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In Turkey, the erosion of the power of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

2020-10-01T11:02:40.724Z


After 18 years in government, the president is now isolated at the top of the state. Even if he flatters the greatness of his country, they live in


The images have long been looped on the few news channels that are still independent.

Handcuffed, flanked by police, the very popular Sirri Süreyya Onder, former member of the pro-Kurdish party, is taken into custody on Friday, September 25.

That day, 81 other party members were also arrested for acts dating back six years.

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"The AKP

(Editor's note: Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party)

now manages the country's politics through the crisis," explains political scientist Ismet Akça in an interview with the daily Evrensel.

“The party no longer really has a vision to offer the country;

it is disconnected from the economic and social reality of the country, relies essentially on its ideology.

He tries, but fails.

The AKP is experiencing a crisis of its hegemony, ”he continues.

Although the tensions in the Caucasus between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as in the Eastern Mediterranean, cause much ink to flow, the situation inside the country concentrates most of the concerns.

The Covid-19 crisis has been a blow to an already faltering Turkish economy.

The presence of Erdogan's son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, at the Ministry of the Economy and Finance symbolizes a power more nepotistic than competent which has nothing to reassure the markets.

Any criticism is seen as a threat

The loss of large municipalities like Istanbul and Ankara in the spring of 2019 in local elections testifies to this erosion of power.

The multiplication of human rights violations, the arbitrary imprisonment of journalists and intellectuals, the increased pressure on the pro-Kurdish party and numerous civil society organizations are, paradoxically, all manifestations of the weakening of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Any voice critical of his person is now a threat in his eyes.

But the political opposition is struggling to structure itself.

The AKP's main ideological opponent, the CHP, is making numerous statements without succeeding in fully playing its role of opponent.

In a minority in Parliament, weakened by internal divisions, this party, heir to the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, is widely criticized for its inability to renew its ideological discourse.

Aware of the weakening power in place, two of Erdogan's former fellow travelers left the AKP to create two new competing parties.

If part of the AKP's electoral base has unconditional support for the president's personality, the other has supported him as long as the country's growth declined in double digits, in the 2000s. Since then, many Turks , worried and tired of seeing inflation gallop and their purchasing power decrease, turn away from the “sultan” of Ankara.

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If the main trends recorded by the polling institutes are confirmed, the next legislative and presidential elections of 2023 could well be the scene of the debacle of the indebted Erdogan, absolute master of power… but no longer of his population.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2020-10-01

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