Turkey’s intolerance

Turkey’s assault on a small group gathered for a Pride parade on Sunday, may reflect real security concerns in a country that has suffered a spate of terrorist bombings, but it also demonstrates the growing intolerance of an increasingly autocratic government.

Turks have been shaken by a string of attacks linked to Ankara’s involvement in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and a renewed confrontation with Kurdish groups. Authorities cited those worries, and the parade’s timing in the midst of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in warning gays, lesbians and transgender organizations that the parade would not be allowed to take place. When about 150 people showed up at Istanbul’s Taksim Square anyway, they were driven off by about 300 police wielding tear gas and rubber bullets.

It was the second year in a row that Pride demonstrations have been prevented, after having been held for more than a decade. The crackdown suggests Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using security as a smokescreen to persecute a group that upsets the conservative elements of Islam, to which his government appeals.

Homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey, but is considered offensive by many Muslims. Islamist and ultra- nationalist groups denounced parade participants as “degenerates” and “perverts.” The location itself was viewed as a provocation: Taksim Square, in the heart of Istanbul, was the site of a massive anti-government protest in 2013 that was violently broken up by police. Efforts to commemorate the anniversary of the protest have also been stymied. The square is now officially off limits to protests.

Organizers of the parade dismissed government explanations for the crackdown. “The right to organize meetings and demonstration marches is a part of the freedom of expression, which is one of the most fundamental human rights,” they said in a statement.

Erdogan’s views on gender were on display recently when he told Turkey’s Women and Democracy Association that he supports women having careers, but that they should be secondary to having children. “A women who rejects motherhood, who refrains from being around the house, however successful her working life is, is deficient, is incomplete,” he said. “Rejecting motherhood means giving up on humanity.”

When he first emerged on the Turkish stage, Erdogan was considered a moderate Islamist who could keep turbulent popular opinion in check and a restive, politicized military under control; bring peace with Turkey’s Kurds; and modernize his nation and lead it fully into the European Union.

Unfortunately, those hopes have been disappointed. His career as mayor of Istanbul, prime minister in 2003-14, and now president has been marked by a gradually increasing authoritarianism and radicalism, accompanied by a sense of his own grandeur that culminated in the construction of a grandiose, 1,000-room presidential palace at a reported cost of $700 million.

He arrests and jails critics by the dozens, harangues the West and regularly accuses opponents of plotting against the government. After a period of peace with the Kurds, he recently signed a bill lifting immunity from elected legislators, a possible first step to forcibly ejecting a pro-Kurdish party from Parliament.

His clout resides in Turkey’s strategic location on the northern edge of Syria, and its borders with Iraq and Iran. It acts as a bulwark against the spread of Middle East chaos, and provides refuge to 2.7 million Syrian refugees, more than the rest of the world combined. It demands a high price for its help: in return for co-operating with Europe in stemming the flow of migrants, Turkey will get billions of dollars in aid and a pledge to speed visa- free access to the EU for Turks.

Relations with Turkey pose a particular challenge for Canada’s Liberals, who are prone to a “see- no- evil” world view under Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion’s ambiguous doctrine of “responsible conviction.” Ottawa has a duty to recognize Turkey’s human rights abuses, even as it pursues remedies to the refugee crisis. Canada has soldiers in Iraq helping Kurds, whose grievances and territorial claims extend to Turkey as well as Syria. Canadian special forces working with the Kurds have worn their flag on their sleeves, and Kurdish leaders are pressing Ottawa for heavy weapons to fight ISIL, but which could also be used eventually to gain independence from Turkey.

In geopolitics, there is sometime no choice but to compromise. Canada needs to continue working with Turkey. But we should be fully aware of who and what we’re dealing with, and make clear that cooperation does not include acceptance of prejudice and persecution.