Friday, October 12, 2012
Etyen Mahçupyan
The back-to-back speeches given by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the recent Justice and Development Party (AK Party) congress and then by President Abdullah Gül in Parliament have triggered some vocal comparisons.
These types of analyses have been very popular for a while now in the secular media. Some of the same voices who just five years ago lent support to the political intervention carried out by the General Staff headquarters over the Internet, without even a vague attempt to recall the past, are now voicing support for Gül. Actually though, the five years that have passed since that Internet intervention have changed neither Erdoğan nor Gül at all. The prime minister is a character who draws strength from his own charisma, who puts no distance between his stance as a politician and as a human and who does not shy away from reactive behavior. As for the president, he is careful, with a personality that is somewhat distanced and likes to listen and hear things. There are actually no great differences between them when it comes to their shared desire to integrate the sensitivities of Islamic factions with the global world system. Both men have voter blocs that they appeal to and to whom they listen, and actually, their dual stances seem to come together in one united bloc.
These types of analyses have been very popular for a while now in the secular media. Some of the same voices who just five years ago lent support to the political intervention carried out by the General Staff headquarters over the Internet, without even a vague attempt to recall the past, are now voicing support for Gül. Actually though, the five years that have passed since that Internet intervention have changed neither Erdoğan nor Gül at all. The prime minister is a character who draws strength from his own charisma, who puts no distance between his stance as a politician and as a human and who does not shy away from reactive behavior. As for the president, he is careful, with a personality that is somewhat distanced and likes to listen and hear things. There are actually no great differences between them when it comes to their shared desire to integrate the sensitivities of Islamic factions with the global world system. Both men have voter blocs that they appeal to and to whom they listen, and actually, their dual stances seem to come together in one united bloc.
