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Turkey's
"Sun of the Age"
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Originally published under the title, "Turkey's 'Muslim
God'."
Turkey is probably one of the best social laboratories in the world to
prove why Islamist ideology cannot be compatible with a culture of humor,
dissent and protest. It also offers a unique experience that shows how
Islamists can even violate one of their religion's most fundamental
teachings for the sake of worshipping a leader's cult of personality.
At a parliamentary session in February, Turkish deputies gathered to
debate a controversial
security bill. Instead of debate, a brawl broke out. The session
ended after five MPs were taken to the hospital.
That bill, sponsored by the government but fiercely rebuked by the
opposition, has just taken effect, adding to fears that Turkey is fast
becoming a police state.
For instance, the new bill gives the police the right to detain a
person if they deem the situation in flagrante delicto (while the
crime is blazing). The suspect can be kept in custody for 24 hours
without seeing a judge -- and 48 hours if the police suspect
"collective crime." A police chief can now order a strip search
or a car search without a court-issued warrant.
The new law grants the police the
ability to wiretap anyone for intelligence gathering without a court
order.
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The police
now have the authority to use firearms against protesters who
"use or attempt to use Molotov cocktails, as well as explosives,
inflammables, incendiaries, suffocating devices, or injurious or similar
arms." With the new law, slingshots, iron pellets and fireworks are
classified as arms, and their use in demonstrations constitutes a crime
punishable by up to four years in prison. If protesters wear the emblem,
sign or uniform of an illegal organization, they can get up to three
years in jail. Just covering one's face partly or fully during a
demonstration can now bring up to five years in prison. Finally, the new
law grants the police the ability to wiretap anyone for intelligence
gathering, also without a court order.
"Political scientists often describe Turkey under Mr. Erdogan as
a noncompetitive democracy, in which opposition parties still exist and
regular voting occurs but the institutions of freedom have been hollowed
out. The uptick in repression that began in late 2013 suggests Mr.
Erdogan would like to go further than that," said an editorial
in the Wall Street Journal last month.
Indeed, dissent is an increasingly risky engagement in Turkey. In
February, the Vienna-based International Press Institute's (IPI) Turkish
National Committee said that it would launch a campaign against the
increasing number of defamation lawsuits targeting journalists in Turkey.
The IPI's special
report on Turkey warned that such suits and arrests threatened
Turkey's democracy.
Not just
baseless fears
More than 70 people in Turkey have been prosecuted for "insulting"
Recep Tayyip Erdogan since he was elected President in August 2014.
There were hundreds of similar cases during his term as Turkey's Prime
Minister.
Cartoonists
Ozer Aydogan (middle) and Bahadir Baruter (right) received 11-month
suspended prison sentences for drawing a cartoon (left) with "a
hidden gesture insulting [President] Erdogan."
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On March 19, two prominent cartoonists from a humor magazine, Penguen,
received 11-month suspended prison
sentences for drawing a cartoon with "a hidden gesture insulting
Erdogan."
Also recently, Yasar Elma, a journalist from a local daily in
southeastern Turkey, received a suspended prison sentence for
"liking" a remark criticizing Erdogan on Facebook, which
the court deemed an "insult." The court originally sentenced
Elma to 28 months but reduced it to 23 months before suspending it.
Apparently, Erdogan and his followers believe that he is not just the
"supreme leader" who cannot be criticized; there is an even
more worrying side of literal worship to Erdogan among his pious
supporters.
In Islam, "shirk" is an unforgivable sin, as it
constitutes polytheism. The Quran strictly bans any Muslim to associate
human beings with God. Ironically, "shirk" is a popular
pastime among Erdogan's devout Muslim fans. As Turkish columnist Mustafa
Akyol reminded readers in a recent
article, a government deputy declared in 2011 that "even
touching Erdogan is a form of worship," and in 2014 another
government deputy proclaimed that Erdogan "carries all the
attributes of Allah in himself."
Turkey looks more like Putin's
Russia than any member of the European club it theoretically hopes to
join.
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Akyol writes that a recent book, "Recep Tayyip Erdogan: The
Sun of the Age," proudly refers to the president as "an
idol for our youth," which would sound bizarre, if not heretical, to
the average Islamist. "Such views, heretical from a traditional
Islamic perspective, were criticized and ridiculed by Erdogan's
opponents, but he conspicuously said nothing," Akyol comments.
Erdogan, who has never hidden his appreciation for praise and rigid
intolerance of criticism, may be happy for being portrayed as "The
Sun of the Age," or by being associated with Allah. He probably
believes that he possesses near-holy qualities gifted to him by Allah for
the advancement of Islam as a political ideology, both in Turkey and in
the former Ottoman lands.
He may not be aware that he is merely ridiculing himself when his
propaganda machinery, too, excessively pleases him with funny overdoses
of praise. That would be just his problem. But then there are the
casualties such as a judiciary, fully loyal to him, which carries out
ugly witch-hunts against his opponents -- who number in the tens of
millions. Each day Turkey looks more like Putin's Russia than any member
of the European club it theoretically hopes to join.
Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is
a columnist for the Turkish daily Hürriyet and a fellow at the Middle East
Forum.
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