Erdogan is liable for the distress in Turkey | EUROtoday

Früher sagte man bei uns: „Für ein Dorf in Sicht braucht es keinen Wegweiser“, um deutlich zu machen, dass man eine offensichtliche Situation nicht weiter schildern muss. Dennoch versuche ich in den Briefen, die ich Ihnen aus Istanbul schreibe, das gigantische Dorf, in dem wir hier leben, deutlicher sichtbar zu machen.

Manche von Ihnen erinnern sich vielleicht, ich hatte gesagt, Erdoğan musste seit dem Referendum, das 2017 den Übergang zum Präsidialsystem ermöglichte, sogar bei den gewonnenen Wahlen Verluste hinnehmen, und der Anfang vom Ende sei in Sicht. Er weigerte sich beharrlich, das ferne Dorf in den Blick zu nehmen, 2019 spielte er va banque wie nie zuvor und ließ die Istanbul-Wahl annullieren. Bei der Wahlwiederholung aber verlor er, wie auch jetzt im Frühjahr bei den Kommunalwahlen, mit weit deutlicherem Abstand und sorgte so dafür, dass sein Widersacher Ekrem Imamoğlu zum Star wurde. Seit 2002 regiert Erdoğan die Türkei mit seiner Partei, wobei er sich mit islamistischer und nationalistischer Rhetorik auf die Nöte der konservativen Unter- und Mittelschicht stützt. Doch infolge der politischen und wirtschaftlichen Maßnahmen des Palastregimes und weil sich die Erwartungen der Gesellschaft verändert haben, begann seine Basis zu schrumpfen. So gewann die Opposition die Kommunalwahlen vom 31. März, und Erdoğans Partei fiel zum ersten Mal seit 22 Jahren auf den zweiten Platz zurück.

Solche Analysen nehmen mittlerweile nicht nur unabhängige Journalisten wie ich vor. Auch Politiker in Erdoğans Umfeld, gar für die AKP tätige Thinktanks deuten neuerdings auf das „Dorf in Sicht“ und sagen, der Sultan sei nackt. „Erdoğans Soziologie erodiert“, gestand etwa das AKP-Gründungsmitglied Metin Külünk ein. Mehr noch, als erster AKP-Politiker forderte er: „Erdoğan sollte auf dem Gipfel aufhören.“ Früher habe die Bevölkerung nicht Erdoğan, sondern die Partei für alles verantwortlich gemacht, erklärte Külünk, und weiter: „Mit Bedauern sage ich es direkt, (die Bevölkerung) stellt unseren Staatspräsidenten persönlich infrage. Das Vertrauen in unseren Präsidenten von vor drei, vier Jahren fällt steil ab.“

Auch Seta, die aus EU-Fonds und über Kommunalverwaltungen finanzierte „Denk“-Fabrik der AKP, legte einen Bericht mit ähnlichem Tenor vor, der den Palast zu einem Dementi nötigte. Denn darin heißt es, Erdoğan sei in den Augen der Bevölkerung nicht mehr unantastbar. Die Tendenz, die Verantwortung für negative Umstände nur bei der Partei zu sehen, sei verschwunden, heute werde auch Erdoğan persönlich verantwortlich gemacht. Eine Anfang des Monats publizierte Umfrage bestätigt Külünks These. Ihr zufolge hat sogar die Zustimmung für Özgür Özel, der erst vor einem Jahr zum Vorsitzenden der größten Oppositionspartei CHP gewählt worden war, die für Erdoğan überholt, der die Präsidentschaftswahl im letzten Jahr noch gewonnen hatte. Und bei Erhebungen zur Sonntagsfrage erhöht sich der Abstand der Opposition zur AKP weiter. Bei zwei unterschiedlichen Studien lag die CHP mit fünf bis dreizehn Prozent mehr an der Spitze.

What I’ve summarized right here is just not Erdoğan's first political predicament. He already misplaced votes within the 2023 presidential election, which he narrowly received. But after the outcomes of the native elections six months in the past, it seems to be as if the losses will now not be straightforward to make up. As he does after each jam he will get into, Erdoğan tried to vary the agenda and painting himself as a sufferer. For instance, he interpreted the truth that graduates of a army faculty drew their swords and swore allegiance to Atatürk on the commencement ceremony he attended as preparation for an tried coup. The ritual is similar as in earlier years, however now the pro-government press portrayed it as a risk to democracy. Investigations have been launched towards the younger lieutenants.

