Who's Side Is Turkey's Erdogan On?
Louis Meixler, The Associated Press, November 25, 2002, ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - On a whirlwind tour of European capitals, Turkey's new leader has been romancing the West - joking with Italy's prime minister and chatting about Turkish music with the head of rival Greece.

The trip is an astonishing turnaround for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the head of Turkey's Islamic-rooted party, a man better known in Turkey for advocating Islamic law and joining party activists in group prayers.

That has led to a key question: Has Erdogan changed to embrace the West and democracy, or is he simply a cunning leader who is using the West to shroud an Islamic agenda?

Erdogan has repeatedly stressed that he sees Muslim Turkey as a bridge between East and West, a secular Muslim state that can help heal the rift between an angry Islamic world and the Christian West.

Those are welcome words in Washington, where Turkey is seen as a key ally in the war against terrorism, a role model of a Muslim country that is secular, democratic and successful.

But critics worry that Erdogan may merely be using the language of democracy to cover an Islamic agenda.

They point out that the young Erdogan was once quoted as saying, "democracy is not an aim but a means to an end" and was later sentenced to four months in prison for challenging the secular state. He also opposed the European Union in the past.

"If he hasn't changed, there will probably come a time when there will be a major confrontation in Turkish society," said Ilter Turan, a political scientist with Istanbul Bilgi University. "I have known of no instance in the past in which the state has lost."

So far, Erdogan has been keen not to upset the establishment. His party has said its priorities are fixing Turkey's ailing economy and entry into the European Union. Erdogan is barred from serving as prime minister because of his conviction, but is clearly the power behind the government.

As his first major action since the Nov. 3 elections, Erdogan is touring the capitals of EU member states, pushing for Turkey's entry. This week he visits Portugal, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Luxembourg

Earlier this month in Rome, Erdogan dined with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who asked him if Turkey's EU membership would be a marriage of convenience or a true union.

Erdogan joked that he wanted a "Catholic wedding" - one that lasts forever.

In Greece, Erdogan offered to trade Aegean music with Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

"Euro-Dogan," the newspaper Eleftherotypia headlined the next day.

Athens' Ta Nea had a cartoon showing Erdogan turning down Simitis' offer of Turkish coffee and asking instead for cappuccino or espresso.

The change is stunning for Erdogan, who started his career as the youth leader of a pro-Islamic party that was later banned by the courts.

Ekrem Sama remembers Erdogan as a young party activist who ensured party leaders were "faithful Muslims."

"We used to take breaks and pray together," said Sama, an Erdogan deputy from 1984-1999.

But Erdogan began to change after he was elected mayor of Istanbul in 1994.

"After he became mayor, we noticed that he paid less attention to a person's religious practices," said Sama.

Observers say Turkey's pro-Islamic movement began to transform in the late 1990s.

That was when Erdogan's pro-Islamic Refah party joined a coalition in parliament and eventually headed the national government. "Before that, the Islamist movement was a radical opposition movement," said Rusen Cakir, the author of "Recep Tayyip Erdogan: The Story of a Transformation." When they came to power "they had to adapt."

Sama says Erdogan began to distance himself from the more traditional Islamic members of the party.

A crucial blow came in 1997 when the military forced pro-Islamic Premier Necmettin Erbakan from power.

Two years later, Erdogan was jailed for reciting a poem the courts considered inflammatory.

"He had to change," Cakir said. "He realized that he could not resist the political system on an Islamic basis."

That led Erdogan to embrace Europe and the West. "For him, democracy is a guarantee," Cakir said.

Party activists now speak of the need for EU reforms that would include ending bans on pro-Islamic political parties or politicians.

They also say that in a truly democratic society, a politician like Erdogan could not be jailed for reading a poem.

In the working class neighborhood of Kasimpasa, where Erdogan grew up, neighbors speak lovingly of the local soccer player who rose to dominate Turkish politics.

"We have to live with this regime and Tayyip knows that," said Bayram Karaoglu, who owns the corner market across the street from the brown and tan cinderblock apartment where Erdogan grew up.

Added neighbor Ismail Alginli: "I am sure he is still very religious ... even if he can't show it."