TÜRKİYE ORTA ASYA HABER KKUORDİNATÖRÜ

MIDLE ASIA JOURNA: WORLD TURKISH NEWS - WORLDPRESS Turkey on the brink of disaster because of Erdoğan. By Ömer Önder While the Turkish President rejects "democracy lessons" from abroad, journalists are being arrested, and members of parliament and academics are being accused of terrorism. Until a few years ago, Erdoğan seemed to support European Union membership, human rights, and the protection of religious minorities. Now, however, he appears determined to establish a semi-dictatorship. Ankara (AsiaNews) – Returning from a trip to the United States, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the West of trying to "give Türkiye lessons in democracy." Speaking at a Turkish Red Crescent meeting in Ankara, Erdoğan said, "Those who try to give us lessons in democracy and human rights should first consider their own shame." These remarks came after US President Barack Obama said that Türkiye's approach to the media was leading the country down a "very worrying path." The Erdoğan government is increasingly accused of escalating authoritarianism, silencing critical media, arresting journalists, prosecuting Kurdish MPs on terrorism charges, and putting judges and academics on trial. This dangerous game could lead the country to disaster. Since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the 2011 elections, Turkey has deviated from its vision of closer integration with the EU, commitment to fundamental freedoms and human rights, and freedom of the press. The popular support given to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP in every election since 2002 has brought success against military tutelage in Türkiye. Military tutelage, even without direct coup attempts, kept the country in a state of suffocation through memorandums and interventions. Erdoğan came to power at the turn of the century, after a postmodern coup in 1997 that devastated the economy in 2001 and whose effects are still strongly felt today. EU membership promised an end to military tutelage, justice for all, and a financial transformation for the country. The AKP’s conservative “moderate” Muslim base, fueled by disillusioned leftists and liberals who believed Türkiye needed a new impetus for social and economic reforms, increased its support. Many religious groups, including the Hizmet Movement, inspired by the reclusive Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who lives in self-imposed exile in rural Pennsylvania, supported the AKP’s promise of a freer Turkey ready to confront past issues like the Kurdish question and its goal of striving for a more prosperous future. The Turkish people were captivated by Erdoğan’s energetic rhetoric, which blended conservative and patriotic discourse with modern Western values. Erdoğan's rise culminated in the referendum held on September 12, 2010, exactly thirty years after the horrific military coup of 1980, which made significant changes to the 1982 military coup constitution that is still in effect in Türkiye today. However, while the 2010 referendum marked the end of military tutelage in Türkiye, it left Erdoğan and his associates facing a dilemma: the AKP had no enemies it could use to rally the people behind it. This problem became apparent from the 2011 elections onwards, when Erdoğan and the AKP began to deviate from the path of democratization they had promised the Turkish people; this was marked by the hardening of the Prime Minister's rhetoric and ultimately, his habit of fabricating enemies both domestically and internationally. Erdoğan and the media outlets he began to control from 2007 onwards began demonizing different segments of the Turkish population, including Armenian Christians, Jews, Greeks, Kurds, and Shia Muslims. Türkiye’s once lauded “zero problems with neighbors policy” collapsed as the AKP government began damaging relations with neighboring countries one by one. For example, bilateral relations with Israel were almost completely severed after the intervention against the Mavi Marmara aid ship heading to the Gaza Strip in 2010. In 2011, following signs that the Arab Spring uprisings could overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the AKP became a harsh critic of Assad. According to Turkish officials, Turkey currently hosts more than 3 million Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war in the neighboring country. Turkey also currently maintains a distant relationship with Egypt, the largest Arab country in the Mediterranean. This is due to Erdoğan’s public criticism of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his support for former President Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was overthrown by Sisi in a military coup in 2013. However, Erdoğan's true authoritarianism took root after the Gezi Park protests in June 2013 against the AKP's plans to build an Ottoman-style barracks in place of the park in Istanbul's Taksim Square.