Civil society, education and ‘masters’ in Turkey

They are the true owners of Turkey. To them, the current government, president and those who voted for them are ignorant, backward and deserve reproach. The masters rule on judicial and constitutional issues while blatantly ignoring the law, the Constitution and ethics. They monopolize tender bids and investments and milk the national budget and public resources.

They assume the right to use state resources, positions and ranks against the public to make putsches under the pretext that the regime is threatened. They claim a vote by one of them is worth thousands of votes from the commoners. They alone can know, discuss, own and decide everything in Turkey, but they are never accountable. Whatever their title -- professor, general, judge, prosecutor or entrepreneur -- they reveal a lack in their character: the results of a sound education.

All the plots, murders, negligence, corruption and lack of professional ethics among the bureaucracy require an open call to all civil society organizations: How can we link education on a national level to participation in policymaking to facilitate political equality, representation, accountability and legitimacy? How can civil society regulate the conflicting interests of the unelected elite and the public and limit the exercise of arbitrary power? How can it reform the morality and ethics of such “masters”? Civil society must help to establish the balance between the private and public, between individual interests and rights and the common good.

Civil society organizations have a great role in the functioning of democracy and the exercise of citizenship. They can build spaces that allow the constitution of common good and the transcendence of particular interests. In addition to providing schools, health and relief services, they form a sphere of morality as an element of the public space and a basis for the civic community. So the question for Turkey is, “How can we ground mass education in the civil society tradition?” In other words, how can public education supplement the public system with alternative expertise and advocacy to replace that of the self-proclaimed masters and guardians of Turkey?

Substantive uncertainty always ensues when the hegemony of certain powers in a system is challenged. However, this dominant culture, which is organized around a core of shared interests rather than universal values, must give way to a pluralism that accepts different values, beliefs and worldviews as normal and important in individuals’ self-understanding. Civil society organizations should develop reform programs across the political spectrum, in policymaking, implementation and service delivery through contractual relationships, strengthening democracy, citizenship and social capital and advocacy on behalf of disadvantaged or marginalized groups. The proper relationship between civil society organizations and the state helps the integration and accommodation of diverse viewpoints instead of the current polarization and isolation.

Turkey needs civil platforms for debate and policy-making that cut across obsolete dichotomies. Civil society organizations can engage the diverse agents of education, government, voluntary organizations, public-private partnerships and faith communities to produce an education that unites the citizenry without coercive uniformity. This will affirm pluralistic commitments without dangerous fragmentation. A democratic civil society can sustain a democratic state.

Considering the conduct of the exclusivist, protectionist, elitist bureaucracy in Turkey, we need to make room for diversity in ethnicity, religion, culture and mental outlook in education. Otherwise, the uniformity advocated by the main opposition parties in Parliament could easily result in a new kind of despotism.

This cultural, ethnic and religious pluralism needs to be accommodated in conceptual and political frameworks with sufficient flexibility to combine choice with equity. There must be a commitment to shared civil and political culture with openness to exploring and reaffirming the distinct backgrounds or cultures of different groups.

In order to curb social ills and incivilities observed in society, education should not be stripped of its moral dimension nor increase indifference to moral issues and universal ethics. Its moral dimension should contribute to the moral fabric of our society without denying the rights of citizens. Finding feasible arrangements may be challenging. It requires examining cases where this tradition has already been institutionalized and where civil society organizations play a constructive role as advocates of education and universal rights for all.

Civil society efforts should not be a partisan project or a cause of exclusive interest groups of this or that stripe or persuasion. They must be democratic and pluralist projects. The power to shape and formulate the main tenets of education, governance and justice ought to rest with the people, not with their former masters.