PORTRAIT OF A TURKISH SOCIAL DEMOCRAT: ISMAIL CEM A Ph.D. Dissertation by OZAN ÖRMECİ DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE BILKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA APRIL 2011 To Cansu… PORTRAIT OF A TURKISH SOCIAL DEMOCRAT: ISMAIL CEM The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University by OZAN ÖRMECİ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA APRIL 2011 I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. --------------------------------- Asst. Prof. Berrak Burçak Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. --------------------------------- Asst. Prof. Nur Bilge Criss Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. --------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Ergun Özbudun Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. --------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Metin Heper Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. --------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Ayşe Güneş Ayata Examining Committee Member Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences --------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Erdal Erel Director ABSTRACT PORTRAIT OF A TURKISH SOCIAL DEMOCRAT: ISMAIL CEM Örmeci, Ozan Ph.D., Department of Political Science Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Berrak Burçak APRIL 2011 İsmail Cem (1940-2007) was a Turkish intellectual and social democratic politician who spent his life investigating the characteristics and problems of Turkish modernization and social democratic solutions to these problems. Cem started his career as a peculiar socialist journalist who had a special curiosity towards the Ottoman past in the late 1960s and early 1970s. With his books and articles he became an influential and prestigious figure in the leftist intellectual and political circles and served as the manager of Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT). Unlike usual leftist-modernist intellectuals, he was very critical of “top to bottom” Turkish modernization and had propositions to solve Turkey’s political problems within the limits of democracy. During these years, Cem’s democratic socialism slowly evolved into social democracy. Starting from the 1980s, Cem appeared this time as a social democratic politician and tried to realize his projects and reduce his theories into practice. He was one of the leading figures of Turkish social democracy and was the creator of the “Anatolian Left” together iii with Deniz Baykal. In the mid-1990s he served for a short time as the Minister of Culture and starting from 1997 -with short interruptions- for five years he worked as the Foreign Minister of Turkey. He continued to write about Turkish politics and foreign policy and left behind an important collection of books and articles. İsmail Cem saw his life’s work as involving basically three tasks: to reconcile Turkey with its Ottoman past by softening the radical modernist mentality of the earlier Republican period both on the intellectual and social levels, to find solutions to Turkey’s various political problems by making a social democratic interpretation of Kemalism and thus, achieving democratic consolidation in Turkey and to transform his country into a respected regional power in international relations by pursuing an active foreign policy through full membership to the European Union as well as by developing relations with Middle Eastern and Eurasian countries. Both as a public intellectual and politician, he was able to take considerable steps in order to realize these three tasks, though he did not have chance to complete his mission. Although he was an important part of the intellectual force behind Turkey’s pro-Western secular segments, we do not know too much about Cem’s personal life and intellectual development throughout the years. This thesis is an attempt to analyze İsmail Cem by focusing on his life, his ideas, his political career, his propositions to Turkey’s major democratic problems and his foreign policy understanding and practices analytically. Keywords: Ismail Cem, Republican People’s Party, Social Democracy, Turkish Left, Kemalism, New Left, Turkish Foreign Policy. iv ÖZET BİR TÜRK SOSYAL DEMOKRATININ PORTRESİ: İSMAİL CEM Örmeci, Ozan Doktora, Siyaset Bilimi Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Berrak Burçak NİSAN 2011 İsmail Cem (1940-2007) hayatını Türk modernleşmesinin özelliklerini ve sorunlarını araştırmaya ve bunlara sosyal demokrat çözüm önerileri bulmaya adamış bir entelektüel ve sosyal demokrat politikacıdır. Cem kariyerine 1960’ların sonları ve 1970’lerin başlarında Osmanlı tarihine özel ilgi gösteren ilginç bir sosyalist gazeteci olarak başlamıştır. Kitapları ve köşe yazılarıyla sol siyasal ve entelektüel çevrelerde etkili ve saygın bir kişi haline gelmiş, bir dönem TRT Genel Müdürü olarak da görev yapmıştır. Dönemin yaygın modernist solcu entelektüellerinin aksine Cem Türk modernleşmesinin tepeden inmeci metotlarını eleştirmiş ve Türkiye’nin siyasal sorunlarını demokratik sistem içerisinde çözmesi için çözüm önerileri geliştirmiştir. Bu yıllarda Cem’in demokratik sosyalist dünya görüşü yavaş yavaş sosyal demokrasiye doğru evrilmiştir. 