Another Autocrat

"I will not be the president of only those who voted for me, I will be the president of 77 million."
"Today the national will won once again, today democracy won once again. Those who didn't vote for me won as much as those who did, those who don't like me won as much as those who do."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Unable to serve under Turkish constitution rules for a fourth term, Mr. Erdogan, now that he has manipulated the voting population to continue their trust in his rule, now smoothly introduces a message of unity. A message that presents in stark contrast to his bitter denunciation of his critics and the two candidates who ran against him for the position of President. As a largely titular position, as a traditional president, Mr. Erdogan would be a figurehead, while he is accustomed to being the powerhead of Turkey.

He has, however, a solution to that little conundrum, and will change all of that, using constitutional means to alter the position of president to endow it with powers never before vested in it. And, in this way restoring to himself personally the level of political power stepping away from the position of prime minister would have meant. If Vladimir Putin could play his little constitutional tricks at the Kremlin altering the constitution, trading the prime ministership he had outlived to the presidency, then exchanging it with Medvedev, why not Erdogan?

Mr. Erdodan's slur cast on his Kurdish opponent, casting doubt in his Turkish identity, and accusing his main challenger, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, formerly secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, of taking part in a conspiracy to effect a coup, inspired by the Turkish cleric he had once made common cause with, in turning Turkey from a secular state to an Islamist theocratic state.

Now, in his triumph of having successfully prevailed, he states "I want to build a new future, as of today, with an understanding of societal reconciliation, by regarding our differences as richness, and by pointing out not our differences but our common values." Nothing said, however, to defang his vicious accusations against Israel as a fascist state taking its inspiration from Nazi Germany.

"Erdogan did not win a victory today, he moved to (the presidential palace of) Cankaya through chicanery, cheating, deception and trickery," announced Devlet Bahceli, head of the Nationalist Action Party which backed Erdogan's main rival, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. "This person is too questionable and dubious to be seen as president," he said, putting a mildly kindly spin on his distaste for the man.

 

The past year or so has seen events challenging to Erdogan's position as head of government with widespread anti-government protests through 2013 in the wake of a violent police crackdown on demonstrators who rejected the government's plan to build a shopping mall where a beloved city park (Gezi park) stood in central Istanbul. Erdogan protested he was modernizing, for the good of the country; his critics claimed he was impacting deleteriously on their quality of life.


Erdogan, his senior ministers and even his son have all been implicated in corruption, claims he characterized -- despite evidence cited by those in government, and secretly taped telephone conversations -- that all of the charges were false, and represented a coup plot by Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, now living in exile in the United States, and out of favour with Erdogan. Hundreds of lawyers, judges and police officials involved in the secret probe against Erdogan were summarily dismissed and countless police were arrested and jailed.


However, that over 74% of Turks came out to vote in a democratic process that returned Erdogan to power as a newly-empowered president with a majority of votes speaks volumes of his popularity among a public satisfied to leave the secular Turkey of old behind, and welcome back into power an Islamist governance, made stronger than ever through their enthusiastic endorsement of this man who has turned back all the advances that Kemal Ataturk endowed his country with in spurning religious rule.

The governing Justice and Development Party will now turn its attention to replacing Mr. Erdogan's former role with a new prime minister at its August 27 party congress, since the appointee will also be the new party head. As for Mr. Erdogan, the president must be neutral, cutting ties to any political party after being elected to the role. A risible fiction, but one that reflects the Turkish version of democracy in action.

And although many countries in the West might admire that almost-75% election turnout, it is considered to be a low figure for Turkey, since voting is legally mandatory.

"Given the anti-government protests last summer in response to Erdogan's perceived authoritarian tendencies, political tension is likely to remain high as Erdogan seeks to extend the power of the presidency," opined the Fitch international ratings agency.

"Erdogan got what he wanted," Murat Yetkin, Editor-in-Chief of the Hurriyet Daily News, wrote in an editorial Monday. "He wanted to consolidate all the executive power in his hands and now he has the chance and capacity for that." And the world, along with the population of Turkey, will before too much longer judge the consequences, as this new Islamist Turkey, big on justice and development supports three of the world's most troublesome terror entities: Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.