{"id":28030,"date":"2016-04-08T22:25:20","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T22:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/?p=28030"},"modified":"2016-04-08T22:25:20","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T22:25:20","slug":"polarization-is-no-longer-just-about-politics-in-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/polarization-is-no-longer-just-about-politics-in-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Polarization is no longer just about politics in Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"
We have now reached the point where there is no longer any pretense that Turkey can be considered a democracy. Even the long-term allies are publicly calling on its government to respect democratic norms. The European Union, while bending over backwards to brush over inconvenient truths about its controversial refugee deal, urges Turkey to share their common European values.<\/p>\n
Dismantling the democratic system in Turkey is set to continue with further consolidation of Mr. Erdogan\u2019s executive power and increasing pressure on other civil actors. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has already started to collect signatures for a constitutional amendment in order to remove parliamentary immunity and if the President has his way, to strip citizenship from people it considers sympathetic to its broad description of terrorism.<\/p>\n
The Washington-based rights organisation Freedom House<\/a> has called this \u201ca chilling escalation that should put the international community on notice that Turkish democracy is at breaking point\u201d.<\/p>\n The fact of the matter is; it is not just the democracy that has reached a breaking point.<\/p>\n After years of a massive, sustained and relentless policy of political, social and religious polarisation, commonalities that underpin the public life have all but vanished in Turkey.<\/p>\n Shared values that united the citizens of the country, such as decency, honesty, fairness, tolerance and civic pride have largely eroded along with equality, justice and liberty.<\/p>\n