However, such initiatives don’t obtain a lot. The poverty line has risen to three.5 instances the minimal wage, inflation is 9 instances greater than within the subsequent OECD nation, round 15,000 firms closed within the first half of the yr, the arrogance index within the economic system has fallen to the extent through the Covid pandemic – on this local weather, the folks know very effectively what the true risk to democracy is and who the true sufferer is.

The financial damage attributable to Erdoğan is destroying not solely our current but in addition our future. According to information from IPA Strategic Consultancy, one in three kids goes to high school hungry. And don't assume that their lunch bins are full they usually simply eat at college. The costs of the merchandise that ought to be of their lunch bins have elevated virtually fourfold within the final yr. The value of faculty uniforms and primary faculty provides is simply as excessive. According to inflation information for final month, training is the world with the very best enhance in costs, at 120 %. Families who can not make a ample residing are compelled to take their kids out of faculty. According to the Parents' Association, the variety of faculty dropouts has doubled. OECD statistics affirm this. In Turkey, one in three younger folks is neither in an academic establishment nor in work. These younger individuals are both working with out being registered or could also be engaged in unlawful actions. In view of this, Erdoğan says on TV screens: “The old days of prohibitions, repression, scarcity and poverty are completely over, never to be seen again.” On the opposite: Erdoğan is even making our future poor. Even if he’s now not in authorities, he leaves behind a legacy of poverty that can take years to eradicate.

I’ve to open a small parenthesis right here: Do not assume that poverty is the destiny of everybody within the nation. Erdoğan's son-in-law, for instance, earns a lot cash that he’s the nation's tax champion. The wealthy within the new Turkey created by Erdoğan spent round 180 million euros on Swiss watches within the first seven months of the yr. The Diyanet non secular authority, whose price range exceeds that of the Interior Ministry, which oversees a number of hundred thousand law enforcement officials, had the bathroom amenities in its headquarters in Ankara renovated for six million lira (160,000 euros).

Close brackets. Let's return to Erdoğan's assertion. He stated that with poverty, bans and reprisals are a factor of the previous. Here, too, the other is true. A couple of weeks in the past, a 16-year-old was arrested for allegedly insulting Erdoğan. He faces as much as 4 years in jail. In 2023, 972 younger folks have been punished on this manner. Also in 2023, 953,000 web sites have been blocked. A younger lady went to jail for criticizing Erdoğan for pulling the plug on Instagram. Now the palace regime is focusing on YouTube. First, the federal government made it a situation that on-line information portals should acquire permission, and blocked plenty of web sites that didn’t comply, equivalent to Deutsche Welle, and now it is usually setting about silencing people on YouTube. Independent journalists who conduct avenue interviews or submit their very own information and commentary will in future be required to acquire a license from the regulatory authority RTÜK, the palace's censorship instrument.

I have to warn readers who now say: “So what, they'll just get the license and then carry on broadcasting.” Obtaining a license means sticking to the boundaries set by the palace. Under RTÜK's management, there aren’t any kissing scenes in TV applications, glasses for alcohol are pixelated. Channels that function different sexual orientations are censored for “disrupting the institution of the family,” and anybody who permits the Kurdish get together DEM (previously HDP) to have their say is each censored and fined for “separatism.”

All of that is taking place in Turkey. Erdoğan made one other assertion, as if he weren’t the one dividing society: “We are all in the same boat. We live on the same ground, even if our political views differ. None of our differences is stronger than our brotherhood.” He pleads for tolerance, as if he himself had not described protesters towards the failure after the earthquake catastrophe as “scoundrels,” critics as “terrorists,” and his opponent on the poll field as “pathetic.”

But I have to admit that I discover the half in regards to the “boat” notably attention-grabbing on this assertion. No, Mr President, we’re not in the identical boat as you. Nor will we personal dozens of ships like your sons. We, who’ve robbed you of our jobs, our bread and our future, are setting off for a brand new life in tiny boats. You have most likely heard what British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated. The variety of migrants crossing the English Channel in boats to England has elevated explosively. According to the BBC, we’ve overtaken the Syrians in unlawful border crossings. I hope that comparable information won’t quickly come from the northern coast of Germany, which is tightening controls on its inexperienced borders.

Translated from Turkish by Sabine Adatepe.