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| Turkish protesters could temper hubris of an increasingly imperious Erdogan | Turkish protesters could temper hubris of an increasingly imperious Erdogan |
| (4 months later) | |
| The morning after the night before, Sabah had a curious front page. The daily newspaper, which supports the Justice and Development party of Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, showed the leader being rewarded for trying to stamp out smoking – alongside President Abdullah Gül being presented with a horse in Turkmenistan. | The morning after the night before, Sabah had a curious front page. The daily newspaper, which supports the Justice and Development party of Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, showed the leader being rewarded for trying to stamp out smoking – alongside President Abdullah Gül being presented with a horse in Turkmenistan. |
| The very heart of Istanbul had been turned into what looked like a war zone the previous evening, with riot police on the rampage dispensing pepper spray at point-blank range into the faces of middle-class, middle-aged women in summer frocks, and everyone else. The shocking scenes were the most violent of Erdogan's decade in office. | The very heart of Istanbul had been turned into what looked like a war zone the previous evening, with riot police on the rampage dispensing pepper spray at point-blank range into the faces of middle-class, middle-aged women in summer frocks, and everyone else. The shocking scenes were the most violent of Erdogan's decade in office. |
| Sabah had no space for it on the front page. Mainstream Turkish television also shunned the Taksim Square drama. | Sabah had no space for it on the front page. Mainstream Turkish television also shunned the Taksim Square drama. |
| The media silence is symptomatic of a climate of fear that has spread in Turkey in recent years as Erdogan, a trio of general election victories under his belt and unassailable politically even after the weekend troubles, grows increasingly imperious, governing on a whim, dictating policy and insisting that his "majority" entitles him to lay down the law. | The media silence is symptomatic of a climate of fear that has spread in Turkey in recent years as Erdogan, a trio of general election victories under his belt and unassailable politically even after the weekend troubles, grows increasingly imperious, governing on a whim, dictating policy and insisting that his "majority" entitles him to lay down the law. |
| If things go the way he plans – and his ambition may have been set back by the rebellion of the past week – by next year, the prime minister will be president, under a new constitution offering sweeping new executive powers. A bit like Vladimir Putin in Russia – although, unlike Russia, Turkey is a big, lively and boisterous, if flawed, democracy. | If things go the way he plans – and his ambition may have been set back by the rebellion of the past week – by next year, the prime minister will be president, under a new constitution offering sweeping new executive powers. A bit like Vladimir Putin in Russia – although, unlike Russia, Turkey is a big, lively and boisterous, if flawed, democracy. |
| The media's supineness is due less to overt government repression, although there is that too, than to a culture of not rocking the boat deriving from wealthy oligarch media owners dependent on the party or the government for their other business interests. | The media's supineness is due less to overt government repression, although there is that too, than to a culture of not rocking the boat deriving from wealthy oligarch media owners dependent on the party or the government for their other business interests. |
| "A culture of complicity where press organisations are themselves instrumental in imposing restrictions on the range and depth of public debate," wrote Andrew Finkel, a veteran Turkey-watcher, in an analysis last month. "Media organisations cannot expect the government, let alone civil society, to rush to the defence of a journalistic profession about whose integrity they themselves are so cavalier. Media organisations, hamstrung by the financial dependence of their non-press parent organisations on government grace and favour, are willing accomplices in the restrictions of their own freedoms." | "A culture of complicity where press organisations are themselves instrumental in imposing restrictions on the range and depth of public debate," wrote Andrew Finkel, a veteran Turkey-watcher, in an analysis last month. "Media organisations cannot expect the government, let alone civil society, to rush to the defence of a journalistic profession about whose integrity they themselves are so cavalier. Media organisations, hamstrung by the financial dependence of their non-press parent organisations on government grace and favour, are willing accomplices in the restrictions of their own freedoms." |
