Turkish NY Times writer: The Erdogan regime is a form of mass dictatorship

THE Ece Temelkuran she is the popular author of the book “How a homeland is lost. The 7 steps from democracy to dictatorship”, where he presents the stages of a democratic country’s slide into authoritarianism. She personally experienced the coup attempt against the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and then left Turkey to avoid the consequences of the ensuing persecution. She now lives in Hamburg, but remains one of the neighboring country’s leading political commentators, while also working on the New Institute’s Future of Democracy.

In an interview he gave to the New York Times, he parallels former President Trump’s questioning of the results of the US Presidential election with the failed coup in Turkey in 2016 and the subsequent prosecutions by Erdogan against his political opponents.

In her interview, Temelkuran talks about the threats facing Western democracies and democracy in Turkey. He emphasizes that the crisis of Democracy is structural and it is an illusion to think that if we “get rid” of politicians like Trump or Boris Johnson and with a few institutional arrangements, we will return to “normality”. The crisis of democracy is related to the crisis of capitalism and there is no way out unless we solve the problem of social inequalities, Temelkuran also emphasizes.

In particular, for Turkey, Temelkuran states that the Erdogan regime constitutes a form of mass dictatorship, where the use of violence is not required but only a different political tool, the inclusion of sympathizers and supporters of the ruling party in a wide funding network and the extermination of the rest who are forced to leave the country.

There are the first-class citizens who join or support the ruling party and are subservient to Erdogan, and the rest, who are essentially forced to leave the country. There is a massive brain drain from Turkey right now. It’s another tragic story. Doctors, nurses, educated people, academics are leaving.

When asked what can happen to change the situation, the author and political analyst emphasizes that the way out of this system lies in the opposition, which must go to the elections united, and this is what it is now trying to do.

When asked by the New York Times why she chooses to use the term “fascism”, a word with so many historical connotations, she answers bluntly: “Because I think that’s the term we should be using. We were led to believe that fascism had been buried on the battlefields of World War II. This version, with the boots and uniform is actually buried. However, fascism does not only come in this form, with a uniform, boots and the characteristic goose walk. If freedom of speech is suppressed…the rights of the working class, the suppression will cumulatively lead to fascism.”

In countries like the United States and Britain, democracy is strong enough to be protected. But in countries where the political and democratic establishment is not mature enough, one sees absolute oppression. There is no doubt that we can easily refer to such regimes with the term “fascism”. “This is true in Turkey, India and other countries.”

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