ANKARA: Tayyip Erdogan, repentant firebrand, now the most powerful politician in Turkey, stands in the shadows of the Vatican, papal robes hanging awkwardly about his shoulders. “Enough now,” an aide whispers in his ear. “I’m sure they all believe you’ve changed.”
Admirers and foes alike may chuckle at the media cartoon image of Erdogan’s Rome visit. Underlying it is a deadly earnest drive by Turkey’s new leader to “sell” his country as a European Union member while marketing himself, at home and abroad, as a moderate Muslim democrat at ease with Western, Christian allies.
His political survival, months or years after his poll victory, will depend ultimately on his success on both fronts. In the undergrowth of the militant Turkish secularist establishment there lurk many hazards, seen and unseen.
The Greek daily Ethnos said Erdogan had come to Athens this week with a “European face” and spoke a direct, friendly language that set him apart from the often combative approach of Turkish leaders in the past.
Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party (AKP) swept to power in polls amid anger over economic crisis and graft, knows the view of long-time rival and NATO ally Greece could be crucial when the EU holds a Copenhagen summit in three weeks.
But besides Greece and Italy his current tour of European capitals, just days after his government assumed office, takes in London, Berlin, Madrid, Dublin, Brussels and Strasbourg.
In arguing his pro-Western credentials, Erdogan might cite by contrast the travels of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, belonging to a religious party who visited Iran, Libya, Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia and Nigeria. A year after taking office, in 1997, he was eased from power by an army-led pressure campaign — what one general called the “fine tuning of democracy”.
It is a legacy Erdogan, whose AKP has its roots in Erbakan’s Welfare party, must shake off in the eyes of sceptical generals.
THE AMERICAN FRIENDS: Erdogan, who announced a crackdown on police torture and a raft of EU-targeted rights reforms in a government declaration this week, is pressing cautious EU leaders to set a firm date for the start of entry talks.
“If there’s a negative decision, this will put butter on the bread of those who want to sabotage our European ambitions,” he told businessmen in Madrid.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi argues Turkey should be given a 2003 date for entry talks. Greece’s Simitis, while pressing Erdogan for swift action on a UN-sponsored settlement plan for Cyprus, signalled he might approve.
But there are many in Europe who believe Turkey would never meet political conditions, not in five years, six or seven.
Turkey’s detractors cite its demographic dynamics and cultural diversity — code for high birth-rate and Muslim identity. They are also wary of a country bordering on the wilder climes of the Caucasus, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The strong role of the military in politics also causes alarm.
Germany, with its vast Turkish immigrant population, remains generally wary of its EU dreams. Some German newspapers appeared better disposed after Erdogan’s brief visit to Berlin.
“Erdogan’s party has religious roots but a global vision called the EU,” said the liberal Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “What Turkey has failed to do over decades, reach a democratic par with Europe, the AKP head aims to do as quickly as he can.”—Reuters
