Tweet
*** ERDOGAN WATCH ***
Monitoring Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Monitoring Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkey’s democracy on the path to a police state
Erdogan’s power grab is diminishing the global reputation of the country
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is showing little restraint as he transforms Turkey into an authoritarian state built around himself. Over recent years, he has eroded democratic freedom and pluralism in his country, curbing the media, cracking down on protesters and undermining the independent judiciary. Since his election as head of state six months ago, he has taken this draconian streak to a new level as he sets about concentrating his personal power. If he is allowed to go much further, Turkey will no longer possess the basic standards required in a democracy.
Since 2011, Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has taken so many actions to constrict personal freedom that it is hard to distinguish one crackdown from the next. But a bill to be introduced in parliament in the next few days gives the police extensive new powers and is reason for concern. The law would expand police rights to use firearms, allowing them to search people or vehicles without a court order and detain them for up to 48 hours without prior authorisation by a prosecutor. Demonstrators who cover their faces with masks or scarves during violent demonstrations could face four years in prison. Opposition parties say that the bill, if approved, would mark a decisive step towards Turkey becoming a police state.
It is not just the detail of the law that is worrying but also its timing, a few months ahead of this summer’s parliamentary elections. Mr Erdogan has left little secret that he wants the June poll to deliver an AKP majority that is big enough to implement constitutional changes that turn the country into a presidential system. As the election approaches, he therefore wants to keep a lid on public order, deterring the demonstrations that rocked his leadership in the past.
Mr Erdogan’s authoritarianism is damaging Turkey in several ways. It is undermining its reputation as a democracy that other states in the region could reasonably emulate. Five years ago, President Barack Obama declared that the US and Turkey were a “model partnership” with shared values. Mr Erdogan has made a mockery of this statement. The way he is personalising power and constricting domestic freedom makes him increasingly analogous to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
His authoritarianism is also undermining Turkey’s international standing. As a nation of 77m situated at the crossroads between Europe and the Middle East, Turkey ought to be a strategic player at a time of profound upheaval in the Arab world. Instead, its foreign policy appears to be driven by the president’s personal whim. This has frayed Turkey’s ties with its neighbours. In particular, Mr Erdogan has seemed unpersuaded by the urgency of taking on the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant — or Isis.
His authoritarian streak risks, above all, undermining Turkey’s long-term economic prospects. The growth rate is 3 per cent, well below the 9 per cent seen at the start of this decade. One reason for this decline is that private investment has been flat for the past three years. If the trend is to be reversed, foreign and domestic investors need a boost of confidence in Turkey’s prospects. But Mr Erdogan’s repeated attacks on the central bank — haranguing it for not cutting interest rates even though inflation is well above target — only add to perceptions of political risk.
Turkey is too big strategically ever to lapse into irrelevance. But under Mr Erdogan, its international role is diminishing, its economic prospects are becoming clouded and its vibrant population is falling under his shadow.
Comment