Kurds need NEW leader and unite with ALL other Kurds

[Anthea]

People are smiling again:
Opposition finds its voice before elections
Kareem Shaheen

There are two views of Istanbul from the office of Murat Sabuncu, the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, Turkey’s oldest independent newspaper and the last still publishing. The windows on one side look on to an old cemetery. Those on the other side face the courthouse.

It is an apt metaphor for the newspaper, threatened with closure for daring to criticise the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and its editor, sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for doing his job.

Turkey is the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, ahead of China and Egypt. Seventy-three were imprisoned in 2017 alone and more than 120 have been jailed since a failed coup attempt in 2016. Hundreds have lost their jobs in the aftermath of the coup, while allies of the government have bought up most of the country’s news outlets to transform the vast majority of the media into a loyalist press.

“We are trying to be a newspaper that speaks the words of those who cannot speak and show the things that cannot be shown,” Sabuncu said.

Cumhuriyet journalists were detained in October 2016 as part of a sweeping crackdown by the government on dissidents. Twelve were arrested in dawn raids, and the chairman of the newspaper’s board, Akın Atalay, returned from a trip to Germany to turn himself in, all accused of aiding terrorist groups.

They were held for nine months without an indictment, until their trial began in July last year. The court ended up convicting 13 staff, most of whom are currently free pending appeals.

An appeal hearing in Sabuncu’s case is scheduled for July. Another court case could lead to government-appointed trustees assuming control of Cumhuriyet.

Turkey is days away from arguably the most important elections in its modern history. The winner of the presidential race will assume extraordinary powers that were narrowly approved in a referendum last year. Erdoğan is favoured to win.

Conditions in the country hardly allow for a fair contest. The polls will take place under a state of emergency imposed almost two years ago after the failed coup. Since then tens of thousands of people have been arrested or dismissed from their jobs in the media, judiciary, police, army and bureaucracy, often with little prospect for appeal.

Presidential candidates have repeatedly criticised that state media for giving much more airtime to the incumbent than his rivals. “Erdoğan didn’t buy the journalists,” said Aydın Engin, a veteran Cumhuriyet columnist who was also briefly imprisoned. “He bought out the media. The media is acting like an organ of [Erdoğan’s political party] the AKP.”

A report in April by the rights watchdog Amnesty, whose Turkey chair, Taner Kılıç, has been in jail for more than a year, described a “suffocating climate of fear” in the country. It said the government had deliberately and methodically set about dismantling civil society and had nearly destroyed Turkey’s legal system in its pursuit of dissidents.

But despite the perpetual state of crisis, Turkish voters have turned out in droves to opposition rallies, energising a contest whose outcome two months ago seemed to be pre-ordained. Unexpectedly dynamic campaigns by Muharrem İnce, the main challenger, and the breakaway nationalist Meral Akşener have revitalised a moribund opposition movement that has lost election after election.

Selahattin Demirtaş, the charismatic Kurdish leader of the People’s Democratic party (HDP), has run his campaign from a jail cell in Edirne, communicating to supporters through his lawyers.

AKP fears that it could lose control of parliament while retaining the presidency have pushed the government into promises of compromises, such as ending the state of emergency after the polls. But for many opposition activists, whether Erdoğan and his party win or not, what matters is they have once again found their voices.

“I believe the people and the journalists and democrats are going to change something rather than the politicians,” said Sabuncu. “I always thought smiling is a revolutionary act. I noticed that in the last 15 or 20 days, people started smiling again.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... -elections

[Anthea]

Turkey's elections explained

On Sunday, Turkey will choose its president and parliament, in a vote that will decide the political future of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He called snap elections, brought forward from late 2019, and is hoping to cement his position with beefed-up powers.

He has won every vote in his 15 years in power, but Turkey is in the midst of an economic slump and he faces a strong opposition campaign.

Here is a rundown of what you need to know - in brief and at greater length.

Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan is running for a second presidential term, but this time is different.

After the vote, a wide range of new powers approved in a 2017 referendum will come into force, transforming what was once a ceremonial role into an executive position of considerable power.

Mr Erdogan is favourite to win - but he is aiming to retain the presidency on Sunday with more than 50% of the vote.

Otherwise he will be forced into a second round, which could lessen his victory and mandate, or even end in defeat.

Parliamentary elections also take place on Sunday, which could result in a power shift - and a new parliament that could support or oppose the newly empowered president.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, backed by his Islamist-rooted AK Party (AKP), has reshaped Turkey more than any other person since the founding of the modern state.

But he is a controversial figure, having moved to consolidate his power after a failed coup against his rule in 2016. Turkey has been under a state of emergency ever since, with 107,000 public servants and soldiers dismissed from their jobs. More than 50,000 people have been imprisoned pending trial since July 2016.

After completing two terms as prime minister, Mr Erdogan won the first-ever election to the presidency in 2014, for what was supposed to be a largely ceremonial role.

Then, in April 2017, 51% of Turkish voters endorsed a new constitution that grants new powers to the presidency.

These include:

Directly appointing top public officials, including ministers and vice-presidents
The power to intervene in the country's legal system
The power to impose a state of emergency

In addition to those changes, the job of prime minister will be scrapped.

