Friday, December 28, 2007

Can Turks be trusted with their own future?

Although in the generations that have passed since Atatürk built a new and much more developed nation on the debris of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey advanced in high standards in any ways, nowadays the system seems inconsistent in Turkey since democracy has almost become the tyranny of the majority and the ruling elite. Obviously there have been made many changes in economic, political and social means in Turkey in order to accomplish the standards of the West. Even though Turkish people were not used to a democratic system, the system has fit in the course of time. However, in the last decade the ideology also changed and the future of Turkey became more imperceptible because there are still some people who sympathize to monarchy and prefer to be managed by authorities without questioning. Actually it is the allowance of the public via the democracy. Today, in Turkey all decisions are made by the “ruling elite” who were elected by the majority of the public and those represent all 80 million people in domestic and international assemblies. The “ruling elite” is satisfied with the aspect of the majority and refuses to embrace with the educated, self-confident and intellectual populace of Turkey. Therefore, it means, how much mature or immature the Turkish people are, the “ruling elite” also that mature or immature. In this case the democracy works. Some Turkish people are aware of this warped formation. According to Kinzer, those people do not think that Turkey is ready for complete democracy. The divergence of opinion is a result of pluralistic society of Turkey. Moreover, today, the ones who are not used to democratic system or do not want to administer according to democratic rules on account of their beliefs and traditions constitute the majority. Therefore, it seems a bit fearful for Turkey’s future since besides it is a “fragile creation” as Kinzer says, the public is not ready for true democracy because a large group of people is not mature enough to realize that the “ruling elite” continues to make all important decisions by not applying all principles of democracy; so that it is rather early to say that Turks can be trusted with their future.

1 comment:

Sonja Tack said...

Some comments:

1. In the first complex sentence, the clause beginning with "Turkey advanced..." should come AFTER the word "Although" at the beginning of the paragraph and should be followed by "in the generations..."

2. There are some parts that don't make complete sense: "democracy has almost become the tyranny of the majority and the ruling elite"; "Actually it is the allowance of the public via the democracy"; "The “ruling elite” is satisfied with the aspect of the majority".

3. You are obviously trying to construct a complicated argument here, which results in a few inconsistencies. On the one hand, you are saying that many people prefer to be "ruled" due to their traditions and beliefs, yet at the end you seem to say that these people are too immature to realise they are being ruled. Which is it? Moreover, what about people who do not think that way? Aren't they ready to embrace democracy?

4. I absolutely love the phrase "warped formation". A great way to describe it!

A very interesting read overall.

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