If there are free elections, this physics teacher may defeat Erdogan
The president of Turkey is preparing to consolidate his standing in the elections, and aspires to complete the transition to a presidential government, such as that of Putin in Russia. On his way, MP Muharram Inja is expected to visit him and seek Kurdish support. However, the state of emergency in the country and the silencing of the press tip the scales in favor of Erdogan
Tags: Turkey, Turkey
Guy Alastergia Alster
Sunday, June 17, 2018, 13:39
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If there are free elections, this physics teacher may defeat Erdogan
Photo: Reuters, Editor: Niv Maoz
by Taboola Promoted Links.
Have back or knee pain? You need this device
Walla! good to know
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Over 70% of Israelis are not aware of health care reform and continue to lose
Realistic - practical economy
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More on the same subject
Turkey: President Erdogan announced that the presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on June 24, 2018
From his prison cell, "Kurdish Obama" is convinced: Turkey's elections will not be fair
For the article
With almost absolute control over all state apparatuses, the upcoming elections were supposed to be in the pocket of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. That was why he chose to move them forward by a year and a half, feeling that it was time to complete the transition from a parliamentary regime (with the remnants of democracy) to an authoritarian presidential regime, an absolute doubt.
Already today, Turkey's most powerful man in the last decade and a half is an almost omnipotent leader, even though the president's role is ostensibly ceremonial and most of the powers are in government hands. Erdogan made the transition from the prime minister to the president four years ago, when he declared that his intention was to turn the government system upside down, but on the way to realizing his vision he would have to overcome a hurdle he had not expected - a real opponent.
Read more about the elections in Turkey
Pressured before the elections: Erdogan drops in the polls - promising to abolish the state of emergency
Turkish President Erdogan at a research institute in London, Britain, May 14, 2018 (Reuters)
Hopes to complete the transition to a presidential regime. Erdogan (Photo: Reuters)
A presidential regime is not necessarily dictatorial, as France and the United States attest, and it reinforces governance at the expense of the faction, and usually includes restrictions on the number of consecutive terms of office. But this is not Erdogan's model, but that of Vladimir Putin in Russia. Politicization of security forces, control of the judiciary and the media, the removal of potential adversaries, and the misrepresentation of open elections.
In the last elections in Russia, held in March, Putin barely had a single drop of sweat. The only man who could tickle him, blogger Alexei Harpani, was disqualified from running, when the polls also included a scenario in which he competed with Russia's oldest leader since Stalin was not a real rival. Putin took a slight victory, which was full of evidence of fraud and blatant government intervention, leaving a few per cent to the other hopeless candidates.
Russian President Vladimir Putin during the swearing-in ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 7, 2018 (Reuters)
Putin at swearing-in ceremony last month (Photo: Reuters)
In Turkey, to Erdogan's dismay, this is not the case, at least at this stage. A first signal was received in a referendum last April, in which the president raised the government's change to the vote. It was already under the state of emergency, about nine months after the coup attempt, when tens of thousands of military, police, judges, teachers, professors and all sectors of the society were arrested for supporting the connection. The authorities did not need more than a few Watsap correspondence to destroy lives and entire careers, and the purge expanded to enormous proportions.
Erdogan's victory, however, was shrouded in rigging by the weakened and oppressed opposition and by international observers. The president's loyalists in the elections committee played with the ballot boxes and envelopes, and the majority needed to be achieved in parallel with the erosion of the little trust left to Europe in the rule of law in Turkey - which on paper is still in the process of joining the EU. Meanwhile, both sides still need each other - Ankara stops the flow of refugees and immigrants to Europe, and Brussels in exchange for money and does not impose sanctions on Turkey's serious human rights violations.