Some critics feel the new president will wield too much power, and that Turkey lacks the checks and balances of other executive presidencies such as France or the United States.

There are six candidates for the presidency. If one of them wins just over 50% of the vote on Sunday, they win the presidency. But if no-one does, there will be a second round on 8 July.

Mr Erdogan is hoping to win outright, but may be facing his greatest challenge in years.

The economy is a major issue in the campaign. Inflation has risen to more than 10%, and a steep fall in the value of the lira has hit many people in their pockets.

Religion is also a factor. Modern Turkey is a secular republic, but under Mr Erdogan's AKP party it has accepted Islamic symbols in public life to some extent - for example, in allowing female state employees to wear headscarves.

Mr Erdogan's main rival, Muharrem Ince of the Republican People's Party (CHP), is staunchly secular and a fierce critic of Mr Erdogan. Mr Ince has performed well in the campaign, and could be a real threat in any run-off.

And Sunday's parliamentary election, running side-by-side with the presidential poll, could have a major impact on round two.

If Mr Erdogan's AKP group keeps its majority in the 600-seat assembly, he will head into a run-off vote in a strong position. If not, it could damage his image and change the outcome.

Much hinges upon whether the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is firmly against Mr Erdogan, wins 10% of the national vote.

If the HDP falls short of 10%, it will not get any seats under Turkey's list-based allocation system. But if it achieves 10% or more, it will remain in parliament and make it harder for Mr Erdogan's AKP to gain a majority.

No matter what happens, the result will be important for Turkey's future.

If Mr Erdogan wins the presidency and his party keeps its majority, he will have successfully consolidated his political power.

If both elections go against him, Turkey's political landscape will be dramatically changed.

But if the presidency goes one way and the parliament another, it could signal a period of political instability for Turkey in the years ahead.

Turkish voters living abroad - about three million of the 59 million voters in total - have already cast their votes.

The remainder will make their choice on Sunday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44562011

[Anthea]

Facts:

Erdogan is a highly intelligent manipulative man

Selahattin Demirtaş, has been allowed to run his campaign from a jail cell in Edirne, communicating to supporters through his lawyers

Allowing Demirtaş this freedom makes Erdogan appear to be reasonable

In the past around 40% of Kurds voted for Erdogan

Fewer Kurds are lightly to vote for Erdogan this time due to recent anti-Kurdish activity and invasion of Western Kurdistan

Muharrem Ince is the only person with slightest chance of beating Erdogan

Conclusion:

Erdogan would rather Kurds vote for Demirtaş than vote for the opposition

[Anthea]

Most of what we read is lies and propaganda

Think carefully before voting:

The most important thing is to get rid of Erdogan

This could be your last chance of getting rid of Erdogan

Remember that ALL previous Kurdish political parties were banned

At start of the year, Demirtaş had stated that he did not intend stand in elections
(One wonders who told him to stand for this election)

Thanks to Demirtaş's open support of Ocalan and the PKK

Erdogan could ban the HDP at any time
Many of Demirtaş's political associates have been arrested

CHP's Ince is the ONLY person who stands a chance of beating Erdogan

Ince voted against lifting the immunity of members of the HDP

Ince has publicly called for Selahattin Demirtas to be released from jail so he could campaign

Demirtaş openly used Kurdish Newroz celebrations and the PKK/Ocalan supporters to gain support for himself

Am I the only person who has noticed Demirtaş recent lack of interest in Ocalan

Demirtaş never mentions a United Kurdistan

Every Kurdish brain holds the memory of genocides
Every Kurdish eye cries blood for slaughtered family and friends
Every Kurdish heart longs for freedom

[Anthea]

Where's Turkey headed?
Karamollaoglu and Kalin talk to Al Jazeera
(Ibrahim Kalin, Turkish presidential spokesperson)

Millions of Turkish voters will head to the polls on June 24 to simultaneously elect a president and new members of parliament. It's the first time since the referendum last year when the people approved key constitutional amendments - giving more power to the presidency.

Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) argue that a more powerful executive presidency helps Turkey tackle economic and security challenges.

But critics like Temel Karamollaoglu, presidential candidate and leader of the Saadet Party, warns that Erdogan is moving the country to a dictatorship and says the president is not doing enough to unite the Muslim world abroad.

"The new presidential system is going to lead Turkey to a dictatorship," Karamollaoglu says. "There is no doubt, because the parliament has no influence on the president. They can't control, they can't produce any values which will be effective, so the president, in fact, will decide whatever he thinks proper without consulting the parliament."

And although the Turkish people voted for the constitutional changes last year, Karamollaoglu says, "the public can make mistakes as well. It will be too late when they see, realise what the dangers are and what they will face."

"We believe in separation of power ... The government should not have any influence on justice, on the courts. Today, the government directly controls and gives in fact orders to the courts. You can't have justice in a world like this," he says.

Asked about his chance to winning the presidency, he says, "there are some rumours that certain tricks are prepared, but we don't know what will happen. When you take part in elections, you go there to win."

President Erdogan has been ruling Turkey for more than 15 years, and his spokesperson is confident that he will win another term - with increased powers.

"Those who claim that the new system will be some kind of an authoritarian autocracy, one-man rule, etc, they should study political history and look at examples of other presidential systems," says Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesperson for the Turkish presidency.

