By Azgar Nuhman

Tens of thousands of people across Turkey have been protesting for a seventh day against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
The largest public protests in Turkey in more than a decade are currently underway. Turkish police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, but the tear gas and rubber bullets have failed to quell the protests.

Turkey’s most popular politician arrested..

The protests in Istanbul began on March 19th, sparked by the arrest of a leading opposition politician and Istanbul Mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, on bribery and terrorism charges. He is a key political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The arrest came days before he was named the presidential candidate of Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP). Imamoglu has denied the corruption charges against him. More than a hundred Istanbul city council officials and opposition politicians have been arrested and detained as part of a bribery investigation.

An attempt to suppress legitimate political activities

Imamoglu’s mayorship has also been suspended, and his CHP party says the arrest is “a plot against our next president.” They have called on their supporters to take to the streets to fight. Human Rights Watch says the arrest and detention of the Istanbul mayor and about a hundred other city officials and politicians is a “politically motivated move to suppress legitimate political activities”

University students at the forefront…

What began as a relatively small-scale protest in Istanbul, a city of over 16 million people, has since spread to several other cities across Turkey, and has now become the largest protest in a decade. The protests are led by university students. They represent a cross-section of Turkish society, including young professionals. Students at Istanbul University protested under the slogan “We are not afraid, we will not be silent”

A public protest against Erdogan’s authoritarian rule..

Political commentators point out that this public protest has gone beyond the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and is transforming into a massive protest against the authoritarian rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for twenty-two years. Many educated young people say that Turkey no longer has a future under Erdogan’s authoritarian rule. These young people point out that Turkey is heading towards authoritarian rule and that the country’s economy and health services are collapsing.

Erdogan’s government’s repression machine…

A few months before the arrest of the Istanbul mayor, Erdogan’s government launched a massive crackdown across the country, arresting opposition politicians, journalists and artists who criticized him on various charges. Under Erdogan’s authoritarian and repressive rule, opposition politicians in Turkey are arrested and imprisoned on absurd charges. His critics are intimidated and silenced. Protesters are arrested and the vast majority of the country’s media is controlled by the government. Even posting a social media post mocking and criticizing the president is a crime punishable by imprisonment.

People come to the streets to protest against authoritarian rule..

Erdogan’s government is cracking down on popular protests. According to Turkey’s interior minister, more than 1,100 people have been arrested since the protests began. Among them are journalists who covered the protests. The Turkish government has banned public gatherings, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the protests, saying his government will bow down to “destruction” or “street terror” Many Turks, who believe that freedom and democracy have been abolished under Erdogan, fear the country is slipping into total authoritarian rule. They see the popular protests as an opportunity to stop that trend. Turkish citizens bravely take to the streets every night against Erdogan’s authoritarian rule, defying riot police, their tear gas and rubber bullets, march bans, road and bridge closures, and the risk of arrest.

Immediately release protesters and journalists..

The United Nations Human Rights Council has drawn serious attention to the arrest of protesters, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. On Tuesday (25), the UN Human Rights Council spokesperson issued a special statement urging the Turkish government to immediately release more than a thousand protesters and journalists who have been arrested. The UN Human Rights Council is calling for the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly to be guaranteed in accordance with international law, and for credible allegations of unlawful use of force against protesters to be promptly and properly investigated.

The bridge between Asia and Europe…

Turkey is a country with an ancient culture and civilization located on the border of Europe and Asia. Its uniqueness lies in representing a combination of Eastern and Western culture. Throughout recent history, Turkey has existed as a secular state. That is, as a parliamentary democracy with no connection between the state and religion. Despite the overwhelming majority of Muslims living in it, Turkey has remained a liberal state.

Liberal Turkey into a religious fanatic state..

Turkey, with such a vibrant cultural and political diversity, has been transformed into an ultra-nationalist, religious fanatic, and servile state over the past two decades. The leader of that transformation was Turkey’s authoritarian leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan is the founder of the nationalist populist politics (populism) that has now spread throughout the world.

Turkey’s new “sultan”..

Erdogan is a figure who emerges from a poor and Muslim extremist family background in Turkey. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) he built is also a reflection of that socio-economic and political foundation.

Erdogan first achieved a prominent position in Turkish politics when he became mayor of Istanbul in 1994. He served as mayor for four years. In 2003, he became the prime minister, which was Erdogan’s first time entering the national leadership. He served as prime minister until 2014. In 2014, Erdogan introduced an executive presidential system that centralized all powers, replacing the parliamentary system that had existed in Turkey since 1946. Since then, he has been the executive president. Erdogan is today the head of state, head of government, head of the ruling party, head of the national police and army, and chief of staff. He is, in effect, the new “sultan” of Turkey.

