By Kirollos Abdalla —
Turkey’s president may want to restore the glories of the Islamist Ottoman Empire, but lately he’s been at risk of losing democratic power in his homebase and has cracked down on opponents, journalists and protesters.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan partially funded the Islamist takeover of Syria and is operating in airports and infrastructure inside Syria – a move opposed by Israel, given Erdogan’s increasing anti-Israel rhetoric that aligns with Muslim hatred of Jews.
Analysts suspect Erdogan is trying to mobilize Islamist outrage behind him in a bid for increasing regional power. The Turkish Ottomans controlled most of Islamdom from the 14th Century up to World War 1 when British colonizers deposed them.
But while his international ambitions are making world leaders nervous, his powerbase at home is threatened. Elected by a landslide democratic vote in 2018, Erdogan has increasingly administered Turkey like a dictator and his popularity has waned.
On March 19, he arrested his chief political adversary Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, on trumped-up charges. Protests erupted around the country but were suppressed by police. When media reported the upheaval, Erdogan expelled journalists. He jailed dozens of journalists.
The Turkish democracy that was admitted into the European Union in 1987 for its Western values is looking very undemocratic and very un-European.
Erdogan barely squeaked by in the election of 2023 with a slim majority vote. He garnered 52%. His opponents, who had previously been fractured into multiple parties that divided votes into insignificant slivers of the population, unified and genuinely threatened his 20 year dominance.
The arrest of the Istanbul mayor shows his current political weakness.
“Today he knows that in a truly free and fair election in 2028 with a united
opposition, his 20 plus year grip on power could come crashing down,” says Harris Sultan, a critic of Islam. ”I’m starting to see a mini Putin emerging in Erdogan – paranoid, power- hungry and willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power.
“In recent months, Mayor Ikram Imamoglu has emerged as a serious contender to Erdogan’s power,” says Sultan. “Earlier last week Turkish authorities executed a dawn raid on his residence. Imamoglu was detained on charges including corruption and alleged terror-related links.”
