Turkey’s Growing Pains
It’s easy to characterize the disorders in Istanbul’s Gezi Park and elsewhere in Turkey as a “Turkish Spring” — mass demands for democracy in yet another Middle East country. But these tumultuous events, rather than a sign of failure of democracy in Turkey, might demonstrate quite the opposite — an affirmation of the further maturing of Turkish politics, now resilient enough to experience periods of public discontent and actually strengthen participatory democracy.
Wishful thinking? Not quite. There are multiple reasons why Taksim Square is worlds apart from Egypt’s Tahrir Square, not least of which is that the demonstrations are not against some entrenched dictatorship, but against a prime minister who has won three successive free and fair elections.… Seguir leyendo »