The security excuse
In April, Erdogan announced lightning elections. He explained this with the security dangers lying at the door of Turkey, which since the coup attempt has already embarked on two military operations in northern Syria - the Euphrates River Operation in August 2016, which separated the Kurdish territories and removed Da'ash from several central areas; And an olive branch that opened in January against the Kurds in Ofreen, an enclave that was locked between the Idlib district, which is controlled by moderate rebel groups and jihadists, and the buffer zone that is based on the first operation. The pro-Turk rebels are now in control of the area, and according to human rights organizations, the Kurdish residents are being expelled in order to settle them with Arab residents.
At the same time planning other operations in northern Syria and northern Iraq against the Kurdish militias, the least concern for Erdogan is the economic situation. It is believed that the real reason for the early elections is the fear of further declines in the value of the lira alongside high inflation and the expected slowdown in plant growth. In 2002, during a period of deep recession, Erdogan and the Islamist Justice and Development Party, which at the time was considered moderate, swept away voters who had despaired of the secular ruling elite. Some 16 years later, Erdogan may be on the other side of the barricade - if the elections are truly fair, and this is a big mother.
Turkish President Erdogan visits a soldier near the Syrian border, April 1, 2018 (Reuters)
Erdogan visits soldiers near Syrian border in April (Photo: Reuters)
A week before the elections, Erdogan is steadily declining in the polls, and he has already promised to cancel the emergency that prohibits rallies and gives - leaving an opening to return him "if necessary." He still leads a considerable gap over the other candidates, but the greatest danger is domesticationFor him if he fails to meet the 50% threshold and will be drawn for a decisive round against the candidate who finishes second. This is the goal of the opposition, which promised to unite around the same candidate as part of a campaign "just not Erdogan." The most hopeful candidate of a Turkish citizen who is fed up with Erdogan and his sultry manner is Muharram Inja, a member of parliament from the secular Republican People's Party (CHP), who was once a physics teacher. Like the president he seeks to overthrow, Inge is endowed with the fiery charisma he uses to strike Ardouane. Muharram Inja MP from Turkey's Republican People's Party (CHP) running for president at an election rally in Istanbul, June 16, 2018 (official website, Wikipedia) presents himself as someone who can bridge the gaps in Turkish society. He calls the grand palaces built by the president a "sin" and presents himself as an ordinary man with roots in the working class who can bridge the deep gaps in Turkish society. These, argues Inge, like many others, are the result of Erdogan's policy, which is at odds with many countries considered allies of Turkey - the United States, Germany - and most of his political rivals. "The country is collapsing," he warned at an election rally this month, in which Turkish flags flew alongside the founder of the republic, Kemal Ataturk, whose values and principles Erdoğan consistently trampled on. Inge had even stung Erdogan on one of the issues closest to his heart - his hostility to Israel. Support for the Palestinians is cross-sectoral in Turkey, and the secular party also took a clear side in the matter. "Did you sign a secret agreement with Israel?" Yes, you signed, "Inge attacked him after Erdogan accused him of being inexperienced in foreign countries. He claimed that the president and the government "deceive the public" because they continue to do business in Israel, while they criticize her harshly, and urged him to discuss television with him on Israel: "Are you a coward?" Kurdish question Inja, 54, has served as a member of parliament since 2002 and in May was elected to represent his party in the presidential elections after defeating the chairman, Kamal Kilichedraulo. He forged an alliance with three other parties, including an Islamist party, thereby expanding his support base. The pro-Kurdish party (HDP), whose leaders and members are being persecuted by Erdogan, will continue to run independently, but think-provoking Inja meets with its imprisoned leader Selhatin Demiratash, who will compete out of his cell. If he supports him in the second round, Inja's chances will grow significantly. (Photo: Reuters) Many of Demiret's party members were arrested on the basis of a draconian law used by the ruling party as a tool for arresting many politicians for votes The