Atatürk and After: Three Perspectives on Political Change in Turkey

Abstract

The retaking of Gezi Park by the Turkish police began on June 11, 2013. The government's aim was to “clear banners from the Atatürk Cultural Centre and the statue of Atatürk.” The center, built in Istanbul's Taksim square in the 1960s, in order to advertise the Western identity of the new Republic, after a military coup, is eventually to be replaced as part of urban redevelopment schemes. Whether Atatürk's general legacy is secure in contemporary Turkey is open to debate. The electoral victory of the AKP party in 2002 had weakened the ability of the secular elite to prevent change. Many Gezi Park protestors saw the AKP's legislation as a growing threat to their lifestyles. Yet the AKP's victory was also seen as a vindication of democracy, and it look little time before a “Turkish model” began to be promoted for the Middle East. The Gezi Park protests raise the question of what really has changed since 2002. This article discusses three books. The first studies Atatürk's ideas. The second, focused more on popular culture, traces changes in identities. The third discusses change in the state-society relationship. The concluding section relates them to the question of democracy in Turkey.