| But the habit of being wary of sticking your neck out, of challenging authority is common across many walks of life, given the bureaucratic power available to the Erdogan administration and its willingness to use it to control and dictate the social agenda. A couple of weeks ago, Erdogan peremptorily introduced stiff restrictions on the sale and consumption of alcohol. Journalists reporting on the issue found that bar- or shop-owners were reluctant to identify themselves as opposing the curbs for fear of receiving a sudden visit from the tax inspectors. | But the habit of being wary of sticking your neck out, of challenging authority is common across many walks of life, given the bureaucratic power available to the Erdogan administration and its willingness to use it to control and dictate the social agenda. A couple of weeks ago, Erdogan peremptorily introduced stiff restrictions on the sale and consumption of alcohol. Journalists reporting on the issue found that bar- or shop-owners were reluctant to identify themselves as opposing the curbs for fear of receiving a sudden visit from the tax inspectors. |
| Erdogan's party has Islamist roots and he is often accused of seeking to "Islamise" Turkey by stealth. But the arbitrariness smacks more of hubris after 10 years in power; less about religion than about power and control. | Erdogan's party has Islamist roots and he is often accused of seeking to "Islamise" Turkey by stealth. But the arbitrariness smacks more of hubris after 10 years in power; less about religion than about power and control. |
| Given the state's control over the national health and education services – which extends to where in the country teachers or doctors are sent to live and work – there is also a wariness among, say, medical staff to speak out on health controversies or government policy for fear they might find themselvessent from their native cities to remote parts of the country. | Given the state's control over the national health and education services – which extends to where in the country teachers or doctors are sent to live and work – there is also a wariness among, say, medical staff to speak out on health controversies or government policy for fear they might find themselvessent from their native cities to remote parts of the country. |
| Erdogan also controls the blunter tools of coercion, such as the courts and vague catch-all anti-terror laws that give Turkey a worse record than China or Iran for jailing journalists as well as imprisoning thousands of activists for simply voicing opinions on the long-running Kurdish conflict. | Erdogan also controls the blunter tools of coercion, such as the courts and vague catch-all anti-terror laws that give Turkey a worse record than China or Iran for jailing journalists as well as imprisoning thousands of activists for simply voicing opinions on the long-running Kurdish conflict. |
| A big Kurdish dimension to the current turmoil is strikingly absent. Erdogan has launched a peace process with the rebel Kurdish leadership, which appears wary of damaging the prime minister by taking part in the protests now directed at the figure of Erdogan himself. | A big Kurdish dimension to the current turmoil is strikingly absent. Erdogan has launched a peace process with the rebel Kurdish leadership, which appears wary of damaging the prime minister by taking part in the protests now directed at the figure of Erdogan himself. |
| The other big minority, the Alevis, are also wary and hurting. Launching another mega construction project last week in Istanbul, Erdogan revealed that the new bridge over the Bosphorus will be named after an Ottoman sultan notorious for overseeing a massacre of Alevis. | The other big minority, the Alevis, are also wary and hurting. Launching another mega construction project last week in Istanbul, Erdogan revealed that the new bridge over the Bosphorus will be named after an Ottoman sultan notorious for overseeing a massacre of Alevis. |
| Such hubris on the part of the prime minister – a winner-takes-all attitude to governing, an insistence that his majority entitles him to do as he pleases – appears to be his biggest problem, the main issue that put hundreds of thousands of people on the streets at the weekend, not only in Istanbul, but across the country. | Such hubris on the part of the prime minister – a winner-takes-all attitude to governing, an insistence that his majority entitles him to do as he pleases – appears to be his biggest problem, the main issue that put hundreds of thousands of people on the streets at the weekend, not only in Istanbul, but across the country. |
| Unfazed, Erdogan left the crisis and the country for north Africaon Monday , but not before delivering more disparaging remarks about the protesters in line with everything he has said since Saturday. | Unfazed, Erdogan left the crisis and the country for north Africaon Monday , but not before delivering more disparaging remarks about the protesters in line with everything he has said since Saturday. |
| The parliamentary opposition is feeble and divided. There are as yet no serious challengers causingErdogan to lose sleep. | The parliamentary opposition is feeble and divided. There are as yet no serious challengers causingErdogan to lose sleep. |
| The politics of the street do not really threaten him. But they may temper him. The mass display of frustration and exasperation with a high-handed prime minister has done what the opposition in parliament in Ankara has been unable to do. It has emboldened a cowed civil society and burst the bubble of fear enveloping Erdogan's Turkey. | The politics of the street do not really threaten him. But they may temper him. The mass display of frustration and exasperation with a high-handed prime minister has done what the opposition in parliament in Ankara has been unable to do. It has emboldened a cowed civil society and burst the bubble of fear enveloping Erdogan's Turkey. |
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