Erdogan: Dictatorship, wrong policies and familial corruption-2

MEDIA HENNAN/NEWS DESK

Repression and pursuit of dictatorship

Erdogan pledged and promised but began to impose his power and authority in the country, starting with the decision to elect the president directly by the people and the referendum on October 21 - 2008. Until the imposition of emergency state after the failed coup attempt in July 2016 and a referendum to transform the regime in the country from parliamentary to presidential.

After tightening his grip on the country, he began to liquidate his opponents

Since Erdogan became Prime Minister in 2003, he has sought various means to impose his authority in the country, exploiting the events taking place in the country to liquidate his opponents. On February 26, 2010, he launched a campaign called "Hammer" targeting some of the army's different leaders opposing the Justice and Development Party (AKP) by provoking an internal dispute between conservatives and secularists and provoking skirmishes with Greece.

In order to immunize the officials whom Erdogan had assigned with special tasks to eliminate his opponents, on February 12, 2012, the AK Party submitted to the parliament a draft law to immunize bureaucrats who were appointed by the Prime Minister or the President of the Republic. Erdogan thus added a legal nature to his practices.

He broke the promises made to the Kurdish people

On his way to tighten his grip on the country, Erdogan used the Kurdish people after the peace initiative put forward by Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in 2013, on March 21, 2013, and began dialogue with Ocalan who is detained on the island of Imrali, as Erdogan intends to run for president after approving the decision to elect the president directly by the people and the referendum on  October 21, 2008, so he needed the votes of the Kurds to reach the presidency of the republic.

In the elections of 11 August 2014, Erdogan, as President of Turkey, won the first direct election of the people directly in Turkey. Erdogan's term has ended as prime minister.

When Erdogan became prime minister, the lawyer of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan was prevented from meeting him. This has been going on since July 2011. When he became president, he imposed severe isolation on Ocalan and prevented him from meeting with him and began to launch attacks on Kurdish politicians in the country.

Systematic destruction of Kurdish cities

After Erdogan's suspension of peace negotiations, the Turkish army and security forces stepped up attacks on Kurdish cities in the country. The towns of Şirnex, Nusaybin, Silopi, Sur, Amed and many other Kurdish towns and cities were attacked by the Turkish army which used various types of weapons to bombard and destroy cities. These attacks destroyed towns and villages that were still destroyed and forced residents to flee their homes. Many of them live in tents near their own towns and are prevented by the AKP from returning and rebuilding what was destroyed by Erdogan’s military war machine.

The arrest of Kurdish deputies in parliament and the imposition of custody on the municipalities

The AKP's practices and actions did not stop the destruction of Kurdish cities, but targeted the Kurdish politicians. The AKP authorities, under Erdogan's orders, arrested at least 13 members of the Democratic People's Party on charges of supporting terrorism, including the party's two co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ since November 2016. The AKP authorities stripped Figen Yüksekdağ of her parliamentary seat in February 2017.

The practices of the AKP authorities did not stop at the arrest of the People's Democratic Party members. They also targeted the co-chairs of municipalities elected by the people.

The state of emergency as a means to impose authorities and eliminate opponents of Erdogan's policies

On July 15, 2016, a so-called failed coup attempt against Erdogan's regime began. This incident was exploited by Erdogan to impose his influence on the country and get rid of all competitors by declaring the state of emergency in the country, which continues to this day.

The announcement of the state of emergency came less than a week after the attempted coup, and Erdogan said that the declaration of the state of emergency aims to "take the necessary steps effectively and quickly to eliminate the threats against democracy in our country, the rule of law and the rights and freedoms of our citizens."

Since then, Erdogan has extended the state of emergency seven times, which is still going on, in the light of this, the elections he called for will be held.

160,000 people were arrested and 152,000 institutions were isolated

Erdogan exploited the state of emergency to eliminate all political opponents and enemies, as well as to appoint loyalists in the sensitive positions of the state in order to ensure loyalty and tighten his grip on the country. After the coup attempt, Erdogan targeted the army commanders who were not loyal to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and arrested and dismissed them and replaced them with commanders affiliated to him.

He then moved to universities, separated academics and prevented them from traveling abroad, and then to the judiciary, schools, media institutions, associations, hospitals and arrested and separated tens of thousands people.

Closure of educational and media institutions and arrest of journalists

Since the declaration of the state of emergency, the expulsion of public officials or the suspension of their work - has been continued by decrees that do not take into account the safety of the proceedings. Hundreds of media outlets, associations, institutions, private hospitals and educational institutions have been closed by the government by decree. The volume of assets confiscated by the state reached 11 billion dollars.

Most recently, the AKP government has agreed to set up a specialized committee to review the decisions taken under the state of emergency. However, the Commission is not independent because its seven members have been appointed by the Justice and Development authorities responsible for the expulsion and closure decisions. Although the right to appeal exists, recourse and redress mechanisms can take several years.

Turkey is the first country in the world to imprison journalists and media professionals facing criminal investigations and prosecutions. About 150 of them have been in the prison since the state of emergency was declared, and most newspapers and television channels lack independence, being forced to support the governmental political line.

Repression extends to human rights defenders

In 2017, the repression of critical voices in Turkey extended to jurists. In June, Taner Kilish, head of the Turkish branch of Amnesty International, was detained and held in pre-trial detention for alleged links to Fathullah Gulen.

In July 10, human rights activists were detained during a routine meeting in Istanbul and accused of assisting terrorist organizations. Eight were placed in pre-trial detention, including the director of Amnesty International's Turkey office, Edel Ezer, a member of the Citizens Council, the Amnesty International branch of Turkey, Ozilam Dalkiran, and other rights holders of German and Swedish nationality.

Under the state of emergency, more than 500 lawyers in Turkey were placed in pre-trial detention, and a further 1,000 were sentenced. Most lawyers facing trial are accused of linking alleged links with Fathullah Gulen.

Significances of advancing election date

Erdogan's advanving of the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for November 2019 to June 24, 2018, has many inferences. The first is the decline of the electoral base in favor of Erdogan. This was revealed by the vote on the constitutional amendments. Erdogan won the referendum by a small margin about 51.5%.

The image of Erdogan has also declined in light of the escalation of the political and social polarization within Turkey. This was manifested in the arrest of those who opposed the Turkish aggression against Afrin, in addition to the nationalization of the media. The most recent of these was forcing the agency of Dogan to sell it to a businessman close to Erdogan, online and visual, printed and audio media.

Erdogan tried to exploit his occupation of Afrin and employ it for his benefit in the elections, in addition to his exploitation of the situation in the neighboring Arab countries, which is witnessing a spring trying to employ it for his benefit, based on slogans he repeats calling for the Ottoman legacy, and inspired by ideological slogans, and his attempt to invest that internally among the Turkish people to float a false bravery based on defending the oppressed Muslims.

Tomorrow: Turkish intervention in neighboring countries’ affairs, dreams of restoring the glory of the Sultanate

A.H

ANHA