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Over the weekend, Turkeymarked the one-year anniversary of a deadly coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his elected government.You probably know the story: On July 15, 2016, a mutinous faction of soldiers staged a short-lived insurrection that was confronted by mass protests in Istanbul and elsewhere. More than 250 people were killed, including many civilians, and thousands injured before order was restored.

A year ago, I reported the aftermath from Istanbul. In a country known for its profoundly polarized politics, the events of July 15 had ushered in a remarkable period of unity. After decades of military interference in political life, Turks across the political spectrum seemed galvanized by their fellow citizens' defense of democracy. On Aug. 7, Erdogan even appeared at a gigantic rally with prominentfigures of the opposition including his biggest challenger, secularist Kemal Kilicdaroglu in an unprecedented show of solidarity.

Today, whatever unity once existed is long gone. At eventsin Istanbul and Ankara commemorating the "martyrs" who perished, Erdogan thundered against his opponents at home and abroad.

"We will rip off the heads of those traitors," Erdogan saidat a massive nationalist rally in Istanbul on Saturday, reiterating his desire to reinstate the death penalty. He then scolded Kilicdaroglu, who recently led a three-week protest march against Erdogan from Ankara to Istanbul.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Erdogansaid. "This nation is not a coward like you. This nation has a heart."

Turkish authorities pinned the attempted coupon Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric whofounded a global network of influential schools and charities but who is widely seen in Turkey as the mastermind of a subversive fifth columnseeking to controlthe Turkish state. In an interview with NPR last week, Gulen againdenied any involvement in the attempted coup.

The murky origins and circumstances of the putsch are stillthe subject offevered debate,and Gulen's mooted extradition to his homelandseems nowhere in sight. Erdogan railed at Western governments for supposedly taking the side of his enemies and seeking to undermine Turkey.

"The stance of the European Union is clear to see ... 54 years have passed and they are still messing us about," he said in Ankaraon Sunday, resuming his long-running feud with European leaders. "We will sort things out for ourselves. There's no other option."

Erdogan's government certainly has set about "sorting things out." Just days after he survived the coup attempt, Erdogan declared it "a gift from God" that would usher in "a new Turkey."

Since then, Erdoganhas presided over a vast and astonishing purge of his country's state institutions and civil society. He and his allies say they areexpunging supposed Gulenist plotters, but they are in realitytargetinga much larger pool of dissidents, activistsand other perceived adversaries.

Around 150,000 people were suspended or fired from their jobs in state institutions or universities. On Friday alone, news came of 7,000 more peopledismissed from their posts, including 2,303 police officers and hundreds of academics. At least 50,000 people from the military, police, judiciary and other branches of government have been arrested. More than 100 journalists are behind bars. Dozens of newspapers and TV stations have been shut down.

Critics accuse Erdogan of laying the foundations of a one-party dictatorship, but his supporters say heis consolidating Turkish democracy. And so does he.

"Those who turned their weapons against innocent civilians on 15 July hit a brick wall made of a decade of progress in politics, economics, healthcare, justice, foreign policy and fundamental rights," Erdogan wrote in a column published by the Guardian. "This connection between the people and their government is the ultimate measure of our democracys resilience, and the strongest guarantee of its survival."

Thisyear, Erdogannarrowly won a referendum that will transform the Turkish republic's political system from a parliamentary democracy to one dominated by a strong presidential executive. But hisslim margin of victory led many analysts to predict that Erdogan will cling to his divisive populismto further cement his power.

Erdogan's fieryremarks in Istanbul this week were aimed at his base politically conservative, religiously pious and increasingly nationalist Turks. A day prior, imams around Turkey delivered state-sanctioned sermons that connected those who died defending Erdogan's rule to the fighters killed in Turkey's war of independence after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The legacy of the coup attempt has "become an increasingly important political cudgel for the president and his Islamist supporters, with the victory over the coup plotters seen as a critical part of the governments popular mandate," my colleague Kareem Fahimwrote.

"His narrative means that the rise of the Turkish nation and the future of the global Muslim community hinge on Erdogan as a person and a politician," said Soner Cagaptay,author of "The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey," to the Financial Times. "The implication is that, if you dont support Erdogan, you are neither a good Turk or a good Muslim."

As we've discussed before, Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party were initially seen as forces of liberalization, unshackling Turkey's sclerotic economy and granting greater cultural freedoms to devout Muslims, ethnic Kurds and other communities long suppressed by Turkey's notoriously draconian secular state. But now, Erdogan's critics lamenthis repeated demonization of constituenciesunlikely to vote for him or his party and the deepening polarization that is taking placeunder his watch.