Erdogan’s dictatorial madness…

Erdogan has ruled Turkey for more than two decades. His formula was to protect “country, nation and religion”, which every authoritarian populist ruler follows. The economic policy was popular “poverty alleviation”. Despite the overwhelming Muslim representation, Turkey remained a liberal country. Women lived their lives freely. There were no religious extremist restrictions in the fields of arts, culture and media. Indeed, the Turkish people lived their lives as they wanted.
However, Erdogan suppressed the liberal freedom that the Turkish people experienced during his two decades of rule with Muslim fundamentalism. He destroyed not only cultural and social freedoms but also political freedoms in the country with his dictatorship.
He suppressed and trampled on opposition parties, civil society, the judiciary, human rights including speech, expression and free media. Opposition political leaders, supporters, journalists, and artists were illegally arrested.

Ruling the country with business tycoons

After he came to power, the business leadership in Turkey was given to a group of tycoons who were supporters of his party. It is an open secret that this group performed “duties” for Erdogan.
These businessmen pumped money into charities run by him and his party. These institutions distributed essential food items to poor supporters of Erdogan’s party as political bribes. In addition, the political program aimed at “eliminating poverty” was implemented at the state level. A large number of people were recruited for the civil service, and the majority of the quota was distributed to supporters of his party. Massive construction projects began across the country under state sponsorship. These projects led to an economic revival in the country during the first decade of Erdogan’s rule, and strengthened his and his party’s base among the poor. The main trump cards of authoritarian and authoritarian rulers anywhere in the world are the political bribes of “country, race and religion” and “alleviating poverty”. This is a common factor for Erdogan, the Rajapaksas, Modis and all of them.

High inflation

However, it is difficult to maintain that bribery economy in the long term. Inflation gradually increased due to excessive government spending. Bribery and corruption also increased in the country.
Inflation reached uncontrollable levels. Some economic experts warn that the Turkish currency, the Lira, is rapidly collapsing and commodity prices are reaching uncontrollable levels.

Large-scale bribery and corruption by Erdogan and his group

Bribery and corruption by Erdogan and his family members, as well as members of his government and business associates, have become widespread. Many political commentators in Turkey point out that the charges against the Istanbul mayor are of a negligible level, considering the bribery and corruption by Erdogan and his group that have been exposed for more than two decades.

Erdogan’s first political setback…

The first political setback for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the dictator who has been stomping on Turkey with his iron fist for more than two decades, was demonstrated in the presidential election held on May 14, 2023. For the first time, he failed to pass the fifty percent vote threshold. After a tight race, he won the second round of the presidential election held on May 28. Following the presidential election he immediately called a general election. His goal was to gain a two-thirds majority in the six-hundred-seat Turkish parliament.

The Wrong Turn

Erdogan’s goal was to get the opportunity to run again in the 2028 presidential election through the constitutional amendment. But the Turkish people did not give Erdogan’s AKP the power it had before in parliament. They were able to win 268 seats (35.6 percent of the total vote). That was a decrease of 27 seats from the previous general election. But the main opposition CHP party increased its number of seats by 25.3 percent of the total vote.

Erdogan started to see bad signs in Turkey’s local elections last April. 
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) won power in five of Turkey’s largest cities. The CHP’s biggest victory came in Istanbul, where Ekrem Imamoglu was re-elected mayor by a landslide. Istanbul, Europe’s largest city, is home to 18 percent of Turkey’s population and a third of its economy.

A huge defeat for Erdogan’s AKP

The CHP won the Turkish capital Ankara as well as the provincial governments of Izmir, Bursa and Adana, and recorded a remarkable victory, winning 35 out of 81 local governments, receiving 37.8 percent of the total vote. Erdogan’s AKP suffered a huge defeat and was rejected even in the Muslim extremist regions of Turkey where they had been in power for decades. Political analysts point to the country’s economic crisis, unaffordable prices of essential goods, rising unemployment, the Erdogan government’s corruption and repression as the reasons for this huge defeat.

The common formula of dictators

In such a context, it is not surprising that the popular leader of the opposition and their presidential candidate, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, was arrested and imprisoned on absurd charges. Every dictator in the world, including Erdogan, operates in this way. Take Russian President Putin, for example. He runs for president after imprisoning or killing all his rivals on absurd charges.

You can’t fool everyone all the time…

The political lies and deception that Erdogan and his AKP party have carried out for more than two decades through nationalism, race, and religion, as well as Muslim religious extremism, cannot be continued. 
It is difficult to continue to deceive and cover up the economic crisis including unemployment, inflation, and the devaluation of the Lira using “country, race, and religion”. As the famous American president Abraham Lincoln once said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time”.

Long live the Turkish people’s struggle!!

After more than two decades, the people of Turkey are bravely taking to the streets to save their beautiful country from the anti-democratic, authoritarian, oppressive rule, Islam extremism of Erdogan and from his AKP party. This is a long battle. It is a difficult journey that must be continued, with victories and setbacks alike. Erdogan, who has been leading a dictatorial regime for two decades, will not step down peacefully. But in the end, victory belongs not to the dictators, but to the common people.

Azgar Nuhman 

Freelance Journalist