TURKEY

The recent riots and ongoing civil unrest in Turkey should act as a reminder that the British ruling class, along with the EU hierarchy too, are keen to admit Turkey into the EU, despite Turkey being Muslim and despite the vast bulk of its territory and population being in Asia and not Europe.

Occasional discontent is not unusual in any state. But the schism that has been shown in Turkish society is relevant to the desirability of Turkish admission into the EU and is relevant in assessing the wisdom of the mantra of the British ruling class that Turkey must join.

Turkey has been a Western ally since the Second World War. Following the end of the  Ottoman Empire after the First World War, Turkey was keen to develop its Western status, adopting 'western culture, nationalism, secularism and republicanism'. Kemel Ataturk introduced sweeping reforms including the abolishment of the Islamic caliphate, legal reforms, women's rights, the Latin alphabet, and new dress codes [such as the banning of the fez and headscarves] as well as educational, political and economic reforms including a firm commitment to being a secular state despite 97% of the population being Muslim. The view was that: 'Civilization is European civilization. There is no other one'. The Kemalist version of secularism is one in which Islam is subject to state control.

This strategy needs to be properly evaluated. As the Austrian politician Franz Fischler stated:

'The role of religion in a society is fundamental in a democratic state. A vast majority in Europe support the division between church and state and believe secularization to be a part of modern Europe, with no religion enjoying public preference. This is not the case in Turkey. Despite Ataturk's legacy, secularism is not engrained in Turkish culture. Islam enjoys public preference and secularism has to be and will continue to have to be (imperfectly) enforced. While there is no formal freedom of religion, there are implementation difficulties and lack of representation of religious minorities in state apparatus. It is a fact that the role of religion is not settled in Turkey, and will not be for a long time.'

The Kemalists managed to enforce secularism via a Constitutional Court which was established in 1962 and backed by the military. In the last resort, the military would mount a coup to take control, implement whatever measures were necessary to restore order, before returning the country back to the control of an elected government [there have been coups in 1960, 1980, a 'post modern' coup in 1997 when the military orchestrated opposition to the Islamist government and brought it down, and in alleged 'e-coup' in 2007 with the publication by the military of an online manifesto].

The military has conducted several purges of the armed forces and between January 1995 and August 2000 745 officers were expelled for ideological reasons. When the mayor of Sincan called for the reintroduction of Sharia at an anti-Israeli demonstration attended by the Iranian ambassador who gave an anti-Western speech, the army responded by sending an armoured column through the centre of Sincan. The mayor was arrested and the Iranian ambassador was deported.

The Constitutional Court has more recently been reformed with many new members appointed by both parliament and the president, and its powers have been amended. The military has been subordinated to the control of elected politicians as part of the process of EU accession. Paradoxically, the Kemalists who had originally favoured membership of the EU as part of their Europeanization ideals, have become sceptical given that membership requires the removal of the military control and that of the Constitutional Court which have guaranteed Turkish secularism; meanwhile, the Islamists have become keener on membership, to which they had originally been hostile, as a means of removing the power of the military and that of the Constitutional Court, and thus enable them to pursue their Islamist objectives unfettered. In EU circles, the Kemalist elite are seen as an obstacle to Turkey's admission into the EU.

More than 20 political parties have been banned since the 1960s. In 1998, the  Welfare Party was banned for failing to respect secularist principles. The party leader and five other lost their political rights for a period of five years. The successor Islamist Party of Virtuousness, which had won 15.4% of the votes in the following general election, was likewise banned with several more parliamentarians losing their rights and the party's assets being seized. It was out of this ban that the current Turkish prime minister, Erdogan and Gul [now prime minister and president respectively], having served 4 months in prison, split and formed the Justice and Development Party [AKP], which was defined as a 'republican Muslim party'. The AKP members styled themselves as 'Muslim Democrats' to mirror the Christian Democrats in European countries. The AKP won an absolute majority in a general election of 2002 following an economic crisis in which 2million people had lost their jobs.  This majority enabled the AKP to change the constitution.

Erdogan himself is a committed Islamist, although a reformer too. He has made anti-Semitic comments. When mayor of Istanbul he tried to ban alcohol and also tried to segregate men and women on public transport. He has further previously stated that it is impossible to be secular and a Muslim. The AKP has been subject to investigation by the Constitutional Court, but escaped a ban due to an insufficient majority. The Constitutional Court overturned the AKP's attempt to lift the ban on headscarves at universities.

50% of the Turkish workforce is employed in agriculture. There are more than 3million farms, the overwhelming majority of which are small with many barely able to support their owners. The admission of Turkey into the EU would increase the number of farms in the EU by 41% and almost double the agricultural workforce. If Turkey's agriculture were to be modernized under the CAP then there would be a major release of workers from agriculture who would seek employment elsewhere and would need to exploit the EU's free movement rules.

