Turkish 'prohibition' culture explained
A political culture that utilizes "bans" more frequently deepens as the government fails to provide political solutions in Turkey.
I do not watch TV often. However, I try to catch a political discussion program on CNN Turk that features four or five pundits from different political perspectives analyzing current issues. On March 27, as I was watching Al-Monitor columnist Kadri Gursel criticize yet another gag order on the Turkish press, another Al-Monitor contributor, Nagehan Alci, burst out at Gursel, “You have defied the ban by reading this article. I am ashamed to be on the same program with traitors.” It is mind-boggling to see a journalist defend a ban on freedom of the press, yet it is not rare in contemporary Turkey.
Indeed, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has achieved world notoriety by first banning Twitter, then YouTube. (Oddly, even some of his party members defy the ban.) This is just the latest in Erdogan’s long list of “prohibited” acts. From alcohol sales to cesarean operations to co-ed housing for college students, Erdogan has been awfully eager to generate bans. More perplexing to many Turks — especially the younger generation — is how he gets away with arbitrary legislation. There are several interrelated factors that adequately answer this question, but a partial reason is Turkish political culture. This, of course, predates the Justice and Development Party (AKP) administration of the last decade.
Consecutive Turkish governments have ruled with “bans” of one sort or another. When an administration fails to provide solutions to collective problems, its propensity to introduce “new and improved” prohibitions increases. The struggles of nascent Turkish democracy can be told as a history of complicated bans, whether economic, social, cultural or political. What cannot be controlled smoothly has been banned legally. Yet, bans have rarely helped resolve collective dilemmas.
A good example of this would be the Supreme Electoral Council’s detailed regulations for the upcoming elections. At over 3,000 words, the law limits election campaigns at different stages. For example, 10 days prior to the March 30 election day is the last day opinion polls can be published. After that, the press is banned from sharing surveys that may affect voters' decisions. Despite the latest democratization package allowing the use of the letters X, W and Q — particularly to help with the writing of Kurdish — the election campaign regulations clearly stipulate that all campaign material should be in Turkish.
