By MICHAEL RUBIN*
American Enterprise Institute
There are few countries that have plummeted in press freedom ratings so far or so fast as Turkey. Therefore, it was a bit of a surprise late last week when Turkey’s constitutional court ordered the release of two journalists because their constitutional rights had been violated.
When the lower court proceeded to release the two journalists, Turkey’s bombastic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said they should have resisted the decision of the constitutional court and kept the journalists in prison. Thus, he openly defied Article 153 of the constitution which declares that the decisions of the constitutional court should be binding on everyone and every government arm.
This is not the first time that Erdoğan has urged disregard for the constitution and law. When he talked to kaymakams (provincial district governors) in Turkey a few weeks ago, he told them that they can disregard the legal system if circumstances dictate.
Of course, there have long been warning signs about Erdoğan’s disdain for the constitution and law. Prior to his premiership and presidency, he famously quipped that “Democracy is like a street car: you ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off.”
Then there was the statement by his parliamentary speaker (subsequently promoted to deputy prime minister) Bülent Arınç who, a decade ago, suggested in response to a constitutional court veto that the party use its supermajority to abolish the court.
The Turkish military once was the guarantor of the Turkish constitution. Whether or not that was a wise responsibility for the military, the simple fact is that it failed at its job. So too did numerous diplomats who refused to see the writing on the wall with regard to Erdoğan’s true intentions.
There are no shortage of good constitutions in the world. The problem is that so many governments willfully ignore them. By joining them, Erdoğan has put Turkey firmly in the company of states like Syria, Russia, and Iran rather than the European community to which Turkish officials still pay lip service. Diplomacy is no substitute for reality.
If Turkey’s leader believes law is optional and does not apply to him, then it is long past time to acknowledge Turkey for the banana republic is has become, recognize that it is a liability rather than asset to NATO, and support European leaders who might want to slam the door shut on Turkey’s European aspirations.
*Michael Rubin is a former Pentagon official whose major research areas are the Middle East, Turkey, Iran and diplomacy. Rubin instructs senior military officers deploying to the Middle East and Afghanistan on regional politics, and teaches classes regarding Iran, terrorism, and Arab politics on board deploying U.S. aircraft carriers. Rubin has lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen, both pre- and post-war Iraq, and spent time with the Taliban before 9/11. His newest book, Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes examines a half century of U.S. diplomacy with rogue regimes and terrorist groups.