{"id":29361,"date":"2023-07-13T07:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T04:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eliamep.lncdoo.com\/to-neo-ypourgiko-symvoulio-tis-tourkias-dianooumenoi-kai-anthropoi-tou-kratous-os-epicheirisiakoi-paragontes-tou-erntogan-evangelos-aretaios\/"},"modified":"2024-08-28T11:07:23","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T08:07:23","slug":"to-neo-ypourgiko-symvoulio-tis-tourkias-dianooumenoi-kai-anthropoi-tou-kratous-os-epicheirisiakoi-paragontes-tou-erntogan-evangelos-aretaios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/to-neo-ypourgiko-symvoulio-tis-tourkias-dianooumenoi-kai-anthropoi-tou-kratous-os-epicheirisiakoi-paragontes-tou-erntogan-evangelos-aretaios\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey\u2019s new Cabinet: intellectuals and \u2018men of state\u2019 as Erdo\u011fan\u2019s operatives &#8211; Evangelos Areteos"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"the-content\"><p><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cErdo\u011fanism\u201d has emerged as the dominant trend in Turkey\u2019s political evolution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Intellectuals as men of state predominate among Erdo\u011fan\u2019s high-ranking civil servants.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The shaping and management of narratives are the key factors behind Erdo\u011fan\u2019s success.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The new Cabinet will guide Turkey towards the fulfillment of the \u201cCentury of T\u00fcrkiye\u201d through a combination of soft and hard power.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Policy-brief-183-Areteos.pdf\">here<\/a> in pdf the Policy brief by <strong>Evangelos Areteos<\/strong>, Research associate at ELIAMEP\u2019s Turkey Programme.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>AFTER A LONG PRE-ELECTION PERIOD dominated by heated confrontations and deep polarization, Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan has been re-elected. His new government presents two main characteristics: first, a renewed and vigorously personalized power; second, a new statist profile.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>President Erdo\u011fan has managed to form a government that fully guarantees the continuation and enhancement of the \u201cCentury of T\u00fcrkiye\u201d narrative, with a combination of \u201coperative intellectuals\u201d, like Hakan Fidan in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ibrahim Kal\u0131n in the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), and \u201coperational state administrators\u201d, like Ali Yerlikaya in the Ministry of Interior and Ya\u015far G<\/em><em>\u00fc<\/em><em>ler in the Ministry of Defense. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>President Erdo\u011fan has managed to form a government that fully guarantees the continuation and enhancement of the \u201cCentury of T\u00fcrkiye\u201d narrative, with a combination of \u201coperative intellectuals\u201d, like Hakan Fidan in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ibrahim Kal\u0131n in the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), and \u201coperational state administrators\u201d, like Ali Yerlikaya in the Ministry of Interior and Ya\u015far G\u00fcler in the Ministry of Defense.<\/p>\n<p>The pro-government media immediately branded the new Cabinet \u201cthe A- Team of the Century of T\u00fcrkiye\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>While Mehmet Simsek, the Treasury and Finance Minister, is in the \u201cA-Team\u201d, he comes across as something of an outsider in this wider narrative and could prove to be a \u201cfunctioning expendable\u201d whose fate is far more dependent on political than purely financial factors.<\/p>\n<h2>\u201cErdo\u011fanism\u201d and men of the state<\/h2>\n<p>Murat Yetkin suggested the term \u201cErdo\u011fanism\u201d (Erdo\u011fanc\u0131l\u0131k) in a recent article<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a>. In it, he explained how the \u201cphenomenon\u201d of Erdo\u011fanism is now independent of the AKP, and that this new ideologico-political \u201cphenomenon\u201d is shaping the political environment in Turkey today.<\/p>\n<p>Yetkin wrote that:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cErdo\u011fan received 49.5% of the vote and the AKP 35.6% in the first round of elections on May 14. In the elections of June 24, 2018, he was elected president with 52.5% of the vote, while the AK Party received 42.5%. The widening gap in the support for Erdo\u011fan and his party was evident on May 14, but we need to analyze the results of May 28 to see the issue more clearly in terms of Erdo\u011fanism rather than Erdo\u011fan and the AK Party\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>And he goes on to argue that:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a way, Erdo\u011fanism means not hesitating to use the means at hand with maximum efficiency, at the risk of violating constitutional and legal limits when necessary. The use of power has two dimensions. One is to win elections and the other to maintain his power\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>Within this logic of what Yetkin describes as \u201cErdo\u011fanism&#8217;s ruthless use of force\u201d, the choice of Hakan Fidan, Ibrahim Kal\u0131n, Ali Yerlikaya and Ya\u015far G\u00fcler can be understood in terms of the further enhancement and institutionalization of the President\u2019s personalized power.