Ayoon wa Azan (A lesson to Arab Islamists)

Turkey today is giving lessons to Islamist Arab leaders who have been living with a false sense of reassurance. Two weeks ago, I was with some of my Arab journalist colleagues in Turkey, and visited Ankara and Istanbul. I heard pillars of the government there talk about the policies and aspirations of the ruling AKP. At the time, Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was walking around like a king. Today, Erdogan is walking nervously, and is perhaps praying a bit too, as demonstrations in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bodrum and elsewhere have exploded in his face. Before continuing, I would like to note for the record that the ruling party in Turkey has won three honest elections, and achieved an unprecedented feat in the last decade, as the country's economy has grown by 100 percent, with per capita annual income jumping from $3,000 to $11,000. Turkey, and its entire people, have benefited from an economic boom, while surviving the effects of the global economic crisis. All of the above does not absolve Erdogan and his party, however. The government approved the destruction of Gazi Park near Taksim Square in the heart of Istanbul, to build a commercial complex. Environmental activists protested, and held a sit-in, and demonstration. The government responded with an unjustified level of violence; the police used tear gas and water cannons and the protests spread like wildfire. In the process, the AKP’s achievements were lost to what the protestors see as the one-man rule of the party (no one said dictatorial), taking decisions in closed rooms and failing to consult the people. I will now compare the situation to Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood rules, as President Mohammad Mursi celebrates one year in office. The Islamists in Egypt have not achieved any of their promises. In fact, they have done something worse. Every true or imagined problem they inherited by Husni Mubarak has become exacerbated. It is sufficient to mention the economy and security as flagrant examples of this failure. Some of the most important decisions by the president have been deemed unconstitutional by the courts; the regime is in an open war with the judiciary, as it tries to “Islamize” both it and the entire country. In Turkey, the people have risen up for a silly reason against the AKP, which achieved a miracle. In Egypt, the party that has not achieved anything is going ahead with its policy of challenging half of the people, which did not elect it, and challenging the judiciary as well. Does the ruling group in Egypt, or Tunisia, or Libya, understand the Turkish lesson? Let's look at the comparisons; the AKP member of Parliament Sirri Onder said on Twitter, after the police used tear gas against the demonstrators, that some people needed the gas. He reminded me of the star of Egypt’s National Democratic Party, Ahmad Izz, who was proud of winning the dishonest parliamentary elections of 2000. The Parliament controlled by the AKP in Turkey issued a law limiting the sale of alcohol and its availability in bars, even though 83 percent of Turks do not drink alcohol in the first place; consumption of the good is less than in the entirety of Europe, and this is exaggerated as well, since the figures include foreign tourists in Turkey who drink. This reminds me of the smashing of liquor stores and bars in Tunisia, as French, German or Italian tourists will think twice before visiting a country in which they cannot have wine with their meals. The Lord will hold such tourists accountable, not the Tunisian Salafists. Even more important than all of this is the lesson of the army. The Turkish government called on the military to help the police against the demonstrators. I read that the army is not helping the police, but is instead sympathetic with the demonstrators. Will the army in some Arab country wait for the failure of the Islamists in power to reach the point where the people welcome a military coup to save them from their “saviors”? Erdogan reminded me of some Arab rulers in every country in which demonstrators have been described as “conspirators.” There is no conspiracy in Turkey, or in our Arab countries; they are popular movements. However, Erdogan remains smarter than the people we are saddled with. He acknowledged that the police used unjustified force and did not say that the demonstrators had attacked the police; he did not accuse the media of exaggerating its coverage of the demonstrations. He has tried to bring them over to his side, while he has not attacked, and cannot attack, the judiciary. If the successful Turkish officials confront the challenges to their rule, what do our failed Arab officials confront? I do not think they are aware of the importance of the Turkish lesson. If they had such awareness, they would not have failed so miserably, and I seem them paying the price. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.