"If you look at for example, how much power an American president has, it's not any different ... The presidential system cannot be called an authoritarian system. In fact, if you look at the model itself, the full separation of powers - judiciary, executive and legislative - that is fully separated in the presidential system."

The government should not have any influence on justice, on the courts. Today, the government directly controls and gives in fact orders to the courts. You can't have justice in a world like this.

Temel Karamollaoglu, leader of the Saadet Party

According to Kalin, "the judiciary used to be dominated by a kind of a more secularist type of judges and prosecuters in the past. Then what happend in the last five, six years was, the Gulenists infiltrated the judiciary ... they put their people in key positions of the judiciary - prosecuters and judges ... and they were controlling the judiciary. We have eliminated the Gulenists from the judiciary ... They are independent."

Some opinion polls suggest a tight race and some have suggested that Erdogan's AK Party might not achieve a parliamentary majority, but Kalin says there is no doubt about the election outcome.

"I think most of the criticism that you get from some western media outlets and commentators is based on a total misreading of the political realities in Turkey ... Erdogan has entered almost 14 or 15 general, local elections and referendums over the last 14, 15 years and he has won every single one of them," he says.

"The vote on Sunday is not going to be any different according to the polls and to what we see on the ground ... We see the crowds on the streets, and their aspirations and their expectations from the government and from the leadership - it's very clear that he is set to win this election as well."

On this episode of Talk to Al Jazeera,Temel Karamollaoglu, the leader of the Saadet Party, and Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesperson for the Turkish presidency, discuss Turkey's upcoming election, Erdogan's foreign policies and challenges facing the country.

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/ta ... 15178.html

[Anthea]

Latest polls as Erdogan threatened by Ince

Turkey elections will see voters decide whether Recep Tayyip Erdogan retains power as President, as he faces surprise competition from Muharrem Ince. What are the latest opinion polls predicting?

President Erdogan has managed to win every vote during his 15 years in power and is hoping his recently called snap election will grant him another term.

The vote is significant because after the result has been announced, new powers that had been approved in a referendum in 2017 will come into effect, giving the president an elevated role.

Presidency in Turkey was once a ceremonial role, but after tomorrow’s election will become a position of significant power.

The new powers a president will possess include:

- The power to intervene in the country’s legal system

- The power to impose a state of emergency

- Directly appointing top public officials

The role of Prime Minister in Turkey will be abolished following the election, with Mr Erdogan having previously spent two terms as Prime Minister before being voted in as President.

Mr Erdogan is backed by Islamic based Justice and Development party (ARP) and has reformed Turkey greater than any other leader.

Turkey remains in a state of emergency following a failed coup in 2016, the result of 107,000 soldiers and public servants being dismissed from their roles.

The economy is one of the main contention points during this election, with inflation having risen to more than 10 percent.

Another issue is religion, with Mr Edogan’s AKP party accepting some elements of Islamic symbols into public life, including one allowing female state employees to wear headscarves.

President Erdogan will have to achieve 50 percent of the vote to remain in power, however, if he does not he will enter a run off with the other top candidate.

This second round, which would take place on July 8, could decrease his authority or result in his defeat.

There are five rivals to Mr Erdogan, with one having to receive just over 50 percent of the vote to win the presidency.

Latest opinion polls carried out by Optimar Research Company between June 14 - June 20 reveal that Mr Erdogan currently possesses the majority, with 51.6 percent of the vote.

Fellow candidate Muharrem Ince is a Republican People’s Party (CHP) MP and current polls place him with 28 percent of the vote.

Selahattin Demirtas running for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) achieved 10.3 percent of the vote

Meral Aksener for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) sat at 8.5 percent.

Bringing up the rear are candidates Temel Karamollaoglu of the Felicity Party (SP) and Dogu Perincek of the Patriotic Party with 1.1 percent and 0.5 percent respectively.

Mr Ince remains a strong rival to President Erdogan and is his main competition in the campaign for the presidency.

Staunchly opposed to Mr Erdogan are the HDP, who if they achieve 10 percent of the vote or more will keep their seats in parliament, making it harder for the AKP to achieve the majority.

With an unstable political landscape in recent years in Turkey, Sunday’s vote could drastically alter Turkey’s future.

Recap:

Erdogan 51.6 percent of the vote

Ince 28 percent of the vote

Demirtas 10.3 percent of the vote

Meral Aksener 8.5 percent of the vote

Temel Karamollaoglu of the Felicity Party (SP) 1.1 percent of the vote

Dogu Perincek of the Patriotic Party 0.5 percent of the vote

[Anthea]

Nationalism and piety dominate Turkey's election
Resat Kasaba

As a scholar of the history and politics of the Middle East, I believe the most striking feature of the campaign is the ideological uniformity displayed by the main parties and their presidential candidates. With the exception of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party, candidates espouse strong sentiments of activist nationalism, Muslim piety or, sometimes, both.

This seems to resonate well with the majority of the Turkish electorate.

First as prime minister and then as president, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party have worked to recast Turkey in an increasingly nationalist and religious mold. Today, Erdoğan successfully uses these two ideas to cement his bond with voters.