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Hakan Fidan and Ibrahim Kal\u0131n have been in Erdo\u011fan\u2019s inner circle for more than a decade. They embody what the pro-government commentator Burhanettin Duran has called the \u201cErdo\u011fan school\u201d of governance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hakan Fidan and Ibrahim Kal\u0131n have been in Erdo\u011fan\u2019s inner circle for more than a decade. They embody what the pro-government commentator Burhanettin Duran<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\"><sup>[2]<\/sup><\/a> has called the \u201cErdo\u011fan school\u201d of governance:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the new Cabinet of the Erdo\u011fan school. It is the team that will work at a high tempo to implement President Erdo\u011fan&#8217;s holistic management of domestic politics, the economy, foreign policy and security over the next five years (\u2026) this alone shows how strong the so-called Erdo\u011fan school is in our political life\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Through the appointments to his new Cabinet, Erdo\u011fan is actually institutionalizing his \u201cholistic management\u201d and power while he is clearly orienting Turkey towards a \u201cstrategic autonomy\u201d embodied by Hakan Fidan and Ibrahim Kal\u0131n.<\/p>\n<p>Soli Ozel<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\"><sup>[3]<\/sup><\/a> notes that Hakan Fidan:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[\u2026] spent 13 years at the head of the Turkish intelligence service and played a significant role in the shaping and implementation of foreign policy, especially towards Syria\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On Ibrahim Kal\u0131n, he notes that:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe appointment as head of the MIT of Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kal\u0131n, who had a\u00a0de facto\u00a0voice in the formulation and implementation of Turkish foreign policy (\u2026) suggests a foreign policy in which intelligence and diplomacy will be in close cooperation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Together with Hakan and Kal\u0131n, who represent the \u201cErdo\u011fan school\u201d in holistc management and foreign policy, President Erdo\u011fan merged the government, meaning his rule, still further with the state through his appointment of Ali Yerlikaya and Yasar G\u00fcler.<\/p>\n<p>By ousting the highly polarizing Suleyman Soylu, who was not a man of the state, (<em>devlet adam\u0131<\/em>), but rather an ambitious politician with his own agenda, and replacing him with the governor (vali) of Istanbul and seasoned civil servant Ali Yerlikaya, Erdo\u011fan sent out a double message: First, that he will not tolerate any political figures in his government, and even less so figures with their own agenda and potentially shifting allegiances (Soylu\u2019s main supporter was Devlet Bah\u00e7eli). And second, that he will rely more and more on men of the state with a clear allegiance to the state as managed and shaped by Erdo\u011fan himself.<\/p>\n<p>While the real reasons behind the removal of Hulusi Akar from the Ministry of Defense and his replacement by the Chief of the General Staff, General Ya\u015far G\u00fcler, remain somewhat unclear, the pattern of endorsing men of the state is again very strong. In this case, it is also consistent, since one general replaced another.<\/p>\n<h2>Operative intellectuals<\/h2>\n<p>Both Hakan Fidan and Ibrahim Kal\u0131n are undoubtedly intellectuals, \u2018thinkers of action and in action,\u2019 and the fact that Erdo\u011fan has such people in his inner circle, together with the head of the Directorate of Communication of the Presidency Fahrettin Altun, has proven to be one of his biggest advantages.<\/p>\n<p>Fidan, Kal\u0131n and Altun are the main public figures who are shaping and managing the narrative of Erdo\u011fan and Turkey, which has proven so effective domestically that S\u00fcleyman Demirel\u2019s famous saying, \u201cThere is no power that an empty pot cannot overthrow&#8221; (\u201cBo\u015f tencerenin y\u0131kamayaca\u011f\u0131 iktidar yoktur\u201d) would no longer appear to hold.<\/p>\n<p>In foreign policy, the same narrative has proven sufficiently efficient to sustain Ankara\u2019s path towards strategic autonomy and to make Turkey an emerging third pole in a broader geography extending from Africa to Pakistan and from Central Asia to the Balkans.<\/p>\n<p>The role both Fidan and Kal\u0131n have played in this endeavor is undisputable.