In 2003, in 3 regions in eastern Anatolia incomes ranged from between 7% and 16% of the EU average. Living standards in eastern and southeastern Anatolia, roughly 20million people, are comparable to Africa with an annual income of $400-500 per capita and in 2007 it was estimated that 539,000 people were close to starvation.

In the period 1995-2000, GDP per capita in terms of purchasing power parity remained at around 28% of the EU average. In 2003, 20% of households received only 6% of the total disposable income, while the richest 20% received 48%. The income level in the eastern part of Turkey was only 53% of national average, and between 20% and 50% of national average for 3 regions in eastern Anatolia.

On admission to the EU, Turkey would be the largest country geographically and with a population of 75million would be the largest after Germany in population size. 10% of the EU's population would be Turkish on accession. The high birth rate means that the Turkish population would become the largest in the foreseeable future and is forecast to reach 99-106million by 2050.

In rural areas, 44% of women are illiterate and in urban areas the figure is 76%. Arranged marriages are the norm in rural areas and it is not uncommon that the couples do not even know each other before their wedding. One of Erdogan's reforms is that changes to the penal code mean that rapists can no longer escape prosecution by marrying their victims. Up until 2005 those who committed gang rape would not be prosecuted if one of them married their victim. Rape is now designated a violation of personal rights and not simply as an offence against social morality. In 2012, Turkey ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

Nevertheless, Erdogan remains an Islamist. He has condemned abortion as 'murder'. He has stated that Turkish women should have 5 children each. He is opposed to caesarean operations as they limit women to 2 children only. There have been demonstrations in response with women chanting: 'AKP, keep your hands off my body'. AKP supporters are promoted in preference to secularists, for example in the judiciary.

The present unrest in Turkey should be viewed sympathetically as that country tries to reconcile its Kemalist urban sections of its population with the fundamentalist and poorer rural population, during a period of constitutional change. One century after Kemal Ataturk began the process of trying to transform Turkey into being a secular European country, the country is still riven by its Islamist instincts.

The policy, keenly advanced by the Tories, to get Turkey into the EU is grossly irresponsible and is not in the interests of this country. The Tory policy to supposedly control immigration is completely irreconcilable with the determination to bring Turkey into the EU and keep Britain a member of the EU. In truth, Tory policy is not only to maintain mass immigration but to increase it dramatically.

TURKEY

Below is the text of a letter published in the Daily Mail:

People in Turkey are fed up with Prime Minister Erdogan's authoritarian policies. The issues run far deeper than protests against demolishing a park. The past ten years have been a nightmare; one can feel increasing despotism in all aspects of daily life.

The Turkish media is under incredible censorship. The TV channel owners are big conglomerates with various business interests. To preserve their good relations with the government they're keeping a low profile.

Under pressure from the government, many TV presenters, producers and journalists have lost their jobs. Ordinary people are finding it difficult to get any news reports they can trust.

There are record numbers of journalists in prison. For five years, high numbers of intellectuals, doctors, scientists, authors and generals – even elected members of parliament – are being kept in jail for long periods, awaiting trial.

Last year, 85 state schools in Istanbul were converted into religious schools without the parents being given advanced notice. This came as a shock to us, but few newspapers or TV stations covered the story.

Some people say all state middle and high schools will become religious schools in the near future.

The arts are in a very dark place. Erdogan wants to abolish all state or municipally funded theatres. His party dislikes statues and is collecting them on various excuses and placing them in warehouses instead of displaying them in public squares.

His policies impact on all aspects of life, including fashion. He even wanted to decide how Turkish Airlines' hostesses should dress.

Many believe he and his followers don't want women in the business environment. He used to say Turkish women should have three children and has recently updated this to five – leaving no career path for women.

He and his party don't want our nation to celebrate our national public days, such as Republic Day (October 29 in Turkey), commemorating the roots of the secular Republic's foundation. Erdogan and President Gul (his lifelong friend) always find excuses not to participate.

Taksim Square represents the foundation of the Republic of Turkey. They want to ruin Taksim Square, which means, symbolically, to ruin the roots of our Republic.

Erdogan even wants to dictate what we can drink. Municipalities won't renew restaurants' alcohol licences.

He and his party are acting alone in trying to bring in a new constitution. 'Two drunken people established the Republic's constitution,' he says.

You can imagine what people in Turkey think about someone talking about our Republic's founding fathers in that way.

Erdogann and his party are putting everything in Turkey into a religious orbit – and the use of force by the police is too excessive.