Persistence Leads to Power for Islamic Leader of Turkey

Turkey’s 73-year-old secular republic is taking a step into the unknown with new Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, leader of the pro-Islamic Welfare Party and one of the country’s most resilient public figures.

Just a few years ago, his rivals would laugh mockingly at Erbakan’s colorful turns of phrase and speeches about the value of Islam.

But since parliament voted confidence in his government Monday, the smiles have belonged to the 69-year-old Erbakan.

Erbakan has long had his eye firmly on one objective: winning power for the Islamic faithful in a secular state that has closed down two of his parties, forced him into exile and even sent him to jail.

Analysts agree that as prime minister he will do everything he can to stay on top until the next elections, expected in 2000.

He has already soft-pedaled controversial elements of his pro-Islamic agenda to win over powerful institutions such as the army and big business, as well as the emerging middle class.

“Nobody knows exactly what will happen, but he’s a pragmatist who wants to stay in power. He’s not short-termist, which is unique in Turkish politics. Erbakan is certainly no worse than those who went before him,” said one Western diplomat in Ankara, the Turkish capital.

Turkey’s Western allies heard further reassurances Tuesday at a lunch for NATO, European and other ambassadors hosted by Erbakan’s coalition partner and new foreign minister, Tansu Ciller, a former prime minister. She reiterated that Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, remains committed to eventual integration with the European Union and will respect “without exception” its international treaties and engagements.

The new government’s first action Tuesday was to repeal controversial prison legislation Tuesday that had led to hundreds of hunger strikes. Then it granted a pay raise of 50% to all civil servants and pensioners, with more for the security forces.

Erbakan did not comment on how his depleted treasury will pay for this, saying only, “Turkey is a rich country.” But the Welfare Party’s platform hinted at new taxes on the wealthy.

“It’s not the end of the world,” said Hasan Cemal, who as a senior commentator for the popular daily Sabah had strongly criticized the Welfare Party. “I’m not clear about his ultimate intentions. But this is a legitimate government; they have played by the rules. In a way, after all the coups we have had, having a Welfare government is a sign of our democratic maturity.”

Doubts about Erbakan’s intentions stem from aspects of his extraordinary 30-year march to power and reflect a lingering tension in Turkey between secular modernists whose political ancestors founded the republic in 1923 and others who long for the Islamic civilization of the once-great Ottoman Empire.

Those doubts focus on the role of Islam in modern politics, Erbakan’s authoritarian nature, his friendly overtures to hostile regimes in neighboring Syria, Iraq and Iran, his old-fashioned view of women and his record of never voluntarily giving up anything over which he has managed to take control.

In 1969, police had to eject him from the headquarters of the powerful Turkish Union of Chambers of Commerce, where Erbakan had installed himself after declaring he had won a disputed election that was ruled illegal. As deputy prime minister in 1974, he blocked peace negotiations over Cyprus by opposing the surrender of any territory captured during a Turkish intervention that year.

Descended from a line of minor notables of the Ottoman Empire and the son of an Ottoman judge, Erbakan says he has fulfilled his Islamic obligation to pray every day since the age of 13. He studied in Germany as a diesel-ignition systems engineer and insists that his Islam is democratic and modern.

Turkish secularists, however, say it is impossible to modernize a religion whose laws are, in theory, immutably based on the Koran, sent by God through Muhammad for the Arabs of Mecca 1,300 years ago. They believe that the Welfare Party has a secret fundamentalist agenda.

But those who believe that the Welfare Party is interested only in Islam have been proved wrong by Welfare’s generally successful, non-ideological performance in charge of many local governments since 1994, including those in Ankara and Istanbul, the country’s commercial and cultural center.

So far, most Turks have reacted calmly to Erbakan’s coming to power. And for years, conservative Turkish politicians have been overtly pro-Islamic themselves.

Even some secularists admit that the Welfare Party has not been all bad.

“The Welfare Party municipality in Istanbul is almost better than the ones before. They give us free billboards and venues and are very cooperative,” said Nilgun Mirze, a director of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, which organizes a series of music, jazz, film, art and photography festivals in the city each year featuring everything from Islamic fundamentalist films to erotica.

“We are not censored at all, and in fact we no longer rely much on the state. They give just 8% to 10% of our budget, if we’re lucky,” Mirze said. “The new government cannot change anything; people would not accept it. We are all looking for a new synthesis, part of being a bridge between Europe and Asia.”