"Labeling at least half of your population as 'terrorist' is not a defense of democracy,"Kilicdarogluwrote in a Guardian column opposing the Turkish president. "And concentrating power in the hands of one person without any checks or balances is an assault on the very notion of democracy."

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Read more from the original source:
Turkey's Erdogan turned a failed coup into his path to greater power - Washington Post

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday defiantly stepped up his attacks on the European Union, saying Turkey had to go its own way and vowing to bring back the death penalty if parliament passed it.

At the opening ceremony of a memorial dedicated to the roughly 250 people who died in last year's failed coup, Erdogan accused Brussels of "messing about" with Turkey's decades-long bid to join the bloc.

The speech in the early hours of Sunday wound up a marathon session of public appearances by Erdogan in both the capital and Istanbul overnight to mark the anniversary of last year's defeated coup.

"The stance of the European Union is clear to see ... 54 years have passed and they are still messing us about," he said, citing what he said was Brussels' failure to keep promises on everything from a visa deal to aid for Syrian migrants.

"We will sort things out for ourselves. There's no other option."

Ties with the West were strained when European governments voiced alarm at the scale of the crackdown that followed the coup. Some 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from their jobs and more than 50,000 detained on suspicion of links with the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the attempted putsch.

Erdogan also said he would approve, "without hesitation" the death penalty, if parliament voted to restore it -- a move that would effectively end Turkey's bid to join the EU.

"I don't look at what Hans and George say. I look at what Ahmet, Mehmet, Hasan, Huseyin, Ayse, Fatma and Hatice say," he said, to cheers from a flag-waving crowd.

Erdogan, the most popular and divisive politician in recent Turkish history, sees himself as the liberator of pious millions who were deprived for decades of their rights and welfare by the secular elite.

The coup's defeat has likely ended decades of military interference in Turkish politics. But the purges have sharpened the divide between Erdogan's supporters and Western-facing Turks who want closer ties with Europe.

Critics say Erdogan is using a state of emergency introduced after the coup to target opposition figures including rights activists, politicians and journalists.

More than a dozen members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) - including its two co-leaders - are in jail, as well as local members of rights group Amnesty International.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists calls Turkey the world's biggest jailer of journalists, with some 160 now detained. Leftist, pro-Kurdish and opposition media outlets have also been shut.

Authorities on Saturday detained the editor of a local newspaper over a column criticizing the aftermath of the failed coup, her newspaper said.

In the run-up to the anniversary, Turkish media has been saturated by coverage from the coup attempt, with some channels showing almost constant footage from last year of young men and headscarved mothers facing down armed soldiers and tanks.

On Saturday, mobile phone networks played a 13-second pre-recorded message from Erdogan before connecting calls. In the message he honored the "martyrs" who died during the coup attempt and those "veterans" who took to the streets.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU remained committed to dialogue with Turkey and called on Ankara to strengthen democracy and the rule of law. He also warned against reinstating the death penalty.

"One year after the attempted coup, Europe's hand remains outstretched," Juncker wrote in Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"If Turkey were to introduce the death penalty, the Turkish government would finally slam the door to EU membership."

Addressing a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Istanbul on Saturday evening, Erdogan threatened to wreak violent retribution on Turkey's enemies, including FETO - his term for Gulen's network - and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"We know who is behind FETO, the PKK and all of them," he said. "We cannot defeat the queen, king, or sheikhs without defeating the pawns, knights and castles. Firstly, we will rip the heads off of these traitors."

He also said that alleged members of Gulen's network would be forced to wear jumpsuits like those worn by prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, after one detainee showed up to a court hearing wearing a T-shirt that said "Hero".

Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber in Berlin; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Keith Weir and Richard Balmforth

Original post:
Defiant Erdogan attacks EU, promises to bring back death ...

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday defiantly stepped up his attacks on the European Union, saying Turkey had to go its own way and vowing to bring back the death penalty if parliament passed it.

At the opening ceremony of a memorial dedicated to the roughly 250 people who died in last year's failed coup, Erdogan accused Brussels of "messing about" with Turkey's decades-long bid to join the bloc.

The speech in the early hours of Sunday wound up a marathon session of public appearances by Erdogan in both the capital and Istanbul overnight to mark the anniversary of last year's defeated coup.

"The stance of the European Union is clear to see ... 54 years have passed and they are still messing us about," he said, citing what he said was Brussels' failure to keep promises on everything from a visa deal to aid for Syrian migrants.

"We will sort things out for ourselves. There's no other option."

