- Katılım
- Ocak 16, 2025
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The palace regime has launched an attack from all four fronts. Mobilizing all its resources—especially the media—the government is using the judiciary as a weapon to eliminate any obstacles in its path. While trustee appointments continue unabated, journalists and politicians are being imprisoned.
On one hand, the government is trying to consolidate the politics in line with its own interests through discussions on ‘détente and solution’, while on the other it is issuing open threats. In the last week, everyone-from figures in the arts and media to political party leaders and even citizens criticising the government in street interviews-have been targeted by the government. The escalating repression raises the question ‘why now?’.
The legitimacy crisis: The AKP-MHP government was heavily defeated in the 31 March local elections. Having lost its most important strongholds to the opposition, AKP also lost its status as the first party. It lost one of the most important political apparatuses such as leading the local governments. Moreover, although public opinion surveys show partial improvements at times, the meltdown in the AKP and the discontent with the government have continued even after the elections. Despite the government's manoeuvres to stall the opposition, the government had a chance to catch its breath for a while, but its legitimacy in the public's eyes, which was struggling with the crises the country was dragged into, eroded day by day. Realising that it could no longer rule the masses through consent, the government pulled out the apparatus of oppression and force from its toolbox.
Cornered in the Middle East: The government, which sought to play an active role in the re-design of the region after the overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria, has so far failed to fulfil expectations. Resulting in the victory of the US and Israel, the situation forced the government, which was seeking to determine its position in the balance of power, to reconsider its positioning in the Middle East. In Syria, it was intended to assign certain missions to the Kurdish movement, while at home, with the ‘peace’ negotiations, it was desired to draw the Kurdish movement to a neutral position. The stalled process in Syria also interrupted the ‘peace’ negotiations in Turkey. It is worth noting that the committee that visited İmralı for the second time did not bring a message from Abdullah Öcalan, while Ömer Çelik's statements about the end of the İmralı visits led to question marks about the deadlock in the ongoing process.
Economic crisis: The Palace regime is being content with a miserable increase in the minimum wage and civil servant salaries and ignoring the pensioners once again, and it wants to block the objections to the economic crisis, which will hit much more heavily in 2025. In almost all public opinion surveys, the main concerns of the citizens are the cost of livelihood and unemployment. Even the employees of Religious Affairs Administration are going on strike, objecting to their salaries. On 31 March, one of the reasons for the outcome of the elections was undoubtedly the reaction of millions of people who were overwhelmed by the struggle to make ends meet. The government seems to have realised that an economic policy of heavy taxation will not be easy to run.
The threat of the streets: Last summer, tens of thousands took to the streets in many parts of the country. Farmers who blocked roads with tractors because their crops had to be left in the farm fields, Polonez workers who struggled for days and marched to Ankara, metalworkers who did not step back even though their strike was banned by Erdoğan brought out voices. In addition, environmental activists, animal rights activists against the massacre law, unassigned teachers, citizens defending their will against trustees, thousands of people gathering in front of Beşiktaş Municipality, those raising their voices against the operations against journalists showed their discontent with the government. Although all these objections have not turned into a united struggle around a common programme, even the possibility of this happening is deeply unsettling the government. Therefore, the government has once again brought the Gezi card to the table, aiming to demonise the most legitimate, collective and creative resistance in the country's history, and to turn Gezi into a judicial weapon to threaten the whole society.
Each of these headings indicates crises that the regime has been unable to overcome. The government, which no longer has any remaining arguments other than the parliamentary majority and the judicial power, is becoming less skilful at setting up games. While millions of people are struggling under a deepening of poverty and the various problems it causes, they are also facing the siege of reactionism, intervention to the social life and various forms of injustice. Even the possibility of the anger accumulating in the faults of the trapped society turning into a destructive earthquake is enough to drive the government out of control. Despite all these oppressions and threats, the will to unmask the ‘paper tiger’ regime relies on the mobilization of a united struggle.
