"/> Turkey?s Erdogan exploits nationalism at home after Turks die in Iraq | News | DW | 19.02.2021
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Last week, 13 Turkish citizens were killed in northern Iraq during military operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Turkey says it's a terror organization and is using it to malign opposition politicians.
Though the circumstances of a botched military operation that killed 13 people is unclear, Erdogan has gone on the offensive
The circumstances that led to the deaths of 13 Turkish citizens in the Gara region of northern Iraq are unclear. According to the Turkish government, they were each executed with a shot to the head by PKK operatives, but the Kurdish militant group says they died in bombings conducted by the Turkish air force. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the army had been trying to free kidnapped citizens. "We didn't succeed," he said.
The citizens were Turkish civil servants, including police and soldiers, whom the PKK kidnapped in southeastern Turkey in 2015 and 2016, and then took to northern Iraq to be held hostage.
Lots of kidnappings after government broke off peace talks
The PKK has kidnapped a number of Turkish citizens since Erdogan put an end to Turkey's peace talks with Kurdish militants in 2015. Still, the issue has not received a great deal of public attention. Opposition politicians and human rights organizations have criticized the government's lack of transparency on the hostage-takings.
According to the Turkish non-governmental organization (NGO) Human Rights Association (IHD), none of the 13 hostages' families received any news about the whereabouts or well-being of their loved ones for years. They turned to politicians and NGOs to find out more about the kidnappings — to no avail. IHD head Ozturk Turkdogan told DW: "All attempts to make contact failed. The state simply did not want to communicate."
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
July 2007: Abdullah Gul becomes Turkey's first Islamist president
After years of free market reforms, Turkey's transition slowly begins to reverse. Islamist Abdullah Gul's candidacy as president in 2007 marks a clear shift away from secularist policies, and strains relations between the ruling AKP and the military. However, with broad support from both conservative Muslims and liberals, the AKP wins the parliamentary elections and Gul is elected president.
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
September 2010: Constitutional reforms take hold
Then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tables a constitutional reform increasing parliamentary control of the judiciary and army, effectively allowing the government to pick judges and senior military officials. The amendment, which is combined with measures also aimed at protecting child rights and the strengthening of the right to appeal, passed by a wide margin in a public referendum.
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
May 2013: Dissent erupts in Gezi Park
Pent-up anger directed by young people at Erdogan, Gul and the Islamist-rooted AKP hits a boiling point in May 2013. The violent police breakup of a small sit-in aimed at protecting Istanbul's Gezi Park spurs one of the fiercest anti-government protests in years. Eleven people are killed and more than 8,000 injured, before the demonstrations eventually peter out a month later.
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
July 2015: Turkey relaunches crackdown against Kurds
A fragile ceasefire deal between the Turkish government and the Kurdish rebel PKK group breaks under the weight of tensions aggravated by the war in Syria. Military forces resume operations in the mostly Kurdish southeast of Turkey. In early 2016, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) — a breakaway PKK faction — claim responsibility for two bombings in Ankara, each killing 38 people.
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
July 2016: Military coup attempt falls short
A military coup attempt against the government shakes Turkey to its core and briefly turns the country into a war zone. Some 260 civilians die in overnight clashes with the army across five major cities. Erdogan, however, rallies supporters and the following morning rebel soldiers are ambushed by thousands of civilians on the Bosporus Bridge. The troops eventually drop their guns and surrender.
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
July 2016: President Erdogan enacts a state of emergency
In the aftermath of the failed coup, Erdogan announces a state of emergency, leading to arrests of tens of thousands of suspected coup sympathizers and political opponents. Among those detained are military and judiciary officials and elected representatives from the pro-Kurdish HDP party. The purge is later expanded to include civil servants, university officials and teachers.
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
2016: Crackdown on the press
As part of Erdogan's crackdown against supposed "terrorist sympathizers," Turkey becomes one of the world's leading jailers of journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders. The government shuts down around 110 media outlets in the year following the coup and imprisons more than 100 journalists, including German-Turkish correspondent Deniz Yücel.