Ties with the West were strained when European governments voiced alarm at the scale of the crackdown that followed the coup. Some 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from their jobs and more than 50,000 detained on suspicion of links with the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the attempted putsch.

Erdogan also said he would approve, "without hesitation" the death penalty, if parliament voted to restore it -- a move that would effectively end Turkey's bid to join the EU.

"I don't look at what Hans and George say. I look at what Ahmet, Mehmet, Hasan, Huseyin, Ayse, Fatma and Hatice say," he said, to cheers from a flag-waving crowd.

Erdogan, the most popular and divisive politician in recent Turkish history, sees himself as the liberator of pious millions who were deprived for decades of their rights and welfare by the secular elite.

The coup's defeat has likely ended decades of military interference in Turkish politics. But the purges have sharpened the divide between Erdogan's supporters and Western-facing Turks who want closer ties with Europe.

Critics say Erdogan is using a state of emergency introduced after the coup to target opposition figures including rights activists, politicians and journalists.

More than a dozen members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) - including its two co-leaders - are in jail, as well as local members of rights group Amnesty International.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists calls Turkey the world's biggest jailer of journalists, with some 160 now detained. Leftist, pro-Kurdish and opposition media outlets have also been shut.

Authorities on Saturday detained the editor of a local newspaper over a column criticizing the aftermath of the failed coup, her newspaper said.

In the run-up to the anniversary, Turkish media has been saturated by coverage from the coup attempt, with some channels showing almost constant footage from last year of young men and headscarved mothers facing down armed soldiers and tanks.

On Saturday, mobile phone networks played a 13-second pre-recorded message from Erdogan before connecting calls. In the message he honored the "martyrs" who died during the coup attempt and those "veterans" who took to the streets.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU remained committed to dialogue with Turkey and called on Ankara to strengthen democracy and the rule of law. He also warned against reinstating the death penalty.

"One year after the attempted coup, Europe's hand remains outstretched," Juncker wrote in Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"If Turkey were to introduce the death penalty, the Turkish government would finally slam the door to EU membership."

Addressing a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Istanbul on Saturday evening, Erdogan threatened to wreak violent retribution on Turkey's enemies, including FETO - his term for Gulen's network - and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"We know who is behind FETO, the PKK and all of them," he said. "We cannot defeat the queen, king, or sheikhs without defeating the pawns, knights and castles. Firstly, we will rip the heads off of these traitors."

He also said that alleged members of Gulen's network would be forced to wear jumpsuits like those worn by prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, after one detainee showed up to a court hearing wearing a T-shirt that said "Hero".

Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber in Berlin; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Keith Weir and Richard Balmforth

View original post here:
Defiant Erdogan attacks EU, backs restoring death penalty - Reuters

The crowds cheered the comments. In interviews, several attendees said the president was right to prioritize the security of the state above all else.

These things are necessary, said Halit Emin Yildirim, a 21-year-old student at the rally. The homeland comes first. If I dont have a homeland, where can I have a democracy?

Officially, however, the anniversary events were a commemoration of the failed coups victims and a celebration of the resilience of Turkish democracy, rather than a means of burnishing Mr. Erdogans brand.

Were actually very sad when somebody is saying that the government is taking advantage of this military coup, said Mehdi Eker, a lawmaker and deputy head of Mr. Erdogans party, the Justice and Development Party, or A.K.P. Saturdays pageantry, Mr. Eker added, was intended to fortify the democratic institutions.

But critics of the government say that Mr. Erdogan has tried to use the failed coup not only as the pretext to accelerate a crackdown on most forms of opposition, but also to further his vision of a new Turkey.

Since his partys election in 2002, Mr. Erdogan, a conservative Muslim, has slowly eroded some of the foundational myths that had underpinned Turkish identity since the creation of the secular Turkey republic, in 1923.

Though avoiding a full-frontal challenge to secularism, Mr. Erdogan has long expressed a wish to create a new Turkey. He spoke of inspiring a pious generation of young Turks, steadily increased references to Islam in the national curriculum and removed some references to the ideas of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

Mr. Erdogan has also revived interest in the Ottoman sultans who ruled Turkey and the surrounding region before the creation of the Turkish republic, and whose legacy Ataturk sought to play down.

At noon prayers on Friday, thousands of imams read a sermon, written by the central government, that compared the failed coups civilian victims to those who died during the liberation struggle. In his speech on Saturday, Mr. Erdogan even cited a nationalist poem about that war.

This is Erdogan 2.0 in tackling the secular republic, said Aykan Erdemir, a former opposition lawmaker who is now an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a research organization.