Turkey was regarded as an outpost of Western-type secularism during much of the 20th century. But Islam and Turkish nationalism were always present in the country, even if not as strongly displayed as they have been in recent years.

The growing focus on religion and nationalism is leading Turkey away from democracy and democratic participation, making it difficult for diverse ideas to be advanced and respected by all parties. That has been evident in the increased authoritarianism of Erdoğan’s rule and the state of emergency he imposed after an attempted 2016 coup.

As Turkey becomes less liberal and more authoritarian, it contributes to the fracturing of western alliances, furthering instability in Europe and the Middle East.

Forcefully establishing an identity

Before World War I, the Ottoman Empire was home to a large number of Christian communities, Greeks and Armenians most prominent among them, and various ethnic groups.

But following the Ottomans’ destruction of the Armenian community in the early part of the 20th century and the expulsion of the Greeks, leaders of the new Turkish Republic devised policies to assimilate the country’s largest remaining ethnic minority group, the Kurds.

They believed that otherwise they would continue to lose territory and would not be able to hold on to their new country.

The Kurds, who are predominantly Muslim, resisted almost immediately and have been locked in an armed struggle with the Turkish state since the early days of the Republic in 1923.

The elimination of the largest non-Muslim groups, the Greeks and Armenians, meant that Islam became the de-facto identity for the overwhelming majority of the people who remained in Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and the first president of the Republic, initiated a radical policy of separating religion from politics. He created institutions and laws that were modeled after European counterparts, and severed ties with the country’s recent Islamic past, making Turkey the model country for successful westernization in the eyes of many observers.

But the reach and penetration of these policies beyond the country’s urban centers was limited.

For the more than 80 percent of the population who lived in rural areas, these reforms meant little. For them, their Muslim religion continued to be the most immediate way in which they identified themselves.
Power of religion, nationalism

This year – with the exception of the Kurdish party – the parties that are running for the parliament have competed with each other to showcase their nationalist and religious credentials.

Most of them have formed alliances to boost each other’s chances. But they have all rejected any form of cooperation with the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party, HDP. None of these parties raised any serious objections when the HDP leadership and deputies were jailed almost two years ago. Government prosecutors have charged them with aiding Kurdish terrorism but a proper trial or sentencing has not taken place yet.

As for Islam, none of the candidates are promising a return to the strict secularism of the early 20th century. Even Muharrem Ince, the presidential candidate of the Republican People’s Party that was founded by Ataturk, enthusiastically flaunts his religious beliefs in his rallies. In fact, his unexpected success in the polls is attributed, in part, to his embrace of Islam.

Eroding barrier between religion and politics

Center-right parties that have dominated Turkish politics and won all the elections in Turkey since the 1950s have always used a combination of Turkish nationalism and Islam to advance their chances.

But for most of the 20th century they had to be careful in how they used religion for political purposes.

Red lines separated religion and politics and were enforced by laws and by the ever-present military, which claimed to be the guardian of the secular order. Appeals to religion were carried out indirectly – for example, by showing up at Friday prayers.

There were, however, no limits to using nationalism in politics. With a history curriculum that excluded any reference to any aspect of the region’s multicultural past, generations grew up believing mythical theories of national origins of Turks and their superiority.

The lines that separated religion and politics in Turkey eroded steadily in the course of the 20th century. The political parties wanted to appeal to constituents keen on asserting their Islamic identity and practicing their religion without having to conceal their beliefs.

Erdoğan pushes limits further

Under Erdogan’s leadership, Turkey’s education and government bureaucracy have been reformed to train and govern “a pious generation”. Following the attempted coup in 2016, the military has been defanged, becoming a bystander if not an enthusiastic supporter of this epochal transformation.

Today, I believe it is inconceivable for any political party to be successful in Turkey by advocating a staunchly secular line of policy.

Similarly, national unity is a non-negotiable plank in the election platforms of all the parties.

The armed conflict with the Kurds continues. The Turkish military has invaded and occupied a strip of land in northern Syria in recent months to fight against the Kurds there. But no candidate, other than HDP’s Demirtaş, has seriously questioned these policies.

None of the political parties or presidential contenders, with the exception of HDP, veer too far away from either Turkish nationalism or Muslim piety. So the short campaign for this snap election in Turkey has almost exclusively revolved around President Erdoğan. He has become such a paramount figure that being for or against him has become the single most important marker for politicians.

The campaign hasn’t included a sustained discussion of Turkey’s economy or international relations, even though the country is facing serious challenges in both of these areas.

It is hard to know what difference electing one of the opposition candidates will make in these areas since we don’t really know where parties stand.

We know, however, what staying with Erdoğan will mean.

If Erdoğan emerges as a victor with the newly enhanced powers of presidency, he is certain to steer Turkey further down the road of authoritarianism. This will have serious implications for the people of Turkey, the region and Europe. If he loses, there will likely be an opening that will allow for new visions to emerge.

