Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s style of leadership is authoritarian. He does not like to be challenged and criticised. His confrontational and heavy-handed response to dissent is not limited to his opponents, either. Inside his government and party, differences of opinion are not tolerated. Mr Erdo\u011fan takes individual control over all important decisions, based on his own beliefs and judgements. By-passing institutional structures and experienced civil servants, he surrounds himself with people that tell him what he wants to hear. \u00a0Blind allegiance from those around him breeds both over-confidence and paranoia. A charismatic, infallible man of \u201ciron will\u201d starts seeing enemies at every corner. Opponents get labelled as traitors, tools of foreign powers, part of an international conspiracy to undermine Turkey as an emerging power in the region.<\/p>\n
Authoritarian leaders strive for more and more power. In order to consolidate their own position, they divide and rule. . If creating new enemies does not prove to be enough, they revive the old fault lines.<\/p>\n
Concentration on short-term objectives for immediate results comes before long-term security.\u00a0 Obstinate opportunists, they lack a compelling vision of where the country is heading.\u00a0 The strategy may be \u201cdeep\u201d but it is not long-range.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister\u2019s recent speeches exacerbating the Sunni-Alevi divide in the country is the latest and probably the most dangerous example of the government\u2019s political expediency.<\/p>\n
On May 24, Mr Erdo\u011fan took his inflammatory rhetoric to Germany. In an election rally for thousands of expatriate Turks in Cologne, he described the counter-demonstrations in the city as sabotage. He referred to protestors as \u201cAlevis without Ali\u201d, meaning\u00a0 Alevis who are atheists.<\/p>\n
After two people from their community were killed during a demonstration and a funeral in Istanbul, thousands of Alevis marched in rallies across Turkey calling for an end to discrimination and polarizing language against them.\u00a0 But the next day, the Prime Minister again targeted Turkey\u2019s second largest religious community. Claiming that Alevis were gathered from various places and sent to Soma, where Turkey\u2019s deadliest mine disaster took place earlier this month, to cause disturbances, Erdo\u011fan said: \u201cMatters related to Kurdish and Alevi citizens have always been seen as an opportunity to provoke society. \u2026 Let’s see this clearly: The same scenario has been used to attack Turkey for the past century. They are using it to weaken Turkey\u201d \u00a0Speaking at his parliamentary group on May 27, he also accused the main opposition, The Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) for exploiting Alevi sentiments and encouraging trouble.<\/p>\n
On the eve of the first anniversary of the Gezi protests, the representatives of Alevi civil society organisations held a press conference in front of the Turkish Parliament.<\/p>\n
In their statement, they protested police violence against Alevis, demanded their name should not be cited in relation to terrorism and called for equal citizenship rights for their community.<\/p>\n
Stoking sectarian tensions in order to rally his party faithful may be politically expedient for a politician aiming for the presidential post but it is a highly dangerous and short-sighted move. Memories of sectarian killings in Sivas<\/a>, Kahramanmaras<\/a> are still fresh in Turkey, with those responsible still at large.<\/p>\n