\u00a0<\/b>Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s list of miscalculations is growing by the hour. He is blundering towards self-destruction and he is taking the country down with him.<\/p>\n
Mr Erdo\u011fan\u2019s cavalier attitude towards the separation of powers has now reached a point of disregard for the rule of the law and all accepted norms of democracy. The attempted changes to the judicial police regulation, the removal of police officers from their duties, public statements undermining the independence and impartiality of investigations as well as further restrictions on the freedom of the press are the most obvious manifestations of this.<\/p>\n
Faced with serious allegations of wrongdoing, the Prime Minister has adopted a policy of confrontation not only with his Islamist rivals but with the world at large.<\/p>\n
Mr Erdo\u011fan has already declared a new \u201cwar of independence\u201d. \u201cForeign forces and dark alliances trying to undermine Turkey\u201d are no longer limited to the usual suspects, the United States and Israel. \u00a0The latest addition to those plotting against the Turkish government is the United Arab Emirates, according to pro-government daily Yeni \u015eafak\u2019s Ankara Bureau chief Abdulkadir Selvi. It would not be surprising if the European Union and others would soon join the list, too.<\/p>\n
Even more worrying, the Prime Minister is once again calling his supporters out into the streets. In an orchestrated rally in Istanbul\u2019s airport late on Friday, Mr. Erdo\u011fan addressed thousands of his party faithful, followed by another speech the same evening outside his home in Uskudar. Former minister for European Affairs, Egemen Ba\u011f\u0131\u015f, who was forced to resign after allegations of corruption earlier this week, stood beside him.<\/p>\n
While Erdogan\u2019s supporters were cheering him with chants of \u201cAllah-u Akbar\u201d, crowds elsewhere in the country, including in towns close to the Syrian border were demanding the government\u2019s resignation. Once again, heavy handed-police action greeted protestors and journalists. \u00a0In scenes that were reminiscent of the Gezi protests, riot police used water cannon and fired tear gas and rubber bullets. In Istanbul\u2019s Taksim square, the last summer\u2019s \u201ceverywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance\u201d slogans were replaced by chants of \u201ccorruption is everywhere, bribery is everywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n
By whipping up emotions among his supporters, Mr. Erdo\u011fan is playing with fire in a country that is already dangerously polarized. The risks of dragging the population into the void alongside his administration are greater than he thinks.\u00a0 He was warned by the opposition parliamentarian Aykan Erdemir to restrain his followers after one person declared on Twitter his readiness to become a suicide bomber and to attack the US embassy.<\/p>\n
Mr Erdo\u011fan says Turkey is not a third class tribal state nor is it a banana republic. But the recklessness and lawlessness displayed by him and his government during this latest political crisis suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s list of miscalculations is growing by the hour. He is blundering towards self-destruction and he is taking the country down with him. Mr Erdo\u011fan\u2019s cavalier attitude towards the separation of powers has now reached a point of disregard for the rule of the law and all accepted norms of democracy. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}