There has been trouble in Istanbul as demonstrators protested against the re- development of a park in the city. It looked like the agitation in Tahrir Square in Cairo. But the resemblance ends there. The protests in Tahrir Square were against autocracy which began the Arab Spring. But Taksim Square was the hub of democratic governance. Turkey’s economic progress can be attributed to the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) under Prime Minister Recop Tayyip Erdogan. His leadership for a decade has caused modernization and market reforms in the country.
The Taksim Square agitation proves that Turkey is getting sick again. The Erdogan government has made things worse by turning the heat on. A quiet peaceful demonstration turned into a countrywide uprising in protest against the ruling government. The police were brutal. Three persons were killed and thousands were injured. Different sections of Turkish society united to condemn the government’s increasingly autocratic ways. The AKP in return claimed that the secular legacy of Kamal Ataturk was being defiled and that Islamization was on its way. Erdogan has won the general election three times. But it may go to his head. His policies may not be totally approved by the Turkish people. He has banked on majority support and clamped down on the dissenting minority. Economic success may not be the sole key to popularity. The AKP has prided itself on representing secular Islam within a democratic framework. Turkey has been cited as a role model for nascent Arab Spring democracies. But Erdogan is veering towards autocracy which changes the West Asian scenario.
