Political infidelity
It might be only natural to break political allegiances over a period of time, but how can it be judged as moral if a gentlemen’s agreement between a ruling party and the main opposition on a specific issue is broken by either of the two sides half-way through — in our case at the very last moment — the legislation process?
The behavior of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) leadership and some of its conservative deputies regarding the Penal Code reform was nothing short of political adultery, which has not only earned them nothing but also has inflicted irreparable damage on themselves as well as on this country.
The AKP has been keen ever since it came to power in a landslide victory in the November 2003 elections to avoid being described at home and abroad as a party with an Islamic background or having Islamic roots. They have been trying to make everyone believe that the AKP was a "center-right" or "conservative" party trying to make liberal inroads.
The adultery law deception was well done, staged not only for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) but also for the benefit of the entire Turkish press and the European Union. With that deception — a key weapon of political Islam throughout the ages — the AKP has proved that it’s an Islamist party very much in line with the parties headed by its former political mentor, Necmettin Erbakan.
As of Thursday, the entire international press had started referring to the AKP as a "party with Islamic roots." But that’s not the only damage the AKP’s latest campaign of deception has inflicted. The EU Commission, which will be unveiling its Turkey Progress report — crucial for the country getting a date to start accession talks at the December council meeting — expressed skepticism, if not alarm, in comments made Friday on the developments in Turkey.
The AKP has not only tarnished its own image and relegated itself once again to the "party with Islamic roots" description, it has also seriously damaged Turkey’s reliability in the EU. The adultery tragicomedy demonstrated as well a divide between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.
What happened Thursday — which subsequently led to the withdrawal of the Penal Code reform bill from Parliament’s agenda later in the evening — was a demonstration of infidelity on the part of Erdogan towards Gul. The premier without any hesitation demolished a gentlemen’s agreement made by Gul with CHP leader Deniz Baykal that the adultery issue would be avoided during the Penal Code reform debates.
Since the deal with the CHP was unilaterally abrogated by Erdogan, Gul retreated into silence and flew yesterday morning to New York to attend U.N. General Assembly meetings.
The impact of Erdogan’s infidelity to Gul as well as to the CHP and the EU will be revealed in the weeks to come, but what is certain is that nothing will be the same in the ruling party, in relations between the ruling and opposition parties and in Turkish-European ties until the scar left by this unfaithful act is somehow removed.
