Taksim Square; they are not using harsh
\n methods against them. Maybe they are calculating that people will
\n eventually drift away. As I said, I think this has left lasting
\n damage to him personally, and to Turkey, which of course has been
\n very successful economically, it\u2019s attracted many tourists from
\n around the world. People may think twice now about going to
\n Istanbul if there is tear gas going up and down Istiklal Avenue
\n and in Taksim Square.\n<\/p>\n

\n RT:<\/b> A lot of Turks are proud of the fact that Turkey is
\n a secular state and Erdogan is now being slammed for the
\n Islamization of Turkey\u2019s secular society. How much of this is
\n true?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\n BS:<\/b> We\u2019ve heard talk about legislation which would limit
\n when and people can buy alcohol and consume it in public, [as
\n well as] restricting abortions. He\u2019s urged women to all have
\n three children, his wife wears a headscarf\u2026there\u2019s kind of a
\n pushing of that as well. I think that there are a lot of Turks
\n who are still loyal to the memory of Ataturk, and who do not want
\n to have this forced down their throats. They want it to be a
\n choice, not something that the government tells them to do.
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on: RT<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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