Even with a new party or president in power, it will not be easy to recreate the space for genuine democratic participation in Turkey. For a more inclusive politics to develop, the constraints of religious nationalism will have to be broken.

https://theconversation.com/nationalism ... tion-98609

At last someone, other than ourselves, has mentioned the fact that Kurds have been locked in an armed struggle with the Turkish state since the early days of the Republic in 1923

[Anthea]

Turkish elections Sunday will create a problem for the world
A re-elected President Erdogan

Turkish citizens will go to the polls for snap parliamentary and presidential elections Sunday, putting the world at the doorstep of another decade-long, dangerous problem: a re-elected and empowered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Some voters have the hope of an opposition victory as the result of Erdogan’s lackluster campaign and a spiraling currency crisis. It’s more realistic, however, to start thinking about the problem that his victory is bound to cause for the rest of the world, and especially for the U.S.

Pollsters recalculating the probability of a victorious or defeated Erdogan forget one important feature of Turkey’s so-called democracy: it isn’t one. Erdogan has already stacked the cards for his own success in this election.

After the fixed outcome arrives, Erdogan will lead a Turkey that is more militarily interventionist throughout the broader Middle East and more willing to cooperate with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the cost of the U.S. interests, and those of NATO and the European Union.

Erdogan will also have more authoritarian tools at his disposal. These snap elections trigger the full implementation of constitutional changes passed in a controversial referendum in April 2017. This new system will codify executive powers granted to Erdogan under state of emergency laws, including the issuance of presidential decrees as law. It will also erode what little leverage remains with the Turkish Parliament or the political opposition.

The net result: Erdogan is poised to remain in power until at least 2028, with a deeper megalomaniac desire to expand his regional footprint at others’ expense. This will quickly drive deeper wedges into Turkey’s partnerships with the U.S. and NATO.

Erdogan will continue, for example, to balance cooperation and competition with Iran, even at the cost of U.S. fines for evading economic sanctions against dealings with Tehran. He has also bristled at the U.S partnership with anti-ISIS fighters affiliated with a Kurdish militant group that he sees as a threat to Turkish sovereignty.

The U.S. has cut tactical deals with Turkey in Syria, but these cannot satiate Erdogan’s drive for expanding Turkey’s sphere of influence beyond the historic borders of the Ottoman Empire.

The U.S. and Turkey recently agreed on a framework for the status of the mixed Kurdish-Arab city of Manbij, which is contested by Turkey and the U.S. partner force in northwestern Syria. This agreement fails to repair the damage done from years of mutually destabilizing Turkish and U.S. policies, absent a roadmap for broader U.S.-Turkish cooperation in Syria.

Meantime, Erdogan’s response has been to deepen Turkish cooperation with Salafi jihadist groups, including Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria.

Additionally, Erdogan will make good on threats to expand military operations abroad. He abandoned negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization waging a decades-long insurgency inside of Turkey, and has attacked PKK-affiliated militants in northwest Syria without much consequence. He will likely continue targeting similar fighters elsewhere in Syria and in Iraq.

Erdogan’s attempts to silence the pro-Kurdish domestic political voice renders future Turkish-Kurdish negotiations even more difficult to reignite, virtually guaranteeing further instability and violence.

For the likes of Putin, Erdogan’s victory will be an opportunity to continue subverting NATO’s unity and weakening the alliance’s southern flank. Turkey’s purchase of the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system will throw a technical wrench into NATO partners’ interoperability.

Russia also enabled Turkey’s operations against the U.S. Syrian Kurdish ground partner in Syria, triggering an operational pause to anti-ISIS operations in March. Putin’s cultivation of Erdogan will attempt to stymie NATO’s effectiveness further from within.

Erdogan’s attempts to secure even more absolute rule at home will cause additional international problems. His paranoia on the heels of a failed coup attempt in July, 2016, fuels a vendetta against alleged coup plotter Fethullah Gulen, who resides in Pennsylvania. Erdogan fashions Westerners traveling in Turkey as diplomatic bargaining chips.

American Pastor Andrew Brunson has remained behind bars in Turkish custody for over a year, even as the U.S. State Department has said that Turkey has not presented any credible evidence for detaining him. Worse yet, thousands of Turkish citizens also remain imprisoned – many for the “crime” of voicing political dissent – with uncertain futures.

The pace of Erdogan’s post-coup purges outside of Turkey also shows no indication of slowing. Turkey’s intelligence agency serves as the expeditionary arm of the Turkish state, reportedly seizing 80 Turkish citizens from 18 countries by March 2018.

One of the biggest weapons for destabilization that Erdogan wields is migration, as he has more than 2.6 million Syrian refugees to host or expel as he pleases. The plight of these migrants will continue to prove useful for Erdogan’s diplomatic maneuvering with Europe.

Erdogan habitually threatens the implementation of the Turkey-European Union deal that attempts to stem the flow of migrants to the EU in exchange for an advantage in bilateral economic and political negotiations.

However, the victory of Erdogan’s presidential system positions Turkey as far away as ever from the distant dream of EU membership.

In the longer run, phony electoral victories will not save Erdogan from himself. Among other things, he will face mounting pressure to resolve a currency crisis that he created. Turkey will continue to feel the full effects of Erdogan’s economic mismanagement after the election as he threatens the Turkish Central Bank’s independence.

