Turkey's political elite would have the world believe that the country's democracy faces threats from all sides--Kurdish separatists in the east, menacing Greeks to the west, the specter of Islamic fundamentalism lurking everywhere.
What last month's earthquake exposed, however, was an indifferent political elite that is itself the greatest threat to democratic institutions as well as to the growth of civil society in Turkey. The challenge facing Turkey's political elite now is to open the political debate to new forces that will demand the honesty and efficiency that the current political class has been unable to deliver.
In the past, the government has creatively--but successfully--portrayed potential challengers as enemies of the state. Kurdish nationalists were ruthlessly repressed, even forbidden to speak their own language. Military leaders often dramatized minor disputes with Greece to distract attention from domestic issues. And Islamist politicians have been sentenced to long prison terms on trumped-up charges for speaking out.
The government's campaign to discredit or outright eliminate its enemies found widespread support among ordinary Turks, many of whom were looking for scapegoats to blame for the social and economic injustices that pervade Turkish society.
The earthquake, however, changed everything. While the government struggled to cope with the disaster, the state's traditional enemies came through. For the first time, truly independent forces--the very ones the government accuses of undermining the state--enjoyed public support. Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan surprised almost everyone by unilaterally calling for his guerrilla forces to suspend their campaign against the Turkish state.
Greece was among the first of Turkey's neighbors to offer massive earthquake assistance; Athenian relief workers even pulled several Turks out from under their collapsed homes. Greek leaders then made an extraordinary offer to relinquish Greece's veto on European Union development and even EU membership for Turkey; one nationalist newspaper was so moved that it plastered "Thank you, friends" in Greek across its front page.
Finally, Islamist groups displayed great courage and superb organizational skills in delivering massive quantities of quake aid well before the government acted. Within hours, relief workers proudly displaying Islamic symbols were operating soup kitchens, providing medical care and handing out tents to earthquake victims. These gestures stood in stark contrast to the government's anemic relief efforts.
