Erdoğan’s way: scare, divide and rule

Abdullah Bozkurt
Abdullah Bozkurt


Date posted: November 16, 2013

ABDULLAH BOZKURT

It appears that Turkey’s powerful prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his popular Justice and Development Party (AK Party) have set the election campaign on fear and divisions, rather than a conciliatory tone in a very much polarized society.

Erdoğan’s people are determined to run a partisan campaign, hoping this will prevent defectors from peeling away from the ranks. In the aftermath of the May-June anti-government rallies as part of the Gezi Park protests, the AK Party was in fact able to gain some points it had lost since the last elections of 2011, when voters were scared off by the violence that erupted amid protests. This was a temporary spike, however, and the AK Party could not hold onto gains when the tension in society was diffused.

That is the primary reason why Erdoğan thinks he needs to invent straw men to attack in a bid to channel voters’ disillusionment with his government. Out of the blue, he comes up with issues that nobody has been discussing in society and in fact no mainstream political party was even proposing. Then he holds these up as if they are real issues that matter to voters. He played around with abortion, coed housing, capital punishment, the interest lobby and private prep schools to steer the national debate away from substantive issues that might damage his rule. Erdoğan is now pinning his hopes for election victory on sharpening divisions with artificially inflated issues.

…….

The last straw by Erdoğan came this week when a draft version of a law seeking the closure of all kinds of privately established prep schools (dershanes) leaked to the media. The bill is so drastic that even private tutoring for kids at homes by parents is banned. The intrusive move is seen as a huge blow to free enterprise and the right to education, prompting concerns that the closure of these schools will block upward mobility in Turkish society. Many saw this as Erdoğan’s attempt to pressure the Gülen movement, which runs one-third of prep schools, into silencing criticism of the government on the eve of elections. The movement is critical of the government on corruption, weakened transparency and accountability, loss of enthusiasm for the EU process, lack of bold democratic reforms to address the country’s chronic woes, including the Alevi and Kurdish problems. The banning of prep schools curtails the free market credentials of the AK Party government while potentially scaring international investors into shying away from the Turkish market.

All in all, Erdoğan’s new way of ruling Turkey has dealt a big blow to his credibility as well as to the trustworthiness of the AK Party’s election program, which promised better accountability, increased transparency and better protection of privacy in government while boosting the free market economy and limiting the role of government. It will be difficult to convince voters on new pledges in the next election when the AK Party has already reneged on past promises.

Source: Today's Zaman , November 15, 2013


Related News

Gray domination’ and Turkey’s civil rights challenge

The Hizmet movement, the largest civil society group in Turkey, inspired by Fethullah Gülen, is active in around 150 countries. Hizmet is marked by outstanding schools, dialogue initiatives and relief organizations. Its greatest achievement, however, is the ability to remain independent at all times

Turkey’s Wrong Turn

The tensions erupted into the open last month with a corruption probe that led to the resignation of four government ministers and threatened to ensnare Mr. Erdogan’s family. The government has since purged hundreds of police officials and prosecutors and sought to assert control over the judiciary. It also drafted legislation expanding the government’s power to appoint judges and prosecutors, further breaching judicial independence, and has prevented journalists from reporting freely.

Gülen’s lawyer refutes Erdoğan’s claims as baseless

Nurullah Albayrak, the lawyer of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, has denied President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s accusations against his client, saying the president has misrepresented the claims included in a recently unveiled indictment on a bugging scandal.

Islam, terrorism and the media

We unfortunately live in an unfair world. Injustice is so ubiquitous that we can categorize it based on our neighborhood, our city, our region, our country and the world. Any kind of injustice, discrimination or otherization — such as social injustice, class injustice, inequity in income distribution and a lack of equal opportunities in education, business and social mobility — may rear its ugly head at any moment in our daily life. Not only the cases of social injustice we encounter in our daily life, but also the sentiments of rage and revolt stemming from national or international injustice may trigger reactions that are against the nature of people who normally have psychological integrity.

America’s Public Radio International maps out Turkish gov’t persecution of Gülen movement

“Nate Schenkkan is with Freedom House and an expert on Turkey. He says Gülenists have been left jobless, with no chance of restarting their careers. “For the vast majority of the people in the Gülen movement, it’s quite clear. They had nothing to do with any of this, whether it’s the coup attempt or any other kind of violence,” he said.

Ankara-supplied clerics spy on Turkish-Australian communities

Turkish imams preaching in Melbourne and Sydney mosques have been instructed to spy on Australian supporters of Fethulah Gulen, an exiled cleric blamed by President Recep ­Erdogan for the failed July coup bid in Ankara.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

NGO: plot to take over Turkish schools will fail in Africa

Symposium concludes: Hizmet movement contributes to world peace

Diverging points between AKP and Hizmet movement: Kurdish question

AK Party deputy Hakan Şükür against closure of prep schools

From al-Qaeda to Amsterdam, from İstanbul to Pennsylvania

An iftar dinner by KYM for Thai Muslims

Erdoğan’s accusation that Hizmet organized the coup attempt is noxious and absurd

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News