Misperceptions can be very costly

Saturday I wrote in this column that the Gezi Park protests could be a turning point for Justice and Development Party (AK Party) rule as well as for economic stability if the AK Party and particularly the prime minister, refuses to correctly interpret the “dignity” revolt of the youth of Istanbul who are politically unengaged but protective of their individual liberties and style of life.
Prime Minister Erdoğan accusing "conspirators" I am afraid that we will all soon be facing the harmful consequences of this refusal. Indeed, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speech shows that he perceives a wide conspiracy against him, including mysterious local and foreign forces and even includes the infamous “interest rate lobby.” He believes that all those who do not want Turkey to become a powerful nation and play its rightful role in the region -- and even on the world stage – are trying to exploit the sincere and candid protest of young “ecologists” in order to destabilize Turkey. Erdoğan demands that the protests be put to an end and invites these “sincere ecologists” to discuss environmental problems with him. Is this a joke or naïveté? I will let you to decide. At the moment, all the young foreigners who have been caught by the police during clashes have been revealed to be Erasmus students! This does not prove, off course, that “mysterious forces” have been activated. I am sure that there are many who will try to profit from the Gezi Park protests with bloody provocations. That said, the duty of the AK Party government is certainly not to provide grist for the mill of these “mysterious forces,” but to try to put an end to the occupation of Gezi Park through a sincere dialogue and compromise with the young protestors. A remarkable sign in this direction came from the Mayor of Istanbul, Kadir Topbaş when he said last week that the old barracks to be restored will be neither a mall nor a hotel and residence, but a museum. Gezi Park will be partly preserved and an addition will be made to Maçka Park, nearby. This could be a starting point for a compromise. However, the AK Party does not seem to be on the same wavelength, as proven in the prime minister's speeches in Adana and Mersin. We do not know yet how the Gezi Park protest will be ended. But even if the Gezi Park problem is solved peacefully, the essence of the problem will remain. That is, the AK Party's flawed conception of democracy as well as its misperception of the exchange between politics and the economy. Its conception of democracy has been recently made clear by the prominent counselor to the prime minister, Yalçın Akdoğan. I quote: “Solve all the problems of the 50 percent who did not vote for you, but don't solve the problems of those who voted for you. … They want you to build roads, construct dams but not open imam hatip schools!” This assessment is a crude summary of the AK party's understanding of economic development as well as of its social vision. That vision limits the well-being of Turkish society to increasing per capita income and to the improvement of public services while the society should at the same time become more conservative and moral. I was already inclined to interpret the recent faux pas of the AK Party and the arrogant discourse of the prime minister as political messages sent to his conservative electorate; Mr. Akdoğan's assessment confirmed my interpretation. Now, the upheaval in Gezi Park has reminded us of what is lacking in this unhealthy conception and vision: If economic development is not accompanied by expanding individual liberties and by respect for the various ways of thinking and beliefs that exist in Turkish society, political and social clashes will delay and jeopardize that economic development.   The misperception of the AK Party and particularly of Mr. Erdoğan, risks costing Turkey a lot. They should understand that the line between creating a morally sensitive society and its existing pluralism is very tiny. The 50 percent opposed to other 50 percent must absolutely be won over by instituting the liberal democracy that has been crucially lacking in Turkey since its foundation. The AK Party and Mr. Erdoğan should also understand that the good management of an open market economy cannot be based on fears of conspiracies but on intelligent economic policies that respect the rules of an open market economy and on the awareness of its constraints. Speculators can make juicy profits by investing in assets denominated in Turkish lira when the exchange rate and bond interest rates suddenly reach their peaks, but this is never a consequence of conspirators' plots but rather a consequence of clumsy policies. Let me remind you of the infamous interest rate battle of former Prime Minister Tansu Çiller that triggered the 1994 crisis.