This kind of thuggery has continued unabated. In his 2014 presidential campaign, Erdogan repeatedly attacked Israel as having “surpassed Hitler in barbarism.” After winning, his government orchestrated the mass arrests of 23 journalists and writers in a single day. Among those facing trial are the editor of Turkey’s largest circulating newspaper, the chairman of a respected broadcasting company, several popular columnists, and six screenwriters.
The revenge prosecutions continue. On Wednesday, the chief prosecutor’s office in Ankara issued warrants for the arrest of 54 police officials on charges of wire-tapping the president. They’ve also issued an arrest warrant, on unspecified charges, for Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric and former Erdogan ally who has been living in exile in Pennsylvania for a decade. Erdogan evidently blames Gulen for stirring up this corruption stuff. Like me, I guess he won’t be traveling to Turkey anytime soon either.
Perhaps the pinnacle of Erdogan’s pettiness (I hope he doesn’t also make alliteration a crime) came last week when one of his lawyers lodged a complaint with prosecutors against Merve Buyuksarac, a model who was Miss Turkey in 2006. Her crime? She posted a poem on Instagram from a satiric magazine that may or may not have suggested Erdogan is a master thief. The prosecutor is seeking a term of four years in prison.
It turns out that Erdogan did not tear the roots out of Twitter. Instead, his henchmen patrol the country’s social media for evidence that private citizens are criticizing them. Turkey has always been an uneasy democracy. Soon, they won’t even have the pretense. Erdogan seems determined to lead his nation off “the streetcar.”
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