Turks could pay high price for stability promised by Erdoğan

[Ghost Dog]

... It was a stunning personal triumph for a man whose authoritarianism has provoked deep concern over the future of Turkey’s democracy. Hailed by supporters as the new Ataturk, mocked by enemies as a wannabe Ottoman sultan, Erdoğan now has the chance to shape modern Turkey to his liking and stamp his character, vision and conservative, neo-Islamist views on the country for generations to come.

Roundly condemned for a crackdown on opposition newspapers, social media and independent journalism and reviled for his violent crushing of the 2013 Gezi park protests in Istanbul, Erdoğan has nevertheless come out on top again. His latest triumph is a feat to match or even surpass his three consecutive AKP general election victories since 2002; this time was all the more remarkable because he himself was not on the ballot. The election should have been about picking a new parliament. But in truth, it was all about him.

The scale of the AKP’s surge, in which it apparently took votes from the nationalist MHP, whose share fell to around 12% from 16% last time, means it will hold at least 315 seats in the 550-member parliament (276 are required for a majority). If the party can attract enough votes from the nationalist MHP, it will be within tantalising reach of the 330 votes needed to allow it to amend or rewrite the constitution.

This in turn means Erdoğan is potentially now within sight of realising his most controversial and cherished ambition: to create a Putin-esque executive presidency and in effect change Turkey from a parliamentary democracy, under cabinet government, to a land of one-man presidential diktat. This has been his aim since he was forced under party rules to relinquish the prime ministership last year. Now he finally looks like getting his way...

/... http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/01/turks-could-pay-high-price-for-stability-promised-erdogan

[DonCoquixote]

1. The sad thing is

In no small part thanks to our own mishandling of Democracy, the world is looking to Putin and Xiping as models, not to mention al -Bagddaddi. Read Asia Times, or for that matter the Guardian, and you will see people who seriously doubt democracy is worth it, and who would gladly enjoy a sort of tyrant if he could the play the part of a Philosopher king. This is not a good thing, because even the best Kings lay the seeds of tyranny.

[bemildred]

2. Anybody who thinks Erdogan is a about stability is not paying attention. NT

[Ghost Dog]

3. Turkey's elections campaign unfair, say international monitors

International observers of Turkey’s parliamentary elections have criticised the climate of “violence and fear” that preceded the vote, saying the security environment, arrests of opposition activists and stifling of press freedoms combined to make the campaign “unfair”... “This campaign was unfair and characterised by too much violence and fear,” said Andreas Gross, the Swiss head of the mission representing the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace)...

... The observer mission’s preliminary report said that while the elections were conducted professionally and offered a variety of choices for the electorate, the violence against the opposition and their party premises hindered their ability to campaign freely, citing the arrest of activists of the opposition pro-Kurdish HDP in the run-up to the vote. It also said press freedom remained an area of serious concern, with ongoing criminal prosecutions of journalists and closures of media channels limiting the opposition’s ability to present its views to the public...

... The elections took place against a backdrop of widening violence, with a double suicide bombing in Ankara last month that was the deadliest terrorist attack ever on Turkish soil, as well as renewed violence in predominantly Kurdish areas between security forces and the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) after the collapse of peace talks in recent months. It also took place amid a widening crackdown on press freedom that prominent local journalists have described as the worst in the republic’s history.

/... http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/02/turkeys-elections-campaign-unfair-say-international-monitors