Why Recep Erdogan is calling Turkish students ‘terrorists’

April 12, 2018

On March 19, a student club at Turkey’s prestigious Bogazici University distributed Turkish delight to celebrate the Turkish military’s victory against Syrian Kurdish (YPG) forces in Afrin. Students opposed to the campaign protested, holding up a sign declaring “No delight in occupation and massacre.” A brief struggle between the groups not only upset boxes of the sweets, but would escalate into a political crisis provoking international outcry. In days following the skirmish, police forces swept through campus to round up more than 20 students suspected of protesting, raids that state media broadcast live as the detaining of “provocateurs.” On March 24, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the group of antiwar demonstrators “terrorists” at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP). Having been given the word, so to speak, a judicial system whose independence has increasingly been called into question arrested nine of those detained. With powerfully polarizing rhetoric, Erdogan was able to paint the actions of a small group of students as a national threat worthy of severe punishment. Erdogan’s use of the term “terrorist” has served as impetus for the jailing of thousands of his opponents, particularly since the July 15, 2016, coup attempt and the state of emergency that has remained in place since.

Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian and militant domestic and foreign policy behavior can largely be traced to Erdogan’s attempts to appeal to a broad and divided base, while neutralizing all forms of opposition. Erdogan has staked his political career on installing a presidential system that consolidates virtually all political power in the — read: his — executive. The arrests of Bogazici students might seem small in comparison, but they are indicative of a much larger strategy of intimidation and neutralization of dissenters. Erdogan referred to the coup attempt as a “gift from God,” using it not only to rout out suspected putschists who posed a genuine threat but also as a pretext for purging and arresting over 150,000 individuals from the military, education system, media and other institutions. The Afrin campaign now serves as a vehicle for condemning and punishing citizens deemed unpatriotic for not supporting Turkey’s military’s operations. Just 10 days after the campaign against Afrin began, more than 300 people had been detained for criticizing the offensive on the charge of “spreading terrorist propaganda.

Click to expand...

Rogue Valley said:

Why Recep Erdogan is calling Turkish students ‘terrorists’

Prisons in Erdogan's Turkey are overflowing



The dictator Erdogan has aligned with the extremely violent Nationalist Action Party, whose members persecute and murder Turkish Kurds. Erdogan's military has invaded the northern Syria Kurdish homeland of Rojava, killing over 6000 Kurdish YPG/YPJ (male/female) militia who have been fighting ISIS as the US ground component in Syria since 2014. Most have now left the fight against ISIS to return home to fight Erdogan's onslaught against all Syrian Kurds. Trump is allowing Erdogan to murder the Kurdish forces that liberated the ISIS capital city of Raqqa in October 2017. Tens of thousands of Turks and Kurds are in Erdogan's prisons, where horrible conditions and torture are the norm. Erdogan is every bit the dictator and butcher Assad was before the Syrian civil war. What Trump is allowing is inexcusable, but Trump loves brutal dictators. Erdogan has aligned his brutal regime with the Putin regime and should be booted out of NATO.

Click to expand...

Abbazorkzog said:

If the U.S. were a true ally of Turkey we would have supported the coup attempt. This is just nuts. Only a matter of time before he starts gassing people.

Click to expand...

ElChupacabra said:

He's taking Turkey in an interesting direction.....

Click to expand...

Rogue Valley said:

The direction is authoritarianism, a rollback of secular values, ethnic cleansing of Kurds, and an alignment with Moscow and Tehran.

Click to expand...