In sum, Erdogan’s post-election grip on power will drive domestic crises, destabilize Turkey’s foreign partnerships, and ultimately undermine the very position he is attempting to secure. For everyone else that means more headaches, more violence, and more instability in a part of the world that definitely does not need it.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/06/ ... n.amp.html

[Anthea]

Polls open in Turkey's most fiercely-fought elections in years

Turks have gone to polls in elections this morning in what could be President Erdogan's biggest challenge yet

Erdogan is seeking a fourth term and has avoided debates despite main rival, Muharrem Ince, challenging him

Six people have been arrested for allegedly insulting President Erdogan after posting videos on social media

Turkey's main opposition party has expressed alarm after a number of complaints of voting violations as the country goes to the polls in presidential and parliamentary elections today.

The Republican People's Party (CHP), the party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main challenger Muharrem Ince, said that party officials had confirmed cases of inconsistencies in the Sanliurfa province.

'From Sanliurfa, there have been many complaints,' spokesman Bulent Tezcan told reporters in Ankara. 'Our colleagues intervened where (the issues) occurred.'

He said complaints had been made to neighbourhood election committee and officials had approached the Higher Election Board (YSK).

'We are trying to ensure ballot box safety,' he added.

Voting in Istanbul, Erdogan played down any worries about vote security, saying: 'I have been informed that there is no serious problem across Turkey.'

During the press conference, Tezcan played a video from the district of Suruc in Sanliurfa - which the party said it had confirmed was genuine - in which a man said there were more votes in the ballot box than the number of votes already cast.

Turks went to the polls this morning in presidential and parliamentary elections that pose the biggest ballot box challenge to Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party since they swept to power over 15 years ago.

Four people had been killed earlier this month during campaigning in Suruc, an area with a large Kurdish community where the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is expected to poll well.

Tezcan cited another instance from the Eyyubiye district of Sanliurfa where he said 100 votes had been brought to the ballot box overnight for Erdogan's 'People's Alliance' of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Tezcan also denounced the presence of armed people in the streets of Suruc, who he said were threatening the election atmosphere.

'They are trying to pressure voters in Suruc.. they are trying to create something like a terror atmosphere for voters on election day,' he warned.

Analysts say that a transparent vote is crucial for Turkey in the twin legislative and parliamentary elections which are seen as the toughest test Erdogan has undergone at the ballot box.

Tens of thousands of Turkish citizens are responding to calls from the opposition to monitor the polls for a clean election and a delegation of observers from the OSCE is also in place.

Turks went to the polls this morning in presidential and parliamentary elections that pose the biggest ballot box challenge to Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party since they swept to power over 15 years ago

Turkey's state-run news agency, meanwhile, said police have arrested six people for allegedly insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of a campaign rally by his main opponent as Turks go to the polls today.

The Anadolu Agency said the six were detained yesterday days after videos posted on social media reportedly showed them shouting expletives against Erdogan.

The news agency said they were later charged with 'insulting state elders.'

The agency said police were searching for other suspects.

Insulting the president is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison. Erdogan has filed close to 2,000 lawsuits against people, including school children, for insulting him.

Turks went to the polls this morning in presidential and parliamentary elections that pose the biggest ballot box challenge to Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party since they swept to power over 15 years ago.

The elections will also usher in a powerful new executive presidency long sought by Erdogan and backed by a small majority of Turks in a 2017 referendum.

More than 56 million people were registered to vote at 180,000 ballot boxes across the country

Turkey has been under emergency rule - which restricts some personal freedoms and allows the government to bypass parliament with emergency decrees - for nearly two years following an abortive military coup in July 2016. Pictured: A queue of voters in Istanbul today

Critics say it will further erode democracy in the NATO member state and entrench one-man rule.

'This stability must continue and that can happen with Erdogan so I voted for him,' said janitor Mehmet Yildirim, 48, in Istanbul.

'I also think that with Erdogan, we stand stronger against the West.'

More than 56 million people were registered to vote at 180,000 ballot boxes across the country.

Voting began at 8am (6am BST) and will end at 5pm (3pm BST).

Erdogan, the most popular but also divisive leader in modern Turkish history, moved the elections forward from November 2019, arguing the new powers would better enable him to tackle the nation's mounting economic problems - the lira has lost 20 per cent against the dollar this year - and deal with Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey and in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.

But he reckoned without Muharrem Ince, the presidential candidate of the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP), whose feisty performance at campaign rallies has galvanized Turkey's long-demoralised and divided opposition.

Addressing a rally in Istanbul on Saturday attended by hundreds of thousands of people, Ince promised to reverse what he and opposition parties see as a swing towards authoritarian rule under Erdogan in the country of 81 million people.

'If Erdogan wins, your phones will continue to be listened to ... Fear will continue to reign ... If Ince wins, the courts will be independent,' he said, adding he would lift Turkey's state of emergency within 48 hours of being elected.

Turkey has been under emergency rule - which restricts some personal freedoms and allows the government to bypass parliament with emergency decrees - for nearly two years following an abortive military coup in July 2016.

Erdogan blamed the coup on his former ally, US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, and has waged a sweeping crackdown on the preacher's followers in Turkey.

The United Nations say some 160,000 people have been detained and nearly as many more, including teachers, judges and soldiers, sacked.

The president's critics, including the European Union which Turkey still nominally aspires to join, say Erdogan has used the crackdown to stifle dissent.

Few newspapers or other media openly criticise the government and he has received far more election coverage than other presidential candidates.

