Orhan Pamuk about the development of Turkey
Earlier this month, President Erdogan’s political main rival, Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, was arrested, following obviously invented allegations of corruption and terrorism. Since then, Taksimtorget, which is the city’s largest gathering place for tourists and hubs for political protests, has been fate, blocked by the police. During all the 50 years I have lived in Istanbul, I have never seen so many so -called security measures on the streets as in recent days.
Taksim’s metro station and many other of the city’s busiest stations have been closed. The regional board has restricted cars and buses to Istanbul. The police check vehicles arriving in the city and everyone suspected of traveling in to participate in protests is rejected. Here and all over the country, the TV is constantly standing for people to follow the latest scary news about political development. During the past week, the city of Istanbul has banned public protests and political demonstrations – rights protected by the constitution. Nevertheless, spontaneous, unauthorized protests and clashes with the police have continued with unabated strength, even though access to the Internet has been restricted in an attempt to prevent crowds. The police use tear gas mercilessly and have arrested an countless number of people.
We are many who Wonder how such shameful things can happen in a country that is NATO member and that strives for EU membership. While the world is occupied by Trump, by the wars between Palestine and Israel and between Ukraine and Russia, the little one that remains of Turkish democracy is now struggling for his life.
The imprisonment of Erdogan’s main rival – a politician who has the ability to gather massive support – takes Erdogan’s hard -working, autocratic rule to a level we have not seen before. The arrest of Imamoglu happened just a few days before Turkey’s largest opposition party was expected to make his formal nomination of him the party’s presidential candidate. Whether one is for or against the government, most people now agree on one thing: Erdogan considers Imamoglu as a political threat and wants to get rid of him.
Imamoglus election success and his growing popularity have made him the foremost opposition candidate, who could also succeed in challenging Erdogan in the next presidential election
Imamoglu has won more votes than Erdogan’s own party, the Justice and Development Party AKP, in Istanbul’s three most recent Mayor. When Imamoglu won over the party’s candidate in the April 2019 election, Erdogan annulled the result by referring to technical irregularities. The elections were made about two months later. Imamoglu won again. He even strengthened his takeover. During the next local election in 2024, after five years of rule, Imamoglu again defeated the candidate from Erdogan’s party and was elected Istanbul’s mayor for the third time. Imamoglus election success and his growing popularity have made him the foremost opposition candidate, who could also succeed in challenging Erdogan in the next presidential election.
Another aspect aV it all is that Erdogan seems to use the same tactics against his opponent used against him himself 27 years ago. In 1998, Tayyip Erdogan was Istanbul’s elected mayor and a popular figure. The secular and military power considered his form of political Islam as dangerous. He was also imprisoned and charged (in his case for the instigation of religious hatred after reading a political poem during a campaign meeting). Erdogan was deposed as mayor and had to sit in prison for four months.
But the imprisonment of him, as well as his defiant refusal to cooperate with power and bow to the army’s oppressive demands, helped to further strengthen his political profile. As some commentators have pointed out, Imamoglu imprisonment, which has denied the charges and promised not to « fold down », can actually get the same unintentional results. It could very well help to make the mayor even more popular.
Yet the situation is not really the same. Imamoglu is facing an overpowered and purposeful attempt to prevent him from standing in the presidential election. The day before the police were sent home to Imamoglu, the Erdogan-loyal press and the Erdogan appointed by the head of Istanbul’s University had announced Imamoglus University degree invalid, by pointing out that something was not true in his transfer from a private university. Since only people with a university degree are allowed to candidate in presidential elections in Turkey, it would disqualify Imamoglu, which has said he intends to protest against the decision. Then came the allegations of corruption and terrorism.
To stamp political Opponents like « terrorists » are a tendency Erdogan developed after the failed military coup in 2016, when a fraction from the Turkish army tried to take over the government. When the Austrian author Peter Handke, who was criticized for supporting the former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2019, Erdogan was a stubborn opponent of the decision. In an unprecedented moment, without teleprompts, he exclaimed: « They gave the same price to a terrorist from Turkey! » I would actually fly back from New York to Istanbul that day, and would just cancel my return, when the president’s spokesman stepped forward and announced that it was not me the president had been referring to.
A court controlled by Erdogan has now put Imamoglu in prison because of corruption accusations, but they did not use charges of « terrorism ». Such a charge would have made it possible for President Erdogan to appoint his own candidate as mayor of Istanbul – a position his party has failed to win in three consecutive elections. Some fear that Erdogan could thus control the city’s steady stream of tax revenue to PR and propaganda for his own party.
By imprisoning Imamoglu does not just put a more popular rival out of play; He also tries to put the gloves on Istanbul’s rich assets, which he has not been able to access in seven years. If he succeeds, only Erdogans and his candidate’s faces will appear on the city’s walls and information screens.
No one even talks about the many journalists and officials who have arbitrarily put in prison only in recent days
This is no surprise to anyone who has followed Turkish politics closely. Over the past decade, Turkey has not been a real democracy- only a democracy for political elections, where you can vote for the candidate you prefer, but without freedom of opinion or opinion. The Turkish state has certainly made an effort to force the people into obedience. No one even talks about the many journalists and officials who have arbitrarily put in prison only in recent days, either in an attempt to give weight and credibility to the corruption accusations against Imamoglu, or based on the assumption that no one should notice it when so much else happens at the same time.
Now, after the arrest of the country’s most popular politicians, the candidate who would have won the majority of the votes in the next round of national elections, this limited form of democracy is also over. It is unacceptable, deeply disturbing upsetting and therefore more and more people are joining the protests going on. At the moment, no one can predict what will happen next.
Overs. From English by Malin Ullgren
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