Bülent Mumay from Istanbul: No peace in Turkey | EUROtoday

Anyone who reads these traces is aware of that one often seems to be in useless for reliability in politicians. To a sure extent, the change in opinions and attitudes relying on present developments and short-term pursuits on this caste can be defined by their need to maintain up with the instances. In the youthful ones In Turkey’s political previous, nobody has demonstrated a higher hole between guarantees and political motion than President Erdoğan, who has dominated the nation for over 23 years.

Raised within the ideology of the Islamist group Millî Görüş (National View), Erdoğan was for years one of many advocates of the idea of “just order”. In 2001 he introduced his departure from this line when he based his personal social gathering. The first two letters of the AKP stand for justice and restoration. The social gathering’s founding manifesto, which he personally introduced, was primarily based on the rule of legislation and the assure of elementary rights and freedoms. Unfortunately, none of this was applied. This shouldn’t be in regards to the standard deviations amongst politicians talked about. Rather, Erdoğan acted fully opposite to his bulletins and turned Turkey into an open-air jail.

Despite steering Turkey towards autocracy for the reason that 2010s, he was not afraid to repeat his “big lie.” In a speech to the UN General Assembly in 2019, he boldly promised: “Freedom for all, peace for all, prosperity for all, justice for all, a secure and peaceful future for all.” What truly occurred was no shock to the residents of this nation. In order to absolutize his energy, he not solely used the judiciary and police power that he politicized to arrest not solely his opponents, but in addition nearly each critic from the press and civil society. He silenced any criticism of him, his social gathering supporters or the entrepreneurs who finance his politics by criminalizing them.

The additional the vote for the AKP declines, the extra the federal government will increase its repressive measures. In the previous few weeks, the palace regime has gone one higher. Limak Holding, which Erdoğan awarded the contract for a public tender value a number of billion euros, is clearing giant olive groves for its open-cast mining tasks. A younger lady was arrested after protests in opposition to Limak for opposing deforestation in her village. When a commerce unionist protested in opposition to their arrest, he too was arrested. Likewise, one other commerce unionist due to a press assertion in opposition to the arrest of his colleague. But that wasn’t sufficient for the architects of the dystopia. Just a few days later, 110 miners from one other government-affiliated holding firm have been arrested. Why? Because they staged a protest march after not receiving wages for 5 months.

The palace regime additionally has no pardon when criticism comes from a high official he himself beforehand appointed. Ramazan Başak is considered one of Turkey’s greatest specialists in black cash and was director of the state monetary investigation company MASAK, which is accountable for this, for a number of years. When he identified suspicious actions on the monetary markets, the police confirmed up at his door. He was arrested for spreading disinformation. Of course, the truth that the Justice Minister’s spouse sits on the Capital Markets Council SPK, which is accountable for controlling monetary actions, can’t have something to do with the arrest. Don’t include criticism immediately.

I additionally suggest chalking up the next occasion as a coincidence. It was confirmed {that a} decide whom Erdoğan had elected to the Court of Cassation accepted a luxurious limousine as a present from a mafia boss. What occurred subsequent? Nothing. The decide continues to make sure “justice” in his place. Let me clarify what “coincidence” is about this. When Erdoğan was put behind bars for 4 months in 1999, this decide was working as a prosecutor within the district of the jail in query. He had a barbecue social gathering with Erdoğan in jail, and when he was promoted years later, he flew with the bride to the palace after his wedding ceremony ceremony to kiss Erdoğan’s hand.

Erdoğan has nearly fully suspended his promise of justice and freedom. Another of his targets failed, though he truly did loads to realize it. In his Islamist identification, Erdoğan has been speaking about elevating a “pious generation” for years. To this finish, secularism, one of many founding rules of the Turkish Republic, was undermined and makes an attempt have been made to Islamize areas starting from training to social life. However, a latest research by the famend Koç University confirmed that striving for a “pious generation” has the other impact.

“How does it affect religious life when a party with Islamist views governs for decades?” Ali Çarkoğlu sought to reply this query along with his research. He summarized the outcomes to the weekly newspaper “Oksijen”: “Participation in collective practices of religious practice such as visiting mosques has decreased. Rigid attributions of religious identity have lost meaning. If religion is equated with the state, it becomes something that people distance themselves from for some people. The effort to strengthen religion has weakened the piety visible in the public. If religion is increasingly associated with political power and bureaucratic institutions, it appears to be decreasing their emotional and social echo among the population.”

The AKP promised young people a paradise in the hereafter instead of a better future in this world. However, this led to them not only turning away from the Erdoğan government, but also from the system as a whole. A third of young people are neither in work nor in training. This means that Turkey leads the statistics of the OECD countries. Some of the young people who fall out of the system unfortunately slip into crime in search of a way out. The birth rate is falling, but the rate of minors committing crimes has increased by 58 percent in the last five years.

We experienced the worst crime committed by young people in Turkey to date the week before last. In a southern city, the son of a high-ranking police officer carried out a massacre at his school. Using five of the seven guns his father had at home, he shot eight classmates and a teacher. Instead of immediately clarifying the background to this terrible act, the government once again resorted to its familiar methods. It imposed a news blackout and the police used brutal force and tear gas to prevent several thousand teachers from protesting the failures in front of the Ministry of Education. Instead of taking responsibility and investigating the failures surrounding the massacre, Erdoğan made accusations against social media and announced that he would ban VPN connections, further restricting the Internet, which is already under the thumb of the government. In one province, a school board found a different solution for prevention. The day after the massacre, a circular was sent to school principals with the instruction: “Begin classes with communal prayer!”

At the end of his speech to the United Nations, Erdoğan promised a safe and peaceful future for all. Today, however, security and peace only exist for himself. The equivalent of 475,000 euros per day from the budget is spent on protecting the President. But they can’t even protect our children in schools, which are supposed to be the safest places of all.

From Turkish by Sabine Adatepe