Kurds, who make up between 15% and 20% of Turkey's population, will play a crucial role in the upcoming elections as long as their election is respected. The historic success of the HDP in the June 2015 elections, in which it first passed the meteoric block, undermined Erdogan's rule and, in retrospect, heralded the intensification of repression. If, at the beginning of his career, Erdogan was able to win the sympathy of the minority, by advancing the peace process against the PKK underground, which has been waging a struggle for autonomy or Kurdish independence since the 1980s, the cease-fire between the sides quickly collapsed, Many. Many members of the HDP, led by Demiretash, were arrested on the basis of a law allowing the removal of the immunity of MPs suspected of terrorism. The draconian law was passed before the coup attempt, and it serves the ruling party as a tool for the arrest of many politicians. Inge, at the time, strongly opposed this and warned that it would also be used against members of other parties. he was right. After one of his party's leaders was arrested, hundreds of thousands of Erdogan's opponents marched from Ankara in June to Istanbul prison where he was held by the legislature. It was the biggest demonstration of opposition power against the president for many years, nurturing the thought that the leader was not invincible. Kurdish youths waving a portrait of Demetrak at the election rally of former presidential candidate Moharram Inja in Diyarbakir, June 11, 2018 (Photo: Reuters) However, despite the rising optimism in the battle Inge's supporters, the scales still favor Erdogan. Without independent media, the propagandists' propaganda works overtime for the elections and the state of emergency prevents demonstrations against the president. Another anti-democratic law recently passed allows the security forces to enter the polling stations if "voters feel threatened", and it is quite clear to everyone that the target is the Kurdish districts in the southeast of the country. Erdogan urged his voters to prevent members of the pro-Kurdish party from taking control of the territory, in what was interpreted by parts of the Turkish public as giving a green light to gross interference in the voting process and until violence was unleashed. If the HDP does not enter the parliament, the majority will probably remain in the hands of the ruling party, and if Kurdish votes mysteriously disappear, the ability to impose a second round on Erdogan will be significantly reduced. But if it is an equal race, at least for the most part, Turkey may rise to the dawn of a new day.
https://news.walla.co.il/item/3166474
The president of Turkey is preparing to consolidate his standing in the elections, and aspires to complete the transition to a presidential government, such as that of Putin in Russia. On his way, MP Muharram Inja is expected to visit him and seek Kurdish support. However, the state of emergency in the country and the silencing of the press tip the scales in favor of Erdogan
Tags: Turkey, Turkey
Guy Alastergia Alster
Sunday, June 17, 2018, 13:39
share over
137 comments
Save
Play
Mute
-0: 37
Fullscreen
If there are free elections, this physics teacher may defeat Erdogan
Photo: Reuters, Editor: Niv Maoz
by Taboola Promoted Links.
Have back or knee pain? You need this device
Walla! good to know
A must see: a fisherman caught a strange fish with a pigeon's head
Over 70% of Israelis are not aware of health care reform and continue to lose
Realistic - practical economy
The model and the topless waitresses were exposed as the head of a giant drug cartel
More on the same subject
Turkey: President Erdogan announced that the presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on June 24, 2018
From his prison cell, "Kurdish Obama" is convinced: Turkey's elections will not be fair
For the article
With almost absolute control over all state apparatuses, the upcoming elections were supposed to be in the pocket of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. That was why he chose to move them forward by a year and a half, feeling that it was time to complete the transition from a parliamentary regime (with the remnants of democracy) to an authoritarian presidential regime, an absolute doubt.
Already today, Turkey's most powerful man in the last decade and a half is an almost omnipotent leader, even though the president's role is ostensibly ceremonial and most of the powers are in government hands. Erdogan made the transition from the prime minister to the president four years ago, when he declared that his intention was to turn the government system upside down, but on the way to realizing his vision he would have to overcome a hurdle he had not expected - a real opponent.
