US embassy cable - 05ANKARA4881

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004881 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/19/2025 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINS, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKISH CLASSICAL LIBERALS CRITICIZE AUTHORITARIAN 
DEMOCRACY IN TURKEY 
 
REF: ANKARA 2030 
 
Classified By: POLCOUNS John Kunstadter; E.O. 12958, reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) POLOFFS met with Dr. Atilla Yayla, professor of 
political theory and political economy at Gazi University and 
the president of the Association for Liberal Thinking (LDT). 
Yayla is a genuine classical liberal, i.e. an advocate of 
religious freedom, freedom of thought, market economics, 
property rights, and the rule of law.  He is fond of writers 
like John Locke, Adam Smith, F.A. Hayek, and Ludwig Von 
Mises. 
 
 
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THE ASSOCIATION FOR LIBERAL THINKING (LDT) 
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2. (C) LDT was started in 1992 and became an official 
organization in 1994.  Its focus is on promoting liberal 
ideas in Turkey.  LDT publishes academic journals and books 
and hosts academic conferences.  It also tries to translate 
various liberal, economic, and legal works into Turkish.  LDT 
provides some financial support and internship-type 
opportunities for a few students.  The Association has a very 
professional looking internet page in English and Turkish 
(www.liberal.org.tr).  LDT does not wish to form a political 
party and generally steers clear of partisan politics; 
however, Atilla's assistant also mentioned that they have 
sometimes done policy and strategy consulting work for 
various political parties. 
 
3. (C) The LDT is housed in two modest flats in a building in 
central Ankara.  The rooms are plain and lack air 
conditioning.  When POLOFFs visited, there were perhaps a 
dozen college age students in the building working in small 
offices with computers.  LDT has a small library.  Yayla 
asserted that LDT has received some funding from the EU and 
the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy. 
 
 
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TURKEY'S MIXED REGIME: DEMOCRATIC AND AUTHORITARIAN 
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4. (C) Yayla admits classical liberals are very rare in 
Turkey, a country that suffers from overwhelming 
authoritarianism.  Turkey, according to Yayla, is a partially 
democratic and partially authoritarian country.  Turkey is 
partially democratic because it has had relatively free and 
fair elections since 1950, but this democratic electoral 
process is laid on top of a highly authoritarian political 
culture.  There have been four military coups (1960, 1971, 
1980, and the post-modern coup in 1997).   Yayla also stated 
that Turkish institutions --- universities, large businesses, 
the press, the military, the state bureaucracies, and the 
political parties --- are highly authoritarian in their 
structure, behavior, ideology, and preferences.  Turkey,s 
political parties, for example, may all have different 
ideologies (e.g. left-of-center, right-of-center, 
nationalist, or Islamist), but they all want to win elections 
to take control of the state and then use it to implement 
their ideology in an authoritarian fashion. 
 
5.  (C) Yayla went on to assert that there are two "official 
religions" in Turkey --- laic Sunni Islam and Kemalist 
statism --- and both of are authoritarian.  There is limited 
freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom of 
religion.  There is tremendous social and professional 
pressure to conform and people are not free to openly 
challenge Sunni Islam or the Kemalist state.  The educational 
system, the bureaucracy, and the military, moreover, 
reinforce this authoritarianism. 
 
6. (C) Comment.  Yayla's analysis is accurate, but his views 
are all too rare in Turkey, especially among the political 
elite.  Turkey has a democratic electoral system, but the 
country's political, social, and familial structures are 
highly authoritarian.  Turkey, moreover, does not deserve the 
reputation some give it for being the home of a moderate 
version of Islam (REFTEL).  Turkish political parties --- 
especially the governing pro-Islam Justice and Development 
Party (AKP) and the ostensibly liberal center-right 
Motherland Party (ANAP) --- sometimes give lip service to 
liberalism, but they are all internally undemocratic, 
intolerant of dissent, and, as Yayla and many others have 
pointed out, driven by the goal of capturing the state to use 
it for their own personal (i.e. financial) and ideological 
purposes.  End Comment. 
MCELDOWNEY