The forces of what might be best described as conservatism in Turkey continue their path to the far right, despite the skepticism of the Turkish youth, as discussed here. It begins with the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. From The Economist:
The man who pulled the carpet from under [Davutoglu’s] feet was the same one who appointed him less than two years ago: Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Tensions between the increasingly authoritarian Mr Erdogan and his prime minister have simmered for months. The two disagreed over the future of peace talks with Kurdish insurgents, and over Mr Erdogan’s plans to change the constitution to give the presidency executive powers, cementing his grip on government and his own Justice and Development (AK) party.
They also clashed over the management of the economy, and Mr Erdogan’s crackdown on critics. (Its latest victims, two journalists, were sentenced to two years in jail last week for republishing a drawing from Charlie Hebdo, a French weekly, featuring a weeping Prophet Muhammad.) Mr Erdogan has accused his prime minister of stealing the spotlight. “During my time as prime minister it was announced that Schengen travel would come into force in October 2016,” he said recently, referring to the visa talks. “I cannot understand why bringing it forward by four months is presented as a triumph.”
At DW, Reinhard Baumgarten expresses some concern:
There is great cause for alarm in Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has gone to unprecedented lengths to consolidate his power. He is determined to change the constitution and make himself the boundless ruler of the Turkish people by hook or by crook. Voters have declined to help him to that end in two successive parliamentary elections. Both times his Justice and Development Party (AKP) came up clearly shy of the votes needed to assemble a parliamentary majority.
Yet Erdogan, who constantly points out that he is the first Turkish president to be directly elected, refuses to accept the message that voters have sent him. Erdogan appointed Ahmet Davutoglu to succeed him as prime minister because he saw him as a willing executor of his political will. That obviously didn’t work out. Despite his abundant loyalty toward Erdogan, Davutoglu remained too independent.
The alarming part is how President Erdogan’s followers wish him to be treated, as reported by Mustafa Akyol in AL Monitor:
It can be safely said that Davutoglu’s departure marks even greater concentration of power in the hands of Erdogan. The new power structure includes a new Erdoganist narrative, in which obedience to the leader is openly praised as a virtue — and required as a duty.
One example of this narrative came from Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek in a lead article published by Anadolu, one of the many pro-Erdogan newspapers that has popped up lately. “Obedience to the leader is a must,” the headline read, quoting Gokcek. “The concept of a leader and absolute obedience to this leader exists in our faith, in our state tradition,” Gokcek said. “The leader can make mistakes … yet still the decision he makes … must be obeyed.”
Apparently, this obedience is an obligation for not just the party, but also the pro-AKP media world, which now makes up the majority of Turkish media outlets. In Aksam, columnist Markar Esayan underlined the nation’s unbreakable love for Erdogan, thanks to his “manliness, faith, success, courage.” This love, which he personally shares, is the “steel core of the cause,” Esayan wrote. It was so strong that it could not be weakened by “sinister [criticism] such as authoritarianism, patriarchy, cult of the leader, dictatorship or corruption.” Finally, Esayan explained how his love must be expressed by himself and all other Erdogan lovers: “Let everybody be comfortable and keep his eye on the chief. Are we not a huge orchestra looking in the eyes of its conductor? Can this work be done any other way?”
This, of course, raises the question of whether or not Erdogan’s ideas and policies have become so incompetent that unquestioning obedience is his only hope of being considered an effective leader.
