Turkey crosses new thresholds in descent to autocracy

Ali Bayramoglu

Translated by Sibel Utku Bila

 

Watching the state of affairs in Turkey, one cannot help but wonder whether the country weathered a coup attempt in July or fell victim to a successful one. This alarming question is fueled by three patterns of action the government has followed after the botched coup, using extraordinary powers made possible by its declared state of emergency.

The first is a purge of the opposition. The judicial and administrative clampdown after the July 15 coup attempt has had as a target not only the putschists, but increasingly the media, opposition groups and the Kurdish movement as well. It's now as clear as day. Writers and intellectuals of various stripes have landed behind bars on arbitrary and trivial grounds. Twenty-four Kurdish mayors have been removed from office and replaced with government-appointed public servants.

Harvard Zoologist Quoted to Prove Erdoğan’s Columbus Claim

Staunchly pro-government media outlets in Turkey are racing with each other to prove that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was right in his recent claim that the Americas were discovered by Muslim sailors long before Christopher Columbus.

“Studies of American historians show that Islam reached the Americas in the 650s,” daily Akşam reported on Nov. 17. One of the “historians” that the article referred to, however, raised some eyebrows on Turkish social media.