<\/p>\n<p>Having spent his 20s and 30s in the military, including a stint with the intelligence unit of the NATO Rapid Reaction Corps in Germany, and earning a Ph.D. in the Turkish, British and US intelligence services in parallel from prestigious Bilkent University in Ankara, Fidan left the army when the AKP came to power.<\/p>\n<p>Being close to Abdullah G\u00fcl and later to Ahmet Davuto\u011flu, Fidan became the head of the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) in 2003; by the time he left in 2007, the TIKA had vastly expanded its activities and strengthened its presence in sub-Saharan Africa and the Balkans.<\/p>\n<p>Under Fidan, TIKA became the international face of a humanitarian and highly efficient Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>Asked in September 2013 about Turkish aid to Somalia, the Mayor of Mogadishu replied<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\"><sup>[4]<\/sup><\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>\u201cIf I request computers from the UN, they will take months and require a number of assessments. They will spend $50,000 to give me $7,000 of equipment.<br \/>\nIf I request computers from Turkey, they will show up next week.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>After TIKA, Fidan worked with Davutoglu in the Office of the Prime Minister, in which post he\u00a0 gained access to and experience in delicate issues. Then, in 2010, he became the head of the MIT.<\/p>\n<p>Under Fidan, the MIT expanded its activities and was heavily involved in Turkey\u2019s policy on Syria, the Kurdish issue, and the fight against the Gulen network. Fidan and the MIT\u2019s involvement in shaping and managing foreign policy was so significant, the pro-government commentator Abdulkadir Selvi dubbed him the \u201cshadow Minister for Foreign Affairs\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\"><sup>[5].<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fidan \u201cis cerebral and has just the right balance of toughness and diplomatic finesse\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\"><sup>[6]<\/sup><\/a>; he also has a great conceptual capacity that makes him a perfect fit for the narrative-action orientation of Erdo\u011fan\u2019s Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>Fidan\u2019s appointment to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is therefore a clear sign that Turkey intends to pursue and intensify its proactive foreign policy, its quest for strategic autonomy, and its efforts to expand its influence and soft power. It also indicates that both the Ministry and the diplomatic corps will be engaged still more intensely in spreading and implementing the \u201cCentury of T\u00fcrkiye\u201d narrative.<\/p>\n<p>Ibrahim Kal\u0131n has been closely working with Erdo\u011fan since 2002 and is one of the few public figures wjp have remained close to Erdo\u011fan throughout the last two decades.<\/p>\n<p>An academic and an intellectual, Kal\u0131n studied at the University of Istanbul and then at George Washington University, becoming a specialist in intellectual relations and interactions between West and East and an expert in the great Persian Muslim philosopher Mula Sadra.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Having worked closely with Erdo\u011fan, he has developed an impressive apacity for dealing with Western leaders and representatives and has acquired extensive experience in international politics as well as cultural interactions and narratives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Having worked closely with Erdo\u011fan, he has developed an impressive apacity for dealing with Western leaders and representatives and has acquired extensive experience in international politics as well as cultural interactions and narratives.<\/p>\n<p>He was one of the founders of the pro-government think tank SETA, which has been instrumental in providing Ankara\u2019s narratives with their academic and intellectual backbone.<\/p>\n<p>Appointing Kal\u0131n to the MIT clearly signifies that Erdo\u011fan wants one of his most trusted operative intellectuals to lead the Organization through the \u201cCentury of T\u00fcrkiye\u201d, but also to give the MIT a more active role to play within this narrative.<\/p>\n<h2>Operational state administrators<\/h2>\n<p>Yerlikaya at the Ministry of the Interior and G\u00fcler at the Ministry of Defense are both outcomes of the hybridization of state and government under \u201cErdo\u011fanism\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Whereas, traditionally, the Turkish state was an entity independent of the nation\u2019s governments and served for decades as the backbone of the nation, \u201cErdo\u011fanism\u201d is changing this dynamic and replacing it with a cult of personality centred on Erdo\u011fan himself, who is portrayed as the protector and savior of the nation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whereas, traditionally, the Turkish state was an entity independent of the nation\u2019s governments and served for decades as the backbone of the nation, \u201cErdo\u011fanism\u201d is changing this dynamic and replacing it with a cult of personality centred on Erdo\u011fan himself, who is portrayed as the protector and savior of the nation.