All power in the hands of Erdogan

By Roger Hercz

JAFFA (Dagsavisen): In Istiklal Street in central Istanbul, he is alive. Inconceivable up to three million people may be on the street a regular day. It's no wonder the cafes are full.

Professor Sakir Dincsahin does not believe that the state of emergency, which was abolished earlier this week, meant so much to most people.

Nothing will improve. Ordinary people will not notice any change, says Dincsahin, adding that in the choice of bread and freedom of expression, most people will choose bread.

On July 15, two fears, Turkish fighters attack parliament in Ankara. A group of officers attempted to make a coup against pro-Islamic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But the president managed to appeal to people, via social media, television and texting, to run the streets, and the blow was avoided.

Lost Job

Later, the president described the coup d'etat as "God's gift". In the days that followed, hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs – only because the regime saw them as potential threats.

In the exceptional state, Erdogan was crushed by constitutional amendments that give him today vast powers. In a referendum last year, the Turks voted for a new constitution that involves more direct presidential power – and less power for representatives of the National Assembly.

Parliamentarianism is largely in Turkey, Erdogan controls presidential decrees. a dictatorship. Erdogan was elected for a new presidential term in June.

Suppression

In the storm today, we risk being arrested for laughing by the president. A wide range of topics can not be discussed either.

– One can not ask questions about Erdogan's position. We can not even discuss whether the government will start negotiations with the Kurds, says Professor Murat Ozbank, also from Istanbul.

Liberal forces were not strong in Turkey, but now the state's man is more worried about the human rights situation. Censorship is used to cover Turkish war crimes in neighboring Syria, warns Ozbank.

– Turkey has conquered the Afrin region, and many say that Turkey is trying to change the ethnic composition of the population in a predominantly Kurdish region. Ozbank at Dagsavisen earlier this week.

Public Support

Despite the oppression, it is also clear that Erdogan enjoys broad support in the people. How could he be?

After the coup attempt in 2016, Dagsavisen Ozbank met in Istanbul, and has already warned against what he described as a widespread misunderstanding in the West: dictatorships do not enjoy broad popular support. As an example, he mentioned earlier military dictatorships in South America. He feared that the dictatorship would be on the way to Turkey

Today, Ozbank himself has gone into exile in Germany.

Turkey has never been a perfect democracy, nor before Erdogan. The famous journalist and researcher Guney Yildiz is not surprised that he has not learned the French Voltaire 's enlightenment and his declared willingness to fight for the right of the artist. opposition to claim his point of view at school

– Voltaire by my parents. The problem with words as venerable as Voltaires in a country like Turkey is that politicians only support them when they are weak. When they come to power, they forget Voltaire, says Yildiz.

Erdogan has almost created a closed ecosystem where virtually all media are under his control. Neither on the Internet, one can apply freely. Wikipedia is blocked so that the Turks do not read independent information. On the other hand, the press is free to promise the president.

The Will Power

In his early years of power, the Erdogan regime was often shown as the example of democracy and Islamist politics. Today, Turkey is no longer a model. But it is probably less about Islamism to do. Erdogan has total control over state institutions.

– The problem is not Islamism, but Erdogan's desire to stay in power. I fear that the authoritarian attitude of Turkey is just another example of the fact that democracy can be eliminated by democratic elections, "said Yildiz of London

. The dissatisfaction may grow in the coming months as the Turkish economy enters a period of expected crisis.

In undemocratic regimes, the leader would like to appoint a young family member as leader in the country – as for to ensure that power remains in the hands of the family in stride.One of the first steps taken by Erdogan to reelect the president with this expanded power was to announce a Decree that Turkey's next finance minister should be Berat Albayrak Albayrak, 40, is the son-in-law of Erdogan, married to his daughter Ezra.