'This is no longer a Turkey we want. Rights are violated, democracy is in terrible shape,' said health sector worker Sema, 50, after voting in Istanbul.

She and others in the city said they voted for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) so that it exceeds the 10 percent threshold of votes needed to enter parliament. If it does so, it will be harder for the AKP to get a majority.

Erdogan, who defends his tough measures as essential for national security, told his supporters at rallies on Saturday that if re-elected he would press ahead with more of the big infrastructure projects that have helped turn Turkey into one of the world's fastest-growing economies during his time in office.

Polls show Erdogan falling short of a first-round victory in the presidential race but he would be expected to win a run-off on July 8, while his AK Party could lose its parliamentary majority, possibly heralding increased tensions between president and parliament.

Other presidential candidates include Selahattin Demirtas, HDP leader, who is now in jail on terrorism-related charges that he denies.

In a final appeal for votes in a video clip from his high security prison, Demirtas said: 'If the HDP fails to get into parliament, all Turkey will lose. Backing the HDP means supporting democracy.'

On Friday, a rally held by Ince was blacked out by state broadcasters after he dared Erdogan to 'confront him' in a TV debate.

At a mass rally in the city of Ankara on Friday, Ince, said: 'Tomorrow is the last evening. If you have the courage, confront me,' he said.

But as he began his speech at another event in Istanbul, he was handed a note saying the broadcast of the rally was 'down' on a state TV channel, which he quickly branded 'sabotage' on Edrogan's part.

Ince has held three rallies in three days in the cities of Ankara and Izmir.

Throwing down the gauntlet to the president, Ince said: 'Look, that's my last proposal to you. If you want, I can even cancel my Istanbul rally for you. Come, confront me, let's debate on TV.'

The event was the second giant rally the opposition leader addressed within the space of two days.

Erdogan, a favourite to win the presidential polls, has in the past rejected the opposition candidate's proposal for a television debate, saying that 'I don't want anyone to get points through me'.

Ince has injected a breath of fresh air into the presidential campaign with his dynamism and oratorical skills comparable to those of Erdogan.

In Ankara, Ince accused the state-run Anadolu news agency and TRT television of committing a 'constitutional crime' for failing to be even-handed.

'TRT aired Erdogan for 181 hours, Muharrem Ince for 15 hours,' he said.

Link to Article - Photos:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... years.html

[Anthea]

Turkey's main opposition presidential candidate Muharrem Ince said on Sunday Turkish citizens should protect ballot boxes against possible fraud by President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party.

Speaking after voting in presidential and parliamentary elections ended at 5 pm (1400 GMT) Ince also said members of Turkey's electoral board must "do your job the right way". He said he had no doubt the election results would be "very good".

I wonder how long we will have to wait for results

[Anthea]

The electoral commission bans any reporting on the count until 9pm local time to make sure that voting in every polling station is well and truly finished, but it can – and almost invariably does – bring that time forward once it is sure everyone who queued to vote has cast their ballot.

[Anthea]

As expected Erdogan has won

Turkey’s Recep Tayyep Erdoğan has claimed victory in his country’s presidential election, but the opposition have not yet conceded defeat.

The country’s electoral board (YSK) has not yet announced the official results but according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, with 97% of votes counted Erdoğan is on 52.62% of the national vote with his chief rival, Muharrem Ince of the opposition CHP party, on 30.76%.

Shortly before Erdoğan’s statement, CHP MPs held a press conference challenging the provisional results, saying that while the incumbent president was ahead, only 39% of ballot boxes had been opened.

The new president is the first to enjoy greatly enhanced powers under a new constitution agreed in an April 2017 referendum.

Although Erdoğan’s AKP party looked set to lose its dominance in parliament, with the support of its Nationalist Movement party (MHP) allies it should retain an overall parliamentary majority.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) scored 11%, well over the 10% minimum threshold it needed to enter parliament, and will hold 46 seats – making it the second largest opposition party in the new chamber.

He was helped by the fact that groups such as the Kurds FAILED to join the united opposition and wasted all those votes on Demirtas who could not possibly have won the presidency

In fact one can but wonder why exactly why Demirtas was running for President

At the start of the year Demirtas stated he would not stand for any political position again

There has been a lot of pressure from Turks to bring back the death penalty and err remove Demirtas

Then we saw Demirtas campaigning from prison - almost as though someone wanted him to take votes away from the opposition

Reminds me of another - forgotten - man, who was threatened with the death penalty and allowed Turkey to manipulate him in order to save his life

Great plan - it made 10% of votes useless

[Anthea]

It is sad that Kurds did not unite with the opposition

Muharrem Ince is a far better person than Erdogan

As I keep saying:

KURDS NEED A NEW LEADER

[Anthea]

Forgive me for mentioning it but:

The HDP's pro-Kurdish predecessors were shut down one after the other by the Turkish judiciary in the 1990s and 2000s

Hands up anyone who thinks that Erdogan is going to allow HDP any power

[Anthea]

Triumphant Erdoğan strikes combative tone in victory speech

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has addressed thousands of supporters in Ankara after being declared the victor in Turkey’s presidential election, saying democracy was the winner and that Turkey was “an example for the rest of the world”.

