Friday, 16 October 2015 00:00

İnsel: an attack against democrats

Ahmet İnsel in Cumhuriyet writes that the October 10 attack was not perpetrated against Turkey. Neither was it made against the state or the AKP. The October 10 massacre was perpetrated against the forces of freedom, democracy and peace in Turkey. This was not a blind act of terror. Its victims were purposefully selected beforehand.  Just as in Suruç and Diyarbakır, it was the people who are waging an unflinching, determined struggle for peace and democracy against the clique of Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP’s hegemony who were killed. The November 1 election is going to be a critical date, measuring both the determination to hold the power accountable and to stop those who want to drag us toward civil war. Every vote that is cast for the parties of the peace and freedom front on November 1 will be a slap on the face of those who perpetrated the October 10 massacre, who planned it, who hope to reap the benefits of the atmosphere of terror and chaos that they have created, and who are so satisfied with the sight of this barbarity that they are not even able to feign sorrow. 

Kadri Gürsel on the Diken news site notes that, interestingly, historically, assaults against the left, the Kurds, dissidents and democrats in Turkey are not stopped, and when they have been allowed to take place, they are never explained. That is not a coincidence. If an assassination in Turkey that could have been prevented still has taken place, you can rest assured that light will never be shed on it. The proprietor of the system of darkness in Turkey may change, but its signature mark that never changes is this. And, we recognize the origin of this signature that is left behind every unresolved assassination. The abbreviation may change. It was different in the seventies; in the 2015 it has become ISIS. The signature is always the same, though. That signature is written all over the bodies that were blown to death in Ankara. The purpose is to have society retreat within its shell, to make it fear for its future and to depoliticize it.

Hasan Cemal on the t24 news site writes that the government is fully responsible for the Bloody Saturday in Ankara. HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş is the target of hellfire because he holds the state responsible for the Bloody Saturday. Stop there – as if the state in Turkey is innocent. Have you forgotten about all the provocations that were undertaken in order to pave the way for coups? Have you forgotten the massacres in Kahramanmaraş and Çorum in the 1970s? The evidence of how this state has violated the law in the name of its supposed superior interests are fresh in memory. There is not a single conspiracy that the “deep state” – whose roots go back a century – has not staged in this country in order to prevent democracy and the rule of law from being established. And I should also add this: the regime of Erdoğan, which for a while seemed to be signaling that it was fighting against the “deep state,” has since it became the state itself, resorted to using he ominous instruments of the “deep state.” About that, there is no doubt in my mind.

By Svante Cornell

October 9th, 2015, The Turkey Analyst

Since 2010, the State Directorate for Religious Affairs has risen in prominence. Diyanet’s budget has quadrupled under the AKP, and the Directorate now issues fatwas on demand, as well as wading into political issues and backing up the AKP position. Moreover, Diyanet has drastically increased its provision of Quran courses for students of all ages. The Diyanet, originally created by the Turkish state to exercise oversight over religious affairs, is now firmly under the control of President Erdoğan, and has turned into a supersized government bureaucracy for the promotion of Sunni Islam.

diyanet 

Published in Articles

By Nick Danforth

September 23rd, 2015, The Turkey Analyst

Turkey’s democratic and authoritarian legacies have been thoroughly intertwined from the outset. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarian instincts have been both motivated and enabled by the authoritarian behavior of his predecessors. Yet Erdoğan is also restrained by institutional forces that remain in place because military and civilian leaders before him proved willing to step down and compromise. And he is moreover restrained by the instincts of voters and some within his own party who value Turkey’s democratic tradition.

erd-rabia 

Published in Articles

Visit also

silkroad

afpc-logo

isdp

cacianalyst

Joint Center Publications

Op-ed Halil Karaveli "The Rise and Rise of the Turkish Right", The New York Times, April 8, 2019

Analysis Halil Karaveli "The Myth of Erdogan's Power"Foreign Policy, August 29, 2018

Analysis Svante E. Cornell, A Road to Understanding in Syria? The U.S. and TurkeyThe American Interest, June 2018

Op-ed Halil Karaveli "Erdogan Wins Reelection"Foreign Affairs, June 25, 2018

Article Halil Karaveli "Will the Kurdish Question Secure Erdogan's Re-election?", Turkey Analyst, June 18, 2018

Research Article Svante E. Cornell "Erbakan, Kisakürek, and the Mainstreaming of Extremism in Turkey", Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, June 2018

Analysis Svante E. Cornell "The U.S. and Turkey: Past the Point of No Return?"The American Interest, February 1, 2018

Op-ed Svante E. Cornell "Erdogan's Turkey: the Role of a Little Known Islamic Poet", Breaking Defense, January 2, 2018

Research Article Halil Karaveli "Turkey's Authoritarian Legacy"Cairo Review of Global Affairs, January 2, 2018

 

The Turkey Analyst is a publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Joint Center, designed to bring authoritative analysis and news on the rapidly developing domestic and foreign policy issues in Turkey. It includes topical analysis, as well as a summary of the Turkish media debate.

Newsletter

Sign up for upcoming events, latest news and articles from the CACI Analyst

Newsletter