Read more about the elections in Turkey
Pressured before the elections: Erdogan drops in the polls - promising to abolish the state of emergency
Turkish President Erdogan at a research institute in London, Britain, May 14, 2018 (Reuters)
Hopes to complete the transition to a presidential regime. Erdogan (Photo: Reuters)
A presidential regime is not necessarily dictatorial, as France and the United States attest, and it reinforces governance at the expense of the faction, and usually includes restrictions on the number of consecutive terms of office. But this is not Erdogan's model, but that of Vladimir Putin in Russia. Politicization of security forces, control of the judiciary and the media, the removal of potential adversaries, and the misrepresentation of open elections.
In the last elections in Russia, held in March, Putin barely had a single drop of sweat. The only man who could tickle him, blogger Alexei Harpani, was disqualified from running, when the polls also included a scenario in which he competed with Russia's oldest leader since Stalin was not a real rival. Putin took a slight victory, which was full of evidence of fraud and blatant government intervention, leaving a few per cent to the other hopeless candidates.
Russian President Vladimir Putin during the swearing-in ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 7, 2018 (Reuters)
Putin at swearing-in ceremony last month (Photo: Reuters)
In Turkey, to Erdogan's dismay, this is not the case, at least at this stage. A first signal was received in a referendum last April, in which the president raised the government's change to the vote. It was already under the state of emergency, about nine months after the coup attempt, when tens of thousands of military, police, judges, teachers, professors and all sectors of the society were arrested for supporting the connection. The authorities did not need more than a few Watsap correspondence to destroy lives and entire careers, and the purge expanded to enormous proportions.
Erdogan's victory, however, was shrouded in rigging by the weakened and oppressed opposition and by international observers. The president's loyalists in the elections committee played with the ballot boxes and envelopes, and the majority needed to be achieved in parallel with the erosion of the little trust left to Europe in the rule of law in Turkey - which on paper is still in the process of joining the EU. Meanwhile, both sides still need each other - Ankara stops the flow of refugees and immigrants to Europe, and Brussels in exchange for money and does not impose sanctions on Turkey's serious human rights violations.
The security excuse
In April, Erdogan announced lightning elections. He explained this with the security dangers lying at the door of Turkey, which since the coup attempt has already embarked on two military operations in northern Syria - the Euphrates River Operation in August 2016, which separated the Kurdish territories and removed Da'ash from several central areas; And an olive branch that opened in January against the Kurds in Ofreen, an enclave that was locked between the Idlib district, which is controlled by moderate rebel groups and jihadists, and the buffer zone that is based on the first operation. The pro-Turk rebels are now in control of the area, and according to human rights organizations, the Kurdish residents are being expelled in order to settle them with Arab residents.
At the same time planning other operations in northern Syria and northern Iraq against the Kurdish militias, the least concern for Erdogan is the economic situation. It is believed that the real reason for the early elections is the fear of further declines in the value of the lira alongside high inflation and the expected slowdown in plant growth. In 2002, during a period of deep recession, Erdogan and the Islamist Justice and Development Party, which at the time was considered moderate, swept away voters who had despaired of the secular ruling elite. Some 16 years later, Erdogan may be on the other side of the barricade - if the elections are truly fair, and this is a big mother.