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
March 2017: AKP officials try to stoke support in Western Europe
With a referendum on expanding Erdogan's presidential powers set for April 2016, AKP officials look to galvanize support among Turks living in Europe, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands. However, the Netherlands forbids Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from landing in the country, while Germany opts to cancel two rallies. Erdogan accuses both countries of Nazi-style repression.
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
April 2017: Erdogan clinches referendum vote
Erdogan narrowly wins the referendum vote expanding his power. As a result, Turkey's parliamentary system is abolished in favor of a strong executive presidency. Erdogan is also allowed to remain in power potentially until 2029. However, international election monitors claim that opposition voices were muzzled and that media coverage was dominated by figures from the "yes" campaign.
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
June 2018: Election wins secure Erdogan's power
Erdogan secures a new five-year term and sweeping new executive powers after winning landmark elections on June 24. His AKP and their nationalist allies also win a majority in parliament. International observers criticize the vote, saying media coverage and emergency measures gave Erdogan and the AKP an "undue advantage" in the vote.
Author: David Martin
Erdogan refuses to answer questions
Murat Bakan, Izmir deputy of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), told DW the government had repeatedly ignored his parliamentary questions. He said that several families had complained about the state's indifference and lack of effort. "Even though I kept bringing the situation of the families — their cries for help — to the attention of parliament, no action was ever taken."
The CHP has blamed Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for the deaths of the 13 Turks found in northern Iraq. CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu recently attracted a lot of attention with a parliamentary speech accusing the president of doing too little to rescue the hostages. He said Erdogan could have ended the situation by negotiating with PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan or with US President Donald Trump — with whom he had a good relationship.
Kilicdaroglu added that Erdogan could have worked with human rights organizations to push for the hostages' release. He also asked why the military operation in northern Iraq — which led to the deaths — had failed.
Erdogan refused to answer the questions, citing Kilicdaroglu's "bad manners." Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said Kilicdaroglu "had obtained the presidency of the CHP through force and fraud" and called him out for refusing to admit that the PKK is a "despicable terrorist organization."
Turkish President Erdogan thinks US should stand with Turkey, not "with the terrorists"
Bizarre presidential PR stunt at party congress
This week was also witness to another curious scene related to the hostages. During a speech delivered at an AKP party congress in the Black Sea city of Rize, Erdogan's home district, the president suddenly pulled out his phone and called the mother of one of the dead hostages. He told her she would be honored because her son was now a martyr, who, "God willing, had become a neighbor of our beloved Prophet." He then promised to avenge her son.
The opposition criticized the phone call and chastised the president for again finding a pretext — in this case, the deaths of 13 citizens — to stir nationalist sentiments to serve his own agenda. Erdogan is often accused of using nationalist rhetoric to distract from the real problems Turkey faces — for instance, its grim economic situation and myriad failures in the fight against COVID-19.
Erdogan criticized the pro-Kurdish HDP, accusing it of being "official terrorist accomplices." He went on to say, "A party that does not define the PKK as a terrorist organization and does not distance itself from it cannot be a political party in this country."
The president's tirade was preceded by the arrest of 718 people — including provincial and district HDP leaders — over the incident in Gara. According to the Turkish Ministry of the Interior Affairs, those arrested are accused of having connections to the PKK — a frequent allegation often backed by little or no evidence.
"The allegations and attacks on the HDP are an attempted lynching and part of a political campaign," deputy HDP leader Saruhan Oluc told DW: "We reject it."
Some political observers believe the Turkish government is trying to criminalize the party gradually in order to justify an outright ban later. The left-leaning party is the country's second-largest opposition party and has recently tipped the scales of elections.
If the HDP were to clear the 10% hurdle in the 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections, it could be difficult for Erdogan's conservative Islamic AKP to win a majority, as its popularity has been on the wane in recent months.
Date 19.02.2021
Related Subjects Iraq, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK, AKP
Keywords Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Justice and Development Party, AKP, Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, Gara, Iraq