Rather than tackling the secular republican vision head on, he is transforming it by harnessing some of the key touchstones of the secular republican tradition for his own purposes, Mr. Erdemir said.

But while liberals see Mr. Erdogan as a threat to many democratic freedoms, his supporters often argue that he has upheld the civil rights that are most important to them. Since coming to power 15 years ago, he has gradually removed restrictions on public displays of Islamic piety while rapidly improving infrastructure, health care and social security programs.

Another supporter at the rally on Saturday, Mustafa Bas, a 44-year-old tile builder, recalled visiting Europe in 2000 and being crushed with disappointment that the services there might never be available in Turkey.

I sat down and cried, said Mr. Bas, who carried a placard in honor of a relative killed during the coup attempt. I thought, When will these things come to Turkey? And then Tayyip Erdogan brought them all to Turkey, all these things that citizens deserve.

Read more:
Erdogan and Supporters Stage Rally on Anniversary of Failed Coup - New York Times

In other circumstances, Turkey would have been the foreign country most often making headlines in the last 12 months. As it is, the election of Donald Trump to the American presidency, the ongoing civil war in Syria and Iraq, the madness of Kim Jong-un and the Machiavellian machinations of the Kremlin have drawn attention elsewhere. The consequence is that President Recep Erdogan has been able to gain for himself ever more dictator-like powers at the expense of both democracy and human rights.

Once upon a time Mr Erdogan was something of a revolutionary himself, standing against the dogmatic secularisation and establishment elites which had dominated Turkish politics since the days of Ataturk. Using the democratic institutions the old elites claimed to represent, he won power for his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2004. In the years since, he has done whatever it takes to maintain his position. He has turned Turkish politics on its head in the process.

Throughout his reign first as Prime Minister for a decade, then as President MrErdogan has given little quarter to his critics. He has used the judiciary, increasingly stuffed with pliable apparatchiks, to bring opponents to book, claiming always that his manoeuvres are backed by the laws of the land. In the first two years of his presidency more than 1,800 prosecutions were launched against people who were deemed to have insulted him. Independent media outlets have been a particular target.

It was against the backdrop of his efforts to make the office of president all-powerful that elements within the military launched an attempted takeover last summer. This weekend Erdogan and his supporters have been celebrating the coups startling failure.

Undoubtedly the attempt by disgruntled officers to unseat Erdogan was as dramatic in its unravelling as it was surprising in its initiation. During a night of confusion, the government at first appeared to have been overthrown, before unarmed supporters of the President aided notably by police recruits forced the soldiers to lay down their arms. Some 250people were killed during the violence.

Erdogans response in the coups aftermath has been to redouble the purging of dissent. In the three months immediately after the failed military action, an estimated 70,000 individuals were taken into custody not only soldiers, but civil servants, police officers, lawyers and academics. Many took no active part in the coup but were victims of the regimes paranoia about enemies within any part of the state apparatus. As the anniversary of the attempted overthrow approached, a further 7,000 military and other state-employed personnel were removed from their posts, bringing the total dismissals during the last year to 150,000. Government decrees and trumped-up charges have replaced due process. It is all rather Soviet.

The President, perhaps unsurprisingly, has been emboldened by the revolts defeat and the popular opposition which put a stop to it. He and his supporters present the event as a triumph of democracy over military interference and, more broadly, as the moment of Turkeys renaissance; the time when the countrys people defended their rights and significantly their faith against the final, desperate flailing of those who wished to reinstate the failed, unelected, secular elites of the past. The fact that there remain many in Turkish society who do not support Erdogans rule is irrelevant in this propaganda-backed narrative.

Western governments, most with their own troubles and all concentrating on the diplomatic challenges thrown up by the unpredictable behaviour of the present incumbent of the White House, appear to be conflicted when it comes to events in Turkey. Sympathising with a military coup against a democratically elected regime isnt a good look (notwithstanding doubts about the fairness of the election in November 2015 which regained the AKP its parliamentary majority). Moreover, Turkey remains a vital strategic ally of America in Syrias ongoing civil conflict; and of the EU in preventing further mass influxes of refugees.

Still, the failure of European leaders to speak out against Erdogans crushing of critical voices is shameful. A referendum in April concentrated even greater authority in his own hands, enfeebling parliament. And it is fear of the consequences, not love of the President, which has quietened opponents. Whatever Erdogan and his backers may say, Turkey is no longer a true democracy and we must not pretend otherwise.

Original post:
A year on from the coup, Erdogan is tightening his grip on power - The Independent