Turkish President Erdogan visits a soldier near the Syrian border, April 1, 2018 (Reuters)
Erdogan visits soldiers near Syrian border in April (Photo: Reuters)
A week before the elections, Erdogan is steadily declining in the polls, and he has already promised to cancel the emergency that prohibits rallies and gives - leaving an opening to return him "if necessary." He still leads a considerable gap over the other candidates, but the greatest danger is domesticationFor him if he fails to meet the 50% threshold and will be drawn for a decisive round against the candidate who finishes second. This is the goal of the opposition, which promised to unite around the same candidate as part of a campaign "just not Erdogan." The most hopeful candidate of a Turkish citizen who is fed up with Erdogan and his sultry manner is Muharram Inja, a member of parliament from the secular Republican People's Party (CHP), who was once a physics teacher. Like the president he seeks to overthrow, Inge is endowed with the fiery charisma he uses to strike Ardouane. Muharram Inja MP from Turkey's Republican People's Party (CHP) running for president at an election rally in Istanbul, June 16, 2018 (official website, Wikipedia) presents himself as someone who can bridge the gaps in Turkish society. He calls the grand palaces built by the president a "sin" and presents himself as an ordinary man with roots in the working class who can bridge the deep gaps in Turkish society. These, argues Inge, like many others, are the result of Erdogan's policy, which is at odds with many countries considered allies of Turkey - the United States, Germany - and most of his political rivals. "The country is collapsing," he warned at an election rally this month, in which Turkish flags flew alongside the founder of the republic, Kemal Ataturk, whose values and principles Erdoğan consistently trampled on. Inge had even stung Erdogan on one of the issues closest to his heart - his hostility to Israel. Support for the Palestinians is cross-sectoral in Turkey, and the secular party also took a clear side in the matter. "Did you sign a secret agreement with Israel?" Yes, you signed, "Inge attacked him after Erdogan accused him of being inexperienced in foreign countries. He claimed that the president and the government "deceive the public" because they continue to do business in Israel, while they criticize her harshly, and urged him to discuss television with him on Israel: "Are you a coward?" Kurdish question Inja, 54, has served as a member of parliament since 2002 and in May was elected to represent his party in the presidential elections after defeating the chairman, Kamal Kilichedraulo. He forged an alliance with three other parties, including an Islamist party, thereby expanding his support base. The pro-Kurdish party (HDP), whose leaders and members are being persecuted by Erdogan, will continue to run independently, but think-provoking Inja meets with its imprisoned leader Selhatin Demiratash, who will compete out of his cell. If he supports him in the second round, Inja's chances will grow significantly. (Photo: Reuters) Many of Demiret's party members were arrested on the basis of a draconian law used by the ruling party as a tool for arresting many politicians for votes The Kurds, who make up between 15% and 20% of Turkey's population, will play a crucial role in the upcoming elections as long as their election is respected. The historic success of the HDP in the June 2015 elections, in which it first passed the meteoric block, undermined Erdogan's rule and, in retrospect, heralded the intensification of repression. If, at the beginning of his career, Erdogan was able to win the sympathy of the minority, by advancing the peace process against the PKK underground, which has been waging a struggle for autonomy or Kurdish independence since the 1980s, the cease-fire between the sides quickly collapsed, Many. Many members of the HDP, led by Demiretash, were arrested on the basis of a law allowing the removal of the immunity of MPs suspected of terrorism. The draconian law was passed before the coup attempt, and it serves the ruling party as a tool for the arrest of many politicians. Inge, at the time, strongly opposed this and warned that it would also be used against members of other parties. he was right. After one of his party's leaders was arrested, hundreds of thousands of Erdogan's opponents marched from Ankara in June to Istanbul prison where he was held by the legislature. It was the biggest demonstration of opposition power against the president for many years, nurturing the thought that the leader was not invincible. Kurdish youths waving a portrait of Demetrak at the election rally of former presidential candidate Moharram Inja in Diyarbakir, June 11, 2018 (Photo: Reuters) However, despite the rising optimism in the battle Inge's supporters, the scales still favor Erdogan. Without independent media, the propagandists' propaganda works overtime for the elections and the state of emergency prevents demonstrations against the president. Another anti-democratic law recently passed allows the security forces to enter the polling stations if "voters feel threatened", and it is quite clear to everyone that the target is the Kurdish districts in the southeast of the country. Erdogan urged his voters to prevent members of the pro-Kurdish party from taking control of the territory, in what was interpreted by parts of the Turkish public as giving a green light to gross interference in the voting process and until violence was unleashed. If the HDP does not enter the parliament, the majority will probably remain in the hands of the ruling party, and if Kurdish votes mysteriously disappear, the ability to impose a second round on Erdogan will be significantly reduced. But if it is an equal race, at least for the most part, Turkey may rise to the dawn of a new day.
https://news.walla.co.il/item/3166474
