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Title: Istanbul's Mayor: Erdogan's Worst Nightmare
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URL Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopoliti ... mayor-erdogans-worst-nightmare
Published: Jan 30, 2022
Author: Tyler Durden
Post Date: 2022-01-30 19:58:17 by Horse
Keywords: None
Views: 202
Comments: 4
By Burak Bekdil of Gatestone Instutute; he is one of Turkey's leading journalists, was recently fired from the country's most noted newspaper after 29 years, for writing what is taking place in Turkey. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum. Summary: "If we lose Istanbul, we lose Turkey." — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo an. It appears that [Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu's] "terrorists" are actually people who are being probed for links with illegal organizations but who have not been prosecuted -- let alone being found guilty by courts. This kind of intimidation, further victimizing Istanbul Mayor Ekrem 0mamo lu in the eyes of the voters, will simply boost his popularity -- and at a time when Erdo an's ratings are plummeting. Erdo an, it seems, did not want opposition mayors to gain further popularity by helping the poor. It would be premature to conclude that there will be a historic shift in Turkish politics in 2023. All the same, the reports are real, and so are Erdo an's fears, panic and increasingly reckless governance. Turkey's secular state establishment was shocked when a young militant Islamist won the mayoral elections in Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul, in 1994. "Who wins Istanbul wins Turkey," Recep Tayyip Erdo an, at that time Istanbul's mayor, would often say. History would prove him right. Erdo an's tenure as Istanbul's mayor ended when in 1997 when he recited a pro-Islamist poem. "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets, and the faithful our soldiers" earned him a 10-month prison term for "inciting religious hatred," four of which he served. In 2002, Erdo an's Justice and Development Party (AKP) swept to victory in national elections. Erdo an has since remained unchallenged, first as Turkey's prime minister and, since 2014, as president. Observers agree that Erdo an's skilfully-crafted image-making as the "victim of an authoritarian, secular regime" helped him to win one election after another. "People saw him as the guy from the other side of the tracks who the system had unjustly punished," Soner Ça aptay, author of Erdo an's Empire, wrote. Ironically, the man who has become Erdo an's worst nightmare is following a similar path. In March 2019, as the race for municipal elections was barrelling ahead, Islamist parties had controlled Istanbul -- along with Turkey's capital, Ankara -- since 1994. Erdo an's candidate for Istanbul was a big shot: former Prime Minister Binali Y1ld1r1m. The opposition, however -- including social democrats, liberals, some nationalists and Kurds -- united behind Ekrem 0mamo lu, then a little-known district mayor in Istanbul. During the run-up to the election, Erdo an's party officials and trolls launched a smear campaign against 0mamo lu. One AKP deputy chair spoke of "many question marks" surrounding 0mamo lu's ethno-religious identity, demanding 0mamo lu prove "that your spirit, heart and mind is with the Turkish nation." A propaganda machinery started to allege that 0mamo lu was a crypto-Greek, and that his supporters were Greeks disguised as Muslims. He was also accused for having links to Kurdish terrorists. The vote count, on March 31, 2019, proved to be a political fiasco for Erdo an and his seemingly invincible AKP: 0mamo lu won by a narrow margin of 13,000 votes (in a city of 18 million people). The AKP-controlled Supreme Election Board ruled for an election rerun on June 23. This time, 0mamo lu won by a margin of 800,000 votes, shocking Erdo an and his gigantic party establishment. Just two years earlier, Erdo an had said, "If we lose Istanbul, we lose Turkey." Since the restoration of Turkish democracy in 1983, which followed a military coup in 1980, no candidate in Istanbul's mayoral elections had a managed to win with such a majority: 0mamo lu won 54% of the votes, compared to 45% for the AKP candidate -- and compared to 25% for Erdo an in the 1994 election. The election result triggered a campaign of intimidation and hatred against 0mamo lu which, paradoxically, has boosted him as a perfect contender against Erdo an for the next presidential elections in 2023. During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Erdo an launched a national donation campaign, through which wealthier Turks, individuals or businesses, could help poorer Turks. In other words, the Ankara government would collect money from the people to help the people. Unsurprisingly, the campaign collected an embarrassing $245 million in a country of 83 million people -- and most of that came from government-controlled companies. Parallel to Erdo an's campaign, 0mamo lu and Ankara's Mayor Mansur Yava_ launched local campaigns to collect donations to help the poorest in Turkey's two biggest cities. But there was a problem. The government said city councils, according to law, must first obtain permission from the Interior Ministry to launch fundraising initiatives. 