Turkey’s Moral Majority Tests Its Power
With a series of moves such as the limitation of alcohol sales and a kissing ban, perceived as strong signs of social paternalism following the military tutelage, Turkey is being dragged into a refreshed Kulturkampf.
Political drifting and the lack of strategic vision on democratization is forcing the stitches of Turkey’s social fabric. Those stitches are hardly as strong as they are thought to be, no stronger than the commitment of social actors to democratization. Given the tensions along the Iran-Iraq-Syria belt, they are in fact as thin as a hair.
A series of developments that occurred in quick succession has sharpened social polarization in an equally short time: the restrictive law on alcohol sales and consumption that the government rushed through parliament, the “ban on kissing in public” resurrected suddenly by municipal authorities, the 14-month jail sentence for “insulting religious values” ruled against Turkish-Armenian intellectual Sevan Nisanyan, following a similar ruling against pianist Fazil Say, and the demolition of the iconic Emek Cinema amid violent street protests.
What really aggravates the situation is the fact that, barring some liberals, moderate religious intellectuals and politicians who claim to be the driving force of change in Turkey have overwhelmingly rationalized those developments or lent them support.
Two years ago, the botched air raid at Uludere that killed 34 Kurdish villagers was followed by a largely inconclusive attempt to ban abortion. Some claim the alcohol restrictions are now a similar move to alleviate pressure on the government over the Re yhanli incident. But this time, the situation seems different and can hardly be played down.
