Twenty four hours after the police dispersed a small group of demonstrators with water cannon; it was business as usual on Ankara\u2019s Bestekar Street.<\/p>\n
It is a lively place, full of bars and modestly priced restaurants, favoured by the capital\u2019s trendy youth. Since the last summer, it has been a venue where both the residents and the crowds have become used to tear gas and water cannon.<\/p>\n
Like the protesters the night before, my companions in the small caf\u00e9 nearby felt angry. Shortly before we met, we all had listened to the latest recording, claiming to show Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, giving instructions to his son about what to do with a payment from a businessman, recently awarded a big contract. What is more, this was not the only incriminating phone conversation with family members, friends, relatives and loyal media editors.<\/p>\n
All of this is rejected by the prime minister as fake, a part of a dirty plot, even treason.<\/p>\n
In the absence of credible scientific evidence and legal investigation, it is one side\u2019s word against the other. Like many people I spoke to in Ankara, the two forty-something- Ankara residents talking to me on Bestekar Sokak caf\u00e9 were not convinced with flat denials by the government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prime minister says all these allegations are fabricated, they are montaged, dubbed, slanderous accusations that have no base. \u00a0Erdo\u011fan admits that his phone was tapped, but he does not categorically say these conversations did not take place. Don\u2019t you think that is odd?\u201d asks the woman.<\/p>\n
Her husband says that everyone knows someone who benefitted financially from being close to the government circles and many more that lost out unfairly for not toeing the line. \u201cCorruption allegations have been around long before these recordings were published on the internet\u201d.<\/p>\n
The woman sitting at my table then directs her fire to Ankara\u2019s controversial mayor of 20 years, Melih G\u00f6k\u00e7ek, reluctantly admitting that he may win yet again.<\/p>\n
\u2018Roads are congested, infra-structure crumbling, \u00a0schools are underfunded. Yet, the \u00a0mayor is after prestige projects such as the mock-Disneyland Ankapark. \u00a0There are ugly \u00a0clock towers and water-fountains everywhere, with his giant posters gazing down at us whereever we go.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor of Ankara, Melih Gokcek\u00a0 had his own version of the wire-tapped disclosures. On a recording published on the internet , he was heard\u00a0 asking an advisor of the prime minister whether he had any instructions to prevent the display of the main opposition party\u2019s election posters. He was told not to allow them on billboards in the capital.\u00a0 When the recording became public, the mayor did not \u00a0deny that the conversation took place. With his customary arrogance, \u00a0he \u00a0told the media that he did not consider this to be a crime. On the contrary he thought he behaved honourably.<\/p>\n
Silencing the opposition with the complicity of the pro-government media\u00a0 has become the trade-mark of the Justice and Development party (AKP) government . When the opposition People\u201ds Republican Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu played the tape of the recent corruption allegation at the Parliament, mainstream media, including the Parliamentary television channel stopped broadcasting his speech. Many ignored comments by the opposition figures reacting to serious corruption allegations.<\/p>\n
Ankara\u2019s mayor is not the only one preventing opposition posters on billboards. A similar incident took place in the western-Anatolian town of Usak. On the day the prime minister held a rally in support of the AKP candidate in town, the opposition\u00a0 CHP complained of their election posters \u00a0taken down from the billboards they paid for only to be replaced with the AKP\u2019s own \u00a0posters.<\/p>\n
I arrived in Usak almost at the same time as the prime minister and his large entourage.\u00a0 Usak is a small city with a population of close to 190 thousand. It has a strong industrial base, a \u00a0rich agricultural tradition and a small university.<\/p>\n
I had spent part of my childhood here, so I am no stranger to the town.\u00a0 Everytime I visit, I notice a visible transformation\u00a0 towards a more conservative way of life here.<\/p>\n
On the day of the prime minister\u2019s election rally ahead of next month\u2019s local elections, the town square was filled with thousands of \u00a0people.\u00a0 Large numbers of women in hijab stood in the front of the crowd, holding banners and flags.<\/p>\n
Two days after the damaging allegations that shook the country, Prime Minister Erdo\u011fan was in a defiant mood. Every time he referred to accusations directed against him and his party, the crowd cheered \u201cTurkey is proud of you\u201d<\/p>\n
Declaring those orchestrating the massive graft probe against his government \u201cspies working for other countries\u201d, Mr Erdo\u011fan told them what they wanted to hear. \u201cAre you ready to give an answer to those enemies of\u00a0 our democracy? On the 30th of March, your choice will be between the old and new Turkey. \u201c<\/p>\n
A charismatic and smooth public speaker, Erdogan was clearly pleased with the reaction of his supporters in Usak.<\/p>\n
His long speech contained many contradictions. It left serious questions and accusations unanswered.\u00a0 Nobody seemed to raise an objection. Those that may have protested were silenced \u00a0even before the rally began. The teenager daughter of the town\u2019s deputy from the opposition CHP was detained along with others.<\/p>\n
As his convoy left for the airport, large groups of women holding flags and balloons went past us, animatedly discussing what they heard.<\/p>\n
Later on, I met two other town residents who watched the speech live on television. They seemed to be disappointed such a large crowd turned up to cheer him despite all these recent allegations of corruption.<\/p>\n
I asked if they thought the AKP candidate would win in Usak on the 30th<\/sup> of March local elections.<\/p>\n They reluctantly admitted that he might. \u201cIn our neighbourhood, the AKP party apparatus is very visible. They visit homes, they distribute packages of food. People who moved into newly built affordable housing developments do not worry about who else might have benefited from these non-transparent schemes; whether there was sleaze and graft. Pressure on the media and the judiciary, disregard for the rule and law do not figure in their decision making when they go to ballot box \u201cone of them said.<\/p>\n They may be right.\u00a0 What shocks us is not necessarily what will influence the voters in towns and villages on the day of the election.<\/p>\n When the prime minister says he will answer accusations at his own choosing, meaning after the elections next month, he may know something we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n Could it be the fact that every country deserves the government it has?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Twenty four hours after the police dispersed a small group of demonstrators with water cannon; it was business as usual on Ankara\u2019s Bestekar Street. It is a lively place, full of bars and modestly priced restaurants, favoured by the capital\u2019s trendy youth. Since the last summer, it has been a venue where both the residents […]<\/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\/490"}],"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=490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}