Erdogan's second earthquake: Turkey marches steadily toward dictatorship WashTimesOpEd
In May, Mr. Erdogan could be tossed out of office for some of the same reasons and because he is turning Turkey into a dictatorship.
While mayor of Istanbul in the mid-1990s, Mr. Erdogan said, “Democracy is like a tram. You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off.” Since he came to power in 2003, Mr. Erdogan has stepped off the tram. From the beginning of his presidency, Mr. Erdogan has been reversing Turkey’s secular government into Islamism. Turkey was always an Islamic country, but the government established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1920 was secular. The Turkish military, by the tradition Ataturk established, was the guardian of secularism.
At the time of the coup attempt, Mr. Erdogan cut commercial electric power at our important Incirlik Air Base and closed the airspace above it for more than a day. Turkish military commanders at the base were arrested and accused of aiding the coup. Mr. Erdogan faces a May 14 presidential and parliamentary election that he is determined to win one way or the other. His strongest opponent, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, has been sentenced to prison and banned from politics.
Mr. Erdogan’s regime is being blamed for its sluggish response to the damage. Rescue workers and aid funds are pouring into Turkey from other countries, but Mr. Erdogan’s government is being criticized harshly for the slowness of its relief efforts. That is sure to affect his election prospects.
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