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Turkey's Erdogan claims place in history


AFP: 12/17/2004




ANKARA, Dec 17 (AFP) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, considered a dangerous Islamist firebrand just a few years ago, claimed a place in history Friday as the man who led Turkey through a massive reform process that unlocked the doors of the European Union for his nation.

At a stormy summit in Brussels, EU leaders invited Turkey to start membership talks next year -- a turning point in Turkey's decades-old efforts to modernize and integrate with the West.

The tough conditions attached to the decision spoiled the ultimate party for Erdogan, but he will certainly take credit for bringing his country closer to Europe than ever.

"We did not obtain all that we wanted 100 percent, but we can say that it was a success," an obviously pleased Erdogan said after the summit, during which he bargained hard to soften the terms for Turkey.

Asked to describe his feelings, Erdogan was down-to-earth: "I like to keep my feet on the ground," he said.

A man of charisma, surprise turns and tough talk, the 50-year-old Erdogan rose from the tough streets of Istanbul to the top political post in Ankara by way of a brief stint in jail.

The reforms he spearheaded were so drastic that many skeptics at home and abroad have ceased to question the metamorphosis he claims to have undergone from Islamist hardliner to conservative democrat.

For die-hard critics, however, he remains the rough-hewn man from a poor Istanbul neighborhood, who sticks to conservative prejudices, often fails to control his emotions and knows more about football than foreign affairs.

His image of a pro-EU reformer took a serious blow in September when, out of the blue, he decided to make adultery a jailable offense, a move in which many saw the undertones of Islamic law.

In a belligerent advocacy of the plan, he warned the outraged EU not to meddle in Turkey's affairs, called women protesting against the clause "marginals" and suspended a penal reform crucial to Turkey's EU bid -- only to back down soon afterwards under pressure from Brussels.

Erdogan became Turkey's prime minister in March 2003, several months after his Justice and Development Party came to power and amended laws that had kept their leader on the sidelines of politics since 1997.

Erdogan's career had nosedived that year when he publicly recited a poem containing Islamist messages.

"The mosques are our barracks, their minarets our bayonets, their domes our helmets and the believers our troops," Erdogan, then mayor of Istanbul, told a political rally at a time when tensions ran high between the secularist army and Islamist political movements.

The poem earned him a conviction for religious sedition, a four-month jail term and the temporary loss of most of his political rights.

Erdogan's encounter with political Islam dates back to his university years when he joined the movement of Necmettin Erbakan, who later became Turkey's first Islamist prime minister.

Elected mayor of Istanbul in 1994, Erdogan won popularity with improved communal services that brought some relief to the chaotic city.

But the tide turned in 1997 when the army forced Erbakan to resign after his policies sparked fears that Turkey's pro-Western path was in danger.

Erbakan's Welfare Party was banned and its successor met the same fate in 2001, prompting Erdogan and his "modernist" supporters to rethink their policies.

After he was released from jail, Erdogan disavowed his Islamist views and endorsed Turkey's traditionally pro-Western orientation and secular system.

He remains a practicing Muslim, however: he does not drink alcohol and his wife and daughters wear the Islamic headscarf.

Despite the doubts about his merits, the once poor boy who sold sweets in the street to finance his Koranic studies has his sights set far beyond the prime minister's office.

Aides have recently made overtures in favor of introducing a US-style presidential system for Turkey, a project believed to reflect Erdogan's future vision of himself: an all-powerful president unimpeded by the rough-and-tumble of Turkey's fractured politics.