0mamo lu and Yava_ argued that other government-controlled municipalities were also raising donations to help workers and small business owners who had lost their incomes due to the coronavirus. Yes, the government said, but they had obtained permission whereas Istanbul and Ankara had not. Erdo an, it seems, did not want opposition mayors to gain further popularity by helping the poor. In 2020, Vak1fbank, a state-owned lender, froze the Istanbul municipality's account after coronavirus donations had reached $130 million. The Interior Ministry launched criminal investigations against the two mayors on charges of illegal fundraising. "Pathetic," was all 0mamo lu said. In further shows of ire, the central government in Ankara would also suspend Istanbul municipality's campaign to sell the poorest Turks cheap bread. In one bizarre episode last year, the Interior Ministry launched an investigation into 0mamo lu for "disrespecting Sultan Mehmet II's tomb" -- referring to the Ottoman sultan who conquered Istanbul in 1453. A probe was opened and the mayor of Istanbul was summoned to make a statement. What was the offense? It seems 0mamo lu, in a 2020 visit, had walked in the tomb of Sultan Mehmet II with his hands folded behind his own back! Evidence? A photo showing 0mamo lu in front of the tomb with his hands folded behind himself. "In my opinion," Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said, "This [behavior] is an offense." "I feel so much shame," 0mamo lu replied, "on the minister's behalf." Nevertheless, the Interior Minister is once again on the run to sideline 0mamo lu. On December 27, the ministry launched an investigation into hundreds of staff at the Istanbul municipality, accused of links to terrorist groups. The probe covers 455 people working at the municipality and municipality-owned companies with alleged connections to Kurdish militants, along with more than 100 allegedly linked to banned leftist and other illegal groups. The municipality protests that none of its employees has a criminal record, based on data provided by the Justice Ministry. Yes, the Interior Ministry admits, that is true. But, it maintains, the "terrorists" are individuals who are being investigated. Turkey has become more ridiculous than a caricature: the Interior Minister does not know that every suspect is innocent until proven guilty? It appears that the minister's "terrorists" are actually people who are being probed for links with illegal organizations but who have not been prosecuted -- let alone being found guilty by courts. This kind of intimidation, further victimizing 0mamo lu in the eyes of the voters, will simply boost his popularity -- and a time when Erdo an's ratings are plummeting. Surveys by Metropoll Research show Erdo an's approval rating, at 38.6%, is its lowest since 2015. His popularity, they show, trails that of three potential presidential election rivals. A poll by Sosyo Politik Field Research Center put support for Erdo an's AKP at 27%, against 37% who said they voted for the party in the last parliamentary election in 2018. The AKP's nationalist ally in parliament, the MHP, was at 6.3%, down from 7.3% who said they voted for the party in 2018. Metropoll's most recent research found that the mayors of 0stanbul and Ankara have a comfortable lead over Erdo an for the presidential election. If two candidates were to go head to head in the election, the survey showed, 0mamo lu would beat Erdo an by 48.7% to 36.6%. It would be premature to conclude that there will be a historic shift in Turkish politics in 2023. All the same, the reports are real, and so are Erdo an's fears, panic and increasingly reckless governance. Poster Comment: Erdogan has problems. He is unpopular with Kurds due to his equally unpopular war with Kurdistan. Erdogan thinks that he is creating a restored Muslim Caliphate by attacking Syria. And he has ruined the economy with hyperinflation. Nobody can win an election if he is seen as the architect of hyperinflation and an unwinnable war. 
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#1. To: Horse (#0)
Aren't Turks ugly? I hate Turkey.
I remember thinking when I saw this ad ~50 years ago, "What idiot decided that that ugly ad would ever induce somebody to buy Camel cigarettes?"
I always thought the Marlboro Man a bit more effective.
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#2. To: NeoconsNailed (#1)
#4. To: StraitGate (#2)
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