Note: This text has been translated from the article titled Rejim ömrünü baskıyla uzatamaz published in BirGün newspaper on January 30, 2025.
On one hand, the government is trying to consolidate the politics in line with its own interests through discussions on ‘détente and solution’, while on the other it is issuing open threats. In the last week, everyone-from figures in the arts and media to political party leaders and even citizens criticising the government in street interviews-have been targeted by the government. The escalating repression raises the question ‘why now?’.
The legitimacy crisis: The AKP-MHP government was heavily defeated in the 31 March local elections. Having lost its most important strongholds to the opposition, AKP also lost its status as the first party. It lost one of the most important political apparatuses such as leading the local governments. Moreover, although public opinion surveys show partial improvements at times, the meltdown in the AKP and the discontent with the government have continued even after the elections. Despite the government's manoeuvres to stall the opposition, the government had a chance to catch its breath for a while, but its legitimacy in the public's eyes, which was struggling with the crises the country was dragged into, eroded day by day. Realising that it could no longer rule the masses through consent, the government pulled out the apparatus of oppression and force from its toolbox.
Cornered in the Middle East: The government, which sought to play an active role in the re-design of the region after the overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria, has so far failed to fulfil expectations. Resulting in the victory of the US and Israel, the situation forced the government, which was seeking to determine its position in the balance of power, to reconsider its positioning in the Middle East. In Syria, it was intended to assign certain missions to the Kurdish movement, while at home, with the ‘peace’ negotiations, it was desired to draw the Kurdish movement to a neutral position. The stalled process in Syria also interrupted the ‘peace’ negotiations in Turkey. It is worth noting that the committee that visited İmralı for the second time did not bring a message from Abdullah Öcalan, while Ömer Çelik's statements about the end of the İmralı visits led to question marks about the deadlock in the ongoing process.
Economic crisis: The Palace regime is being content with a miserable increase in the minimum wage and civil servant salaries and ignoring the pensioners once again, and it wants to block the objections to the economic crisis, which will hit much more heavily in 2025. In almost all public opinion surveys, the main concerns of the citizens are the cost of livelihood and unemployment. Even the employees of Religious Affairs Administration are going on strike, objecting to their salaries. On 31 March, one of the reasons for the outcome of the elections was undoubtedly the reaction of millions of people who were overwhelmed by the struggle to make ends meet. The government seems to have realised that an economic policy of heavy taxation will not be easy to run.
The threat of the streets: Last summer, tens of thousands took to the streets in many parts of the country. Farmers who blocked roads with tractors because their crops had to be left in the farm fields, Polonez workers who struggled for days and marched to Ankara, metalworkers who did not step back even though their strike was banned by Erdoğan brought out voices. In addition, environmental activists, animal rights activists against the massacre law, unassigned teachers, citizens defending their will against trustees, thousands of people gathering in front of Beşiktaş Municipality, those raising their voices against the operations against journalists showed their discontent with the government. Although all these objections have not turned into a united struggle around a common programme, even the possibility of this happening is deeply unsettling the government. Therefore, the government has once again brought the Gezi card to the table, aiming to demonise the most legitimate, collective and creative resistance in the country's history, and to turn Gezi into a judicial weapon to threaten the whole society.
Each of these headings indicates crises that the regime has been unable to overcome. The government, which no longer has any remaining arguments other than the parliamentary majority and the judicial power, is becoming less skilful at setting up games. While millions of people are struggling under a deepening of poverty and the various problems it causes, they are also facing the siege of reactionism, intervention to the social life and various forms of injustice. Even the possibility of the anger accumulating in the faults of the trapped society turning into a destructive earthquake is enough to drive the government out of control. Despite all these oppressions and threats, the will to unmask the ‘paper tiger’ regime relies on the mobilization of a united struggle.
Note: This text has been translated from the article titled Rejim ömrünü baskıyla uzatamaz published in BirGün newspaper on January 30, 2025.