1980’lerden başlayarak Cem artık bir sosyal demokrat politikacı olarak sahne almış ve projelerini gerçekleştirmeye ve teori ile pratiği birleştirmeye çalışmıştır. Türk sosyal demokrasisinin önemli bir ismi haline gelmiş ve arkadaşı Deniz v Baykal’la beraber Anadolu Solu’nun teorisyeni olmuştur. 1990’ların ortalarında kısa bir dönem Kültür Bakanı olarak sahne alan Cem, 1997 yılından başlayarak -kısa aralıklarla- beş yıl süreyle Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Dış İşleri Bakanı olarak görev yapmıştır. Bunun yanında Türk siyasal hayatı ve dış politikasıyla ilgili yazmaya devam etmiş ve ardında önemli bir külliyat bırakmıştır. İsmail Cem Türk siyasal ve düşünce hayatındaki yerini üç somut vazife ile ilişkilendirmiştir; Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’ni Kemalizm’in radikal özelliklerini törpüleyerek hem entelektüel, hem de toplumsal düzeyde Osmanlı tarihiyle barıştırmak, Kemalizm’in sosyal demokratik bir yorumunu yaparak Türkiye’nin demokratik pekişmesini sağlamak ve hem Avrupa Birliği üyeliği, hem de Orta Doğu ve Avrasya ülkeleriyle yakın ilişkiler kurmak suretiyle Türkiye’yi bölgesinde etkili bir güç haline getirmek. Bu üç görev doğrultusunda hem bir entelektüel, hem de bir politikacı olarak Cem önemli ölçülerde yol almış ancak görevini tamamlamaya fırsat bulamamıştır. Türk siyasal ve entelektüel hayatında bu denli önemli roller oynamasına karşın Cem’in özel hayatı ve yıllar içerisindeki düşünsel gelişimiyle ilgili pek az şey bilinmektedir. Bu tez İsmail Cem’i analiz etmek için onun hayatı, fikirleri, siyasi kariyeri, Türkiye’nin demokratik sorunlarına getirdiği çözüm önerileri ve dış politika perspektifi ve uygulamalarını analitik bir şekilde incelemek amacıyla yapılmış bir denemedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: İsmail Cem, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, Sosyal Demokrasi, Türk Solu, Kemalizm, Yeni Sol, Türk Dış Politikası. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, my benevolent and always lovely supervisor Asst. Prof. Berrak Burçak was the biggest support for my research. My supervisor has always encouraged me and criticized my work honestly in order to create a better piece. I would also like to express my gratitude for Prof. Dr. Ergun Özbudun, Prof. Metin Heper, Prof. Ayşe Güneş Ayata and Asst. Prof. Nur Bilge Criss for their enlightening advices and tolerance. I am grateful to my family that has always supported my career and believed in my knowledge and talent. I would like to thank my dearest friends Yalçın Murgul, Çağdaş Ekinci, Alper Ersaydı, Senem Çevik, Fulya Akyıldız, Oytun Meçik and my cousin Görkem Yararbaş for their patience, hospitality and help. Finally, I would like to thank Bahar and Aslıhan for the special roles they had in my life. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………….iii ÖZET…………………………………………………………………………………….v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………...vii TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………..viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………1 CHAPTER II: A MAN OF LETTERS AND ROMANCE…...……………………..10 2.1. Family Background, Childhood and Parents…..………………………..10 2.2. Robert College Years…………………………………………………...15 2.3. The Lausanne University Years………………………………………...20 2.4. Journalism……………………………………………………………….23 2.5. The 12 March Days….………………………………………………….29 2.6. The TRT Years…………………………………………………………33 2.7. Back to Journalism……………………………………………………...45 2.8. Time for Politics………………………………………………………...49 2.9. Cem and Ecevit Together……………………………………….………64 2.10. In Office…………………………………………………………………69 2.11. The New Turkey Party………………………………………………….77 viii 2.12. The Last Years….……………………………………………………….81 CHAPTER III: CEM AS A PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL…..……………………....86 3.1. Account of History and Model of Under Development…………….…..87 3.2. On Ottoman History………………………………………………….....93