<\/p>\n<p>Within this framework, the state becomes an accessory to his power, and the new Cabinet is the most obvious manifestation of this change.<\/p>\n<p>Yerlikaya started his carrier in the public administration in the early 90s, and has served as governor in various provinces around Turkey, including the South-East.<\/p>\n<p>Never involved in politics, he has kept a rather low profile in Istanbul, where the tensions between the government and Mayor Ekrem Imamo\u011flu have been growing.<\/p>\n<p>Yerlikaya represents the return of the state in opposition to Soylu who was an ambiguous figure from the realm of politics. However, this return of the state remains under the control of Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n<p>The continuation of the state within \u201cErdo\u011fanism\u201d is also expressed by the presence of Yasar G\u00fcler in the Caninet. A seasoned military commander, he played a key role in Turkey\u2019s military activities in Syria and gained Erdo\u011fan\u2019s trust during the coup attempt of July 15, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Appointing G\u00fcler to the Ministry of Defense shows that Erdo\u011fan has full control over the military and that Turkey will continue to use hard power whenever it is in its interest to do so.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Backed by his new Cabinet, President Erdo\u011fan will lead Turkey towards the fulfillment of the \u201cCentury of T\u00fcrkiye\u201d through a combination of soft and hard power, and by mobilizing ever greater intellectual, material and human resources to achieve this goal.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Backed by his new Cabinet, President Erdo\u011fan will lead Turkey towards the fulfillment of the \u201cCentury of T\u00fcrkiye\u201d through a combination of soft and hard power, and by mobilizing ever greater intellectual, material and human resources to achieve this goal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In the meantime, the new Cabinet will also lead Turkey towards the local elections of march 2024, when the Opposition will make its last-ditch effort to survive by trying to keep control of Istanbul and Ankara, and to introduce a new constitutional agenda.<\/p>\n<p>With Fidan and Kal\u0131n as leading \u201coperative intellectuals\u201d, Turkey will project more power and mobilize all the means at its disposal to fulfill its ambitions by prioritizing the further elaboration of its narrative and its practical implementation on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>As leading \u201coperational state administrators\u201d, Yerlikaya and G\u00fcler will institutionalize \u201cErdo\u011fanism\u201d through the hybridization of the state and government.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/yetkinreport.com\/2023\/06\/29\/erdogancilik-olgusu-artik-adi-konulmali\/\">https:\/\/yetkinreport.com\/2023\/06\/29\/Erdo\u011fancilik-olgusu-artik-adi-konulmali\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahaber.com.tr\/yazarlar\/burhanettin-duran\/2023\/06\/06\/erdogan-okulunun-yeni-kabinesi\">https:\/\/www.ahaber.com.tr\/yazarlar\/burhanettin-duran\/2023\/06\/06\/Erdo\u011fan-okulunun-yeni-kabinesi<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.institutmontaigne.org\/en\/expressions\/turkish-foreign-policy-under-new-management\">https:\/\/www.institutmontaigne.org\/en\/expressions\/turkish-foreign-policy-under-new-management<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu\/journals\/it\/v16i1\/f_0030935_25053.pdf\">https:\/\/ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu\/journals\/it\/v16i1\/f_0030935_25053.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hurriyet.com.tr\/yazarlar\/abdulkadir-selvi\/kabine-degisikligini-nasil-okumali-42278713\">https:\/\/www.hurriyet.com.tr\/yazarlar\/abdulkadir-selvi\/kabine-degisikligini-nasil-okumali-42278713<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.institutmontaigne.org\/en\/expressions\/turkish-foreign-policy-under-new-management\">https:\/\/www.institutmontaigne.org\/en\/expressions\/turkish-foreign-policy-under-new-management<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cErdo\u011fanism\u201d has emerged as the dominant trend in Turkey\u2019s political evolution. Intellectuals as men of state predominate among Erdo\u011fan\u2019s high-ranking civil servants. The shaping and management of narratives are the key factors behind Erdo\u011fan\u2019s success. The new Cabinet will guide Turkey towards the fulfillment of the \u201cCentury of T\u00fcrkiye\u201d through a combination of soft and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":29362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[492,102],"tags":[],"program":[24],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29361"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45280,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29361\/revisions\/45280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29361"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=29361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}