Since Erdoğan had his most promising opponent Ekrem imprisoned Imamoğlu, Turkey has been on his feet. The arrest warrant triggered much larger protests than the palace regime suspected. At first, a few hundred people went on the streets, there were more every day, now there are millions. It was no coincidence that it was mostly young people who steal the protests and who are now on streets and squares. Of course, they refuse to detention Imamoğlus, but there are other reasons why they demonstrate, even though the police brutally intervene. Erdoğan’s coup on March 19 against the opposition was only the drop that caused the barrel to overflow. It all started on the evening of March 18 with the fact that Imamoğlus diploma, which he received from the University of Istanbul 31 years ago, was canceled to prevent him from running for the presidency. After his arrest the next morning, a few hundred students of this university took to the streets in protest. The police awaited them with shields and sticks. By tearing down the barriers despite the brutal intervention, the students triggered a more powerful wave of protest than the Gezi protests in 2013. If it was initially students across the country, other circles soon took part. For a week, hundreds of thousands gathered in front of Imamoğlus Rathaus in Istanbul. Shortly afterwards, over two million people came to a rally that took place on a place that was only difficult to reach. Bülent MumayPrivatwarum is the youth on the street, even though Erdoğan’s authoritarian government concerns all the circles of society? In a survey by the Non-Profit-Thinktank Toplum Çalışmaları Enstitüsü (Institute for Social Research) among young demonstration participants, three reasons were most frequently mentioned: the concern for the future, the anti-democratic measures of the government and that the political system does not respond to its demands. And the imprisonment Imamoğlus? Asked about their motivation to participate in the protests, this answer was in the last place among the young people. Which does not mean that Imamoğlu would not be popular with the youth. Rather, it speaks of the disappointment of a generation that has grew up under the government of Erdoğan for 23 years, who has been taken over and that cannot dream of a better future. But nothing that I write could be more urgent than the feelings of the young demonstrator Samet, who was affected by a protest campaign of police force and when asked why he took to the streets, the following answer: “What should I do? What did I do? What did I do? I will be a hundred thousands of lira after my conclusion. Say, I get a beating. ”Police beats are not the only price that Samet and his colleagues pay. Almost 2000 demonstrators were arrested. Around 300 of them came into custody. And the government did not only miss her anger at the youth. 14 journalists were also arrested because they reported on the protests, seven of them had to be custody. A Swedish journalist was arrested, the BBC correspondent, and a television station who had reported on the protests received a ten -day broadcaster. Elon Musks Platform X (formerly Twitter) deleted hundreds of accounts at the request of the Erdoğan regime. However, these measures of the regime to suppress the protests caused the opposite, the uprising continued. Erdoğan always held up the term “popular will”, but now the advance of eliminating its most important rivals over the politicized judiciary was destroying the already shrunk legitimacy of the palace regime. According to a survey by the renowned opinion research company Konda, 73 percent of the population in Turkey hold the protests for justified. Earthoğan supporters have always been working against the opposition in the least criticism of the government. Imamoğlus detention, on the other hand, met with silence in these circles. This is so striking that an Erdoğan near-all columnist asked the partisans in an article: “Why are you silent? Explain yourself!” Not just Erdoğan’s ability to generate approval, faded after the coup on March 19. The results of the surveys that had led to the arrest of Erdoğan’s rivals were only all the more dramatic for the palace. In all surveys after March 19, Imamoğlu’s lead to Erdoğan increased by at least ten percent. Imamoğlu became the star of the opposition leader Chp thanks to the politics with which he tried to remedy the poverty created by the regime. “No success is impunity in Turkey,” is a saying that has once again come true. Imamoğlu had to go to prison. But the coup on March 19 shook the economy violently, the Istanbul stock exchange broke, foreign funds were sought out of Turkey. In order to extinguish the fire at the currency cursers, the central bank set its reserves of around $ 40 billion. In addition, the CHP chairman Özgür Özel called the boycott. Media and companies of other industries that support Erdoğan were placed on the list for unlimited boycott. The one -day consumer geneal boycott, to which students called up and which was also supported by the CHP, reduced the daily expenses in Germany by half. In view of the effects of the boycott on the weak economy, Erdoğan swung itself into an operation that is reminiscent of Senator McCarthy’s witch hunt in the United States in the 1950s. Artists, lawyers, journalists who had supported the boycott were arrested and blocked their accounts on social media. State television threw actors out of series out of series. The website, which had been set up for the boycott, was also blocked. The Volkswagen Group is also boycotted with all brands under their roof. Because the distribution of brands such as VW, Audi or Škoda in Turkey is located in the hands of Erdoğan near the businessman Ferit Şahenk. This is not just a supporter of the government, at the government’s request, he also prevents his television stations from being reported on the nationwide protests. CHP boss Özgür Özel demanded that nobody should buy VW Group cars as long as your Turkey sales do not pass to others. The German automotive giant sold almost 200,000 cars in Turkey last year. Its market share is 17 percent. It is not known whether the VW Group, which is battered due to the Chinese competition, will do something to be canceled by the boycott list in Turkey. In any case, Özel’s call has an effect. A number of orders from VW have already been canceled, and that the silence of the friends, can Erdoğan’s “folk will” keep the Turkish consumers away from the “Volkswagen”? What will the boycott cost to the German Group? Both can hardly be estimated. However, the costs that the West turns like Turkey turn into a small Russia could be far higher. A Europe handed over by Trump is dependent on defense on Turkey, which has the largest army within NATO. In order not to spoil Erdoğan, there is currently no word of criticism that the palace regime buries democracy, except for the repeat of the cliché, “deeply worried”. Doesn’t the increasingly authoritarian regime in Turkey endanger the security of Europe, as before with some European countries? If the emergence of a Putinist regime in southern Russia did not lead to the situation of Europe becoming more uncertain? Of course, Europe has to decide this. In any case, millions of people are fighting for their democracy in Turkey. One point should not be forgotten that CHP boss Özgür Özel recently formulated as follows: “If all of this is over, Turkey will remember the voices of their enemies less than the silence of their friends.” From Sabine Adatepe’s Turkish.
Image: Emir Özmen, editing F.A.Z.
Since 2016, Bülent Mumay has been reporting on political developments in Turkey in his “letter from Istanbul” and their effects on everyday life.
A selection of contributions from our column has been published by Frankfurter General Book.
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