Turkey’s travails
Sunday’s referendum could be seen as a mandate and undercut the nation’s stability.
Leave it to Donald Trump to know — and admire — a budding dictator when he sees one. The president was quick to call and congratulate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey after a narrow majority of citizens approved a referendum on Sunday that greatly expanded his powers. If the questionable results of the referendum hold, and there’s no reason to think they won’t, Turkey’s elected despot will continue following the path of such authoritarian nationalists as Viktor “the Victator” Orban of Hungary, Abdel Fatah al-Sissi of Egypt and Vladimir Putin of Russia.
Here’s the kind of fellow Trump congratulated: Since a failed coup against his government last July, Erdogan has arrested roughly 50,000 people, fired more than 100,000 civil servants, shuttered TV and radio stations and imprisoned journalists and politicians he considers a threat. His goons attacked Turks campaigning against the referendum; some were shot. Many opposition leaders are behind bars.
The referendum abolishes the office of the prime minister and of Turkey’s parliamentary system, while giving Erdogan control over the judiciary and increased powers to make law by decree. Elected prime minister in 2003, Turkey’s latter-day Ataturk (the founder of the republic) will be able to run for two more five-year terms. If the man is still standing by then, he’ll no doubt find a way to stay in office longer. (Perhaps he and an elderly Putin will celebrate their hold on absolute power together.)
Although the changes in Turkey’s constitution won’t take effect until the 2019 presidential election, Sunday’s referendum will be seen as a mandate by a man whose dictatorial drift increasingly undercuts the stability of a NATO nation that has long been a vital link between Europe and the Muslim world. Turkey’s people are deeply divided, their nation’s future clouded.
A wise and thoughtful American president, instead of congratulating the power-hungry despot dismantling Turkish democracy, would have aligned himself with the European Union, whose spokesman on Monday encouraged Turkey “to move closer to the EU again and not to move even further and faster away from us.” The EU, Turkey’s biggest trading partner, also called on Ankara to launch transparent investigations into alleged voting irregularities. Trump, of course, didn’t mention any such concern.
Turkey is a key player in the battle against the Islamic State. The nation also serves as host to more than 3 million Syrian refugees. For those reasons and others, the world needs a strong, stable democracy in Turkey, not a budding dictatorship that’s sure to be a breeding ground for terrorists. Western democracies need to use whatever leverage they can, whether through trade, NATO ties or perhaps sanctions, to curb a would-be dictator. A word of support from the White House for the millions of Turks who long for democracy and the rule of law would have been appropriate, as well. Donald Trump, we’re coming to realize, doesn’t make such calls.