Democracy (For Me): Religious and Secular Beliefs in Turkey and Liberal Democracy

Event Recap

Turkish society is in a precarious condition, argues Murat Somer, because its major constituencies see democracy as a means to their own diverse political ends rather than a dynamic process that is an end in itself. Somer, an associate professor of international relations at Koç University in Istanbul, made his case at a lunch colloquium on September 22, just days before returning to Turkey after a fellowship at Harvard.

Somer came to his conclusion through a study of the Turkish media, which plays a crucial role in shaping Turkey’s politics and the tone and content of its public deliberation. He and his research team conducted a methodical content analysis of secular and religious newspapers published from 1996 to 2004, which was supplemented by numerous interviews with the editors and publishers of those newspapers.

Somer’s presentation (based on a forthcoming academic paper entitled “Democracy (for Me): Religious and Secular Beliefs in Turkey and Liberal Democracy”) focused on three core questions: Does Turkish democratization require the existence of moderates both within and outside of religious communities? Does this process require a priori democratic actors, or can democratic values and actors develop through democratization? And can Islamist political actors in Turkey fully embrace liberal democratic values? The answers are interconnected but still uncertain, Somer noted. Still, his research suggests that Turks seeking a robust democracy cannot rely on free elections alone, but must also focus on building a liberal democratic ethos — one that fully respects minority rights, among other things — among citizens of all religious commitments and political persuasions.