Democracy loses in Europe
THE best thing that can be said about Turkey’s constitutional referendum is that many voters – 48.7 percent of those casting ballots – opposed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s most outrageous move yet to solidify his autocratic rule. Erdogan, who had expected to win 60 percent of the vote on Sunday, lost the major cities of Ankara and Istanbul. His legitimacy was further eroded by allegations of voting irregularities.
Even so, his victory is expected to prevail in the final count.
The referendum culminated Erdogan’s long effort to replace Turkey’s parliamentary system with a strong presi- dency. And while the changes won’t take effect until the 2019 presidential election, the outcome tightened his already strong grip.
By revising or repealing 76 articles in Turkey’s constitution, the referendum abolishes the post of prime minister and transfers executive power to the president.
As a practical matter, given his Islamist-based AKP party’s majority in parliament, Erdogan has been effectively exercising many of these powers. The fact that they have been formally ratified in the constitution can only reinforce his dictatorial instincts.
When he was first elected prime minister in 2003, Erdogan seemed committed to making Turkey a model Muslim democracy. In recent years, he has cracked down on dissent and on his critics. An aborted coup last summer provided an excuse to go even further; a state of emergency was declared, and the government has since fired or suspended 130,000 people suspected of having a connection to the coup and has arrested about 45,000.
The referendum campaign suffered from the same climate of intimidation. Supporters of Erdogan’s proposals dominated the media, and some who opposed him were shot at or beaten. Opposition parties said some ballots lacked an official stamp and at least three instances of voter fraud appeared to be captured on camera. “The referendum took place in a political environment in which fundamental freedoms essential to a genuinely democratic process were curtailed under the state of emergency, and the two sides did not have equal opportunities to make their case to the voters,” said Tana de Zulueta, who headed the international election observation mission.
Although Turkey is a vital member of NATO, it is increasingly an outlier in the alliance. Erdogan has picked fights with America and Europe, fanned anti-Western animosities among Turks and flirted with Russia. But Turkey remains a major factor in Syria, curbing migration to Europe and defending the alliance’s eastern flank. NATO countries should do whatever they can to mitigate Erdogan’s autocratic tendencies while encouraging the proponents of democracy in Turkey.
Ultimately, if democracy is to revive in Turkey, it will do so because millions of Turks do not want the authoritarian system imposed on them and will find ways to reclaim their freedoms.