Turkey Demonstrates All Syndromes of Authoritarianism

• 04.07.2015, 22:08
• Liana Hovhannisyan
•  Region,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  World,  Analytics

Turkish authorities continue their policy of repression against media and civil society representatives. Two days ago it became known that they decided  to block the access of the country’s population to Youtube, Twitter and Facebook in Turkey, only because the popular social networks had put photos of  Mehmet Selim Kiraz (the Turkish prosecutor who was killed by the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front ). In addition  166 websites that published the banned photos were blocked  in accordance with  the recent  court ruling in Turkey. Although the ban on Twitter and Facebook was lifted after they complied with the demanded restrictions, probably the population in Turkey will soon voluntarily refuse to use it, if the cases of  journalists being arrested just for Facebook "like" become frequent in the country (the other day a Turkish journalist was arrested for 28 months just because of liking a remark that criticizes Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan ).

In the face of this recent wave of repression in Turkey one can state for sure that present day Turkey demonstrates all possible syndromes of authoritarian regime which mainly are political pressure, state censorship of media outlets, arbitrary detention and punishment, presence of laws curtailing criticism of government or its various organs and institutions, the absence of constitution, which protects the rights of minorities and ensures that all are equal before the law, etc.

Above all, the most striking thing to notice, is the manner by which Turkish authorities  try  to present themselves  on the international arena;  the one that can be shortly articulated like this: "let me blame first not to be blamed myself."  Turkey was among the Western states to criticize Russia for banning the Crimean Tatar television channel. On the occasion sarcastically enough Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu issued a statement in which he noticed: "press freedom is an inseparable part of pluralism and democracy." On the same day another statement was issued this time by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet davutoglu banning Turkish media agency to cover the funeral ceremony of a prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz.

In spite of Turkish attempts to close the eyes of international community it is undeniable that the Turkish government has got used to and feels quite at ease with the harsh repressive tools aimed at  demonizing the dissident voices in the country. The use of such tools on the eve of the upcoming elections proves that  revolution against democracy has happened long ago in Turkey,  and  now in the  face of present day Turkey the international community has to face  a vivid example of authoritarian regime in the region.