“We have received the message that has been given to us in the ballot boxes,” he said, speaking from the balcony of the AK party’s headquarters in Ankara, to a large crowd of cheering and flag-waving supporters. “We will fight even more with the strength you provided us with this election.”

He began by apologising for being late to the balcony speech, saying this was due to the fact that a small child was injured in the crowd in Istanbul, where he had been speaking before, and he went to speak to the child’s family.

Erdoğan spoke of his commitment to “fight terroristic organisations”, “to continue the fight to make the Syrian grounds freer” and to increase the “international prestige” of Turkey, saying: “Turkey has no moment to waste, we know that.”

“Our flag will flutter more freely, the peace of every citizen will be advanced,” he said, before leading the crowd in a chant of “One nation, one flag, one country, one state.”

ONE PEOPLE - ONE FLAG - ONE KURDISTAN
(I much prefer my version)

Earlier on Sunday night, the country’s electoral board said the incumbent had won with 97.7% of votes counted. Even before this declaration, Erdoğan seemed sure of the result.

“Our people have given us the job of carrying out the presidential and executive posts,” Erdoğan said on Sunday night, even while ballots were still being tallied. “I hope nobody will damage democracy by casting a shadow on this election and its results to hide their failure.”

The main opposition party did not immediately concede defeat, but after initially saying Erdoğan would fall well short of a first-round victory, it later said it would continue its democratic struggle “whatever the result”.

The official Anadolu Agency reported that, with 99% of votes counted, Erdoğan had won a 52.54% share of the national vote, while the opposition CHP party’s candidate, Muharrem İnce, was on 30.68%.

The pro-Kurdish party, known as the HDP, took 11.67% of the vote, passing the 10% threshold to enter parliament for a second consecutive term. This diluted the majority of Erdoğan’s ruling party, the AKP, but fell short of the numbers needed to overturn that majority after a surprise showing by the AKP’s nationalist allies.

“This sets the stage for speeding up reforms,” the Turkish deputy prime minister, Mehmet Şimşek, tweeted of the results.

The winner of the presidential race is set to assume extraordinary new powers narrowly approved in a referendum last year that was marred by allegations of fraud. These include complete control of the cabinet and the power to appoint senior judges and officials, including unelected vice-presidents. The president will also have the power to issue decrees with the force of law.

Those powers will allow the victor to transform Turkey’s political scene for years and possibly decades to come, governing until 2028 if he wins re-election. Opposition candidates had pledged to overturn the presidential system if they had won.

The results, if they stand, will be a disappointment to the opposition, which had hoped to push Erdoğan into a second-round runoff against İnce, and to wrest control of the legislature from the AKP. Erdoğan and his party have governed unopposed for 16 years.

The president called early the snap elections in April hoping to preempt worsening economic trends and to catch the opposition by surprise. He looked set to win easily in a presidential race and in parliament in alliance with the nationalists, projecting an image of a commander-in-chief fighting external enemies inside Turkey and across the border in Syria, and triumphant against terror groups.

But the opposition mounted a dynamic election campaign, with its presidential candidate İnce drawing crowds in the hundreds of thousands in rallies in the country’s largest cities of Istanbul, İzmir and Ankara, and criss-crossing the country on dozens of rallies.

Turnout at the elections hovered around an extraordinary 87% of the electorate, exceeding that of last year’s referendum.

Opposition officials cried foul as soon as results began coming in, with the state-run Anadolu Agency announcing preliminary results more than two hours earlier than expected and opening with a massive lead for Erdoğan and his party’s alliance in parliament.

That lead closed over time, but it prompted accusations by the opposition that the state news agency was launching a manipulation operation to influence election monitors into leaving ballot counting stations early.

For much of the count, rival vote estimates by the opposition and the state-run agency were published, the former showing Erdoğan winning with less than 50% of the vote, and the latter showing a first-round outright victory.

The first result would lead to a second-round contest on 8 July, a possibility that would represent a major psychological blow for Erdoğan, even if he was tipped to win that contest as well.

The main secular opposition party, İnce’s CHP, continued to contest the results well into the count, charging that less than 40% of ballot boxes had been opened, and that many of İnce’s strong electoral districts had not yet been counted.

İnce urged ballot count monitors to remain at their stations until the counts had been completed to protect against election fraud.

Nevertheless, Erdoğan had already been congratulated on a win in the race by Hungary’s strongman leader, Viktor Orbán.

The election took place on an uneven playing field, against a backdrop of human rights abuses that Amnesty International described as a “climate of fear”.

One of the presidential candidates, Selahattin Demirtaş, ran his presidential campaign from a prison cell in Edirne where he is on trial on terrorism charges. The government has either shuttered, bought or taken over newspapers and TV stations, transforming the vast majority of the nation’s media into a loyalist press.

Thousands of people have been detained or dismissed since a coup attempt in 2016, a crackdown that has gone beyond the followers of Fethullah Gülen, the man accused of masterminding the coup from his exile in Pennsylvania, to dissidents of all stripes including academics, students who opposed military incursions into Syria, judges, bureaucrats and police and military officers.

Nevertheless, there were few incidents of apparent electoral fraud, with the exception of the province of Urfa, where some apparent attempts to rig the vote were uncovered during the course of the day. Poll stations opened at 8am and closed at 5pm.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... l-election