Turkey: padlocking politics and religion together for Horn Africa countries

Turkey: padlocking politics and religion together for Horn Africa countries

By Yosief Abraham Z

Turkey is, undoubtedly, exerting its efforts of hiding its obscured faces: secular and modernized in home and remaining the championship of Islamic-politics to countries outside of its horizon.

Embattled itself with frictionally driven policies in the region it is located, Turkey’s eccentric movement to Horn Africa, has been magnetizing. Different from its own policies of secularism which it has enshrined through its 1924 constitution, the country’s movement in Horn Africa has been both eccentric and questionable. As what Turkey has been pursuing is different from the policies it is adhering in managing its home affairs, its presence to Horn Africa make the country stand in the jungles of ramifications.

As the current constitution of Turkey do not shrine and promotes any religious politics or recognizing any religion as official religion of the State, Turkey’s recent trends to Horn Africa, are, however, attempts of padlocking religious politics to the veins of the countries that has opened their gates uncontrollably. Starting with what we have archived in Somalia and the scenarios beyond the paces in Wukro of Tigray, recent visits by Turkey’s iron-fist man to North Sudan and Tunisia, provokes more probe into the marks of the country.

When Eritrea was taking vital lessons from Hassan Al Turabi religious-politics game in Sudan at first hand and, when it was in war with Ethiopia in 1998, 1991 and 2001 respectively, Turkey was also busily tasked with closing the Welfare Party in 1998 and the Virtue Party in 2001. The ultimatum order of the Constitutional Court then emphasized that both parties--Refah Partisi and Fazilet Partisi in Turkish—were in relentless efforts to derail the country’s stability in following secular goverment. “Fostering extremeists nature of Islamism by desecrating Kemalism and secularism thus to redefine the secular nature of the republic, has been grave options by the closed parties," was then the statement read from Turkey.

Back to 1920s, while many countries, from Middle East and North Africa, were striving in assimilating religious politics as solid path to the crossroads of the world politics, Turkey, however, closed the Progressive Republican Party and illegalized its activities on June 3 of 1925 after alleging it of futile attempts to stage anti-secularism activities against the government.

Even the current party of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan—the Justice and Development Party (AKP)—was faced with two closure trials in recent times. Just ten days before the national elections of 2002 and, again, the 2008 cases were reflections of the AKP’s obscured faces: secular and modernized in home and remaining the championship of Islamic-politics to countries outside of its horizon. Had the verdict not been fall by one vote in the 2008 case of the AKP jurisdiction, for sure, 71 members of the current ruling party would have been banned from political activities for five years. Here, therefore, attempts to ‘Islamize’ the politics of Turkey, was the allegation the country’s constitutional courts imposed over AKP. In fact, back then, 10 out of 11 judges agreed that the AKP had become "a center for anti-secular activities", leading to a loss of state funding for the party.

Therefore, Erdogan knows that it is challenging to padlock religious substances to political system of his country at home. The option is exporting to vulnerable states in Horn Africa and Middle East. The role of Turkey in Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia and its stances against Egypt by supporting the banner of the Moslem Brotherhood, are not concealed affairs. If we filtered Erdogan’s speech in different times, we easily comprehend APK party relentless maniac to padlocking religious politics in nations that are selected as good haven and susceptible.

Would this be then fruitful?

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Yosief Abraham Z is Executive Director of HorMid Media and Art Center, and a freelancer journalist for various media. You can contact him at josiabraham29@gmail.com

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