It is a quiet evening on a Thursday night. On the ferry heading home, it feels almost peaceful. There is only the hum of the people chatting, and the music coming from the strings of the violins played by the young musicians. There is no sign of distress; there is just plain silence. Outside, it has been quite the opposite of stillness. With yet another wiretap recording released earlier today Turkey was quick to move with banning access to YouTube as of late afternoon. A
second online
platform blocked in a span of one week following Twitter. There are also the elections, and the expectations of millions of Turks who will head to the polls to vote for their future on March 30th. So where does it leave Turkey tonight? Needless to say some anger and frustration, a few pinches of fear and of course spoonful of concern of what is next – a complete shut down?
Difficult winter
Certainly it has been some tremulous times for Turkey. The wave of corruption scandal implicating key government officials and their offspring (including the Prime Minister and his son) in what now is part of a series of tapped phone conversations is reminiscent of some HBO drama/action/suspense genre TV series (even Game of Thrones scenario writers would be jealous). Since December of 2013, a series of phone conversations were shared exposing not only the “dirty deeds” behind some of the key ruling party personnel but also the power balance within the Turkish government. There was everything – retrieving large sums of cash out of the family house, calling up the media head to censor the views of an opposition leader; or asking the Justice Minister to “take care” of a case against media boss. If it isn’t a perfect Game of Thrones plot, then what is it (even if there are no dragons)?
Except all of this is real and today’s developments only demonstrate further how seriously troubling is the current situation in Turkey. This time, the leak was in a format of a conversation taking place as part of a high level national security meeting between the key government officials
discussing the possibility
of going to war with not so distant neighbor Syria. The recording was shared on YouTube. Shortly after Erdogan’s speech (with a voice
high on helium
) in Van, Turkey’s Telekom Authority said it was an “administrative measure” against YouTube when users across the country began reporting on the ban. Within few hours, YouTube shared Twitter’s destiny in Turkey.
Key government officials including Erdogan, declared the most recent release as an “attack” against Turkey and its people. The leading culprit is yet again the
Gulen movement
as it has been with all the recent anti-government tapes and recordings. Erdogan has been quick to blame everyone (though mostly Gulen folks) for all the recent backstabbing but himself. He has even gone as far as to call a 15-year-old child a
terrorist
, following his countrywide mass funeral procession. It looks like he sees no limits.
In her
tweet
the Vice President of EU Commission Neelie Kroes posed the following question: “Where will it end Mr. Erdogan? #twitter #youtube #internet #Turkey” joining the ranks of many others at home and abroad worried about the recent developments sweeping the country off its stable, promising feet. Perhaps Kroes will soon get a response. Whether it’s going to be of a satisfying nature that is contested.
Without any doubt this election so far is the toughest for Erdogan and his party AKP to win. Never since its coming to power in 2002 has the party been challenged this much and its image tarnished so deeply. The pre-election rhetoric is clearly more aggressive, the statements are stronger and the expectation from the people to vote for the AKP is much more visible than it has ever been.
Turkey’s course
A
video
[TR] that appeared late Thursday night depicts Turkey after the elections if the ruling Justice and Development party wins: mass unrest, crackdown on freedom of expression, full control in the hands of the ruling party, countrywide protests, economic crisis, arrests, detentions, silencing and more civil unrest. The bottom line is – come and vote and thus have an impact on the future of the country and the direction it is headed. The message is clear, but whether the course of Turkey after the elections will be in direction of democracy is dim, at least for now.
