“Turkey’s democracy in peril”

TODAY'S ZAMAN

Turkey's intellectuals from across the political spectrum have called on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and top figures of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to revise policies, warning in an alarming petition that Turkey is on a “dangerous” path that imperils the nation's democracy and seeks to “eradicate journalism as a profession.”

“Turkey is governed by a ruling party that sees the separation of powers, judicial independence, parliamentary supervision, use of the right to peaceful assembly and protest and freedom of the press as threats or coups against itself and portray democracy's typical components such as checks and balances as obstacles to the ‘national will',” the petition, which is now open to more signatures at advocacy site change.org, says.

“Turkey's democracy had been regularly impeded by coups in the past, but today its vitality is suffering greatly under a civil administration,” it also says.

Initial signatories include respected writers, scholars, politicians and journalists representing diverse political views, such as Ahmet Altan, Hasan Cemal, Altan Tan, Ahmet Turan Alkan, Cengiz Çandar, Ceyda Karan, Doğan Akın, Yasemin Çongar, Yavuz Baydar, Hayko Bağdat, Doğu Ergil, Daron Acemoğlu, Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, Murat Belge, Ömer Laçiner, Taner Akçam, Reha Çamuroğlu, Nilüfer Göle, Kürşat Bumin, Ümit Kardaş and Ferhat Kentel.

The petition campaign, called “Coup Against Democracy,” follows a police operation on Dec. 14 targeting the editor-in-chief of Zaman, one of Turkey's best-selling newspapers, the top executive of Samanyolu television, producers, directors and screenwriters of a soap opera that aired on Samanyolu television, as well as former police officials. The European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, the United States and many other Western countries, and rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have all criticized the operation, which is widely seen as a crackdown on critical media.

The detained face accusations of “forming, leading and being a member of an armed terrorist organization” bent on taking over state power.

The signatories said the ruling AK Party “seeks to silence the critical media by using the penal laws and judicial bodies that have recently been reorganized to this end” and warned of efforts “to eradicate journalism as a profession.”

“With an ever-increasing pace in growing authoritarian, the ruling Justice and Development Party have pressured media bosses to lay off hundreds of critical journalists and columnists and leveraged public resources to ensure that many newspapers and TV networks are acquired by pro-government businessmen,” says the petition.

The AK Party came to power for the first time in 2002 and won several subsequent elections with a promise of expanding rights and freedoms and reforms aimed at further democratization, paving the way for the opening of accession talks with the European Union and initiating a process of economic revival.

But liberal supporters at home and in Europe are now complaining that the process of democratization has been reversed and authoritarianism is taking root in the NATO member, EU candidate nation.

Responding to criticism from the EU following the Dec. 14 operation, Erdoğan shrugged off European concerns, saying the 28-nation bloc should mind its own business and that Turkey has no concern about being admitted or not.

The signatories complained that many amendments have been made to laws in recent years that “distanced the legal system miles away from universal legal norms, turning it into a vehicle of oppression against fundamental rights and freedoms” and called on the public to be aware of the “worrisome process of deviation from democracy in Turkey.”

"We call on the ruling Justice and Development Party to backpedal from the dangerous road it is treading on before it is too late for democracy in Turkey," they wrote.

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