A new crackdown is gathering strength in Turkey
TURKEY’s TV stars do not have it easy. The global success of the country’s soap operas, episodes that last up to three hours, and the frantic pace of production make for punishing work schedules. Actors regularly spend up to 16 hours a day on the set. But in the little spare time they have, some of them also plan and carry out armed coups.
That, at any rate, seems to be the view of prosecutors who ordered the arrest of Ayse Barim, a top talent manager, in late January on charges of “attempting to overthrow” Turkey’s government. The charges stem from Ms Barim’s involvement in the Gezi Park protests, which shook the country in the summer of 2013. Since her arrest, a number of celebrities who took part in the demonstrations, including Halit Ergenc, the star of “Magnificent Century”, a popular historical drama, have been hauled in for questioning by the authorities. Turkish prosecutors are now combing through archival footage of the protests, to determine which news outlets “legitimised” the unrest by reporting on them in an insufficiently critical manner.
Turkey’s government, headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, continues to frame the protests, which were triggered by the planned redevelopment of a popular Istanbul park but snowballed into wider demonstrations about freedom of assembly and expression, as a coup attempt. Five protesters, including Osman Kavala, a prominent businessman, have already spent years in prison, convicted on laughably weak evidence. (Turkey has ignored a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights ordering Mr Kavala’s release.) But why prosecutors should now have ordered a new Gezi probe 12 years after the protests took place is unclear.
One reason may be to set the stage for a broader crackdown, signs of which are already apparent. On February 11th, police in Istanbul rounded up ten municipal officials from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on terrorism charges. A week before that, prosecutors announced they would seek over seven years in prison and a ban from politics for Ekrem Imamoglu, the CHP mayor of Istanbul, Turkey’s commercial capital and largest city, for “insulting” and “threatening” the city’s chief prosecutor. Police have also arrested five journalists for broadcasting an interview with an expert witness said to have played a key role in the investigations against Mr Imamoglu and other CHP mayors.
Mr Imamoglu, a likely challenger to Mr Erdogan (or to his chosen successor if he does not run) in the next presidential elections is no stranger to such tactics. In 2022 a court sentenced him to more than two years in prison, pending appeal.
Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development (AK) party suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of the CHP in local elections last year. Turkey’s leader is now out for revenge, and keen to brand the opposition as corrupt and beholden to armed groups, analysts say. The arrests, and the rehashing of the Gezi conspiracy, mean he may be preparing a decisive blow, through the courts, against Mr Imamoglu. “He’s trying to intimidate artists and journalists,” says Berk Esen, a political analyst, “so when he decides to go after Imamoglu no one will dare protest or rally behind him.”
Kurdish politicians in Turkey have endured similar treatment, and worse, for years. Since 2016, well over a hundred democratically elected mayors from the country’s main Kurdish party have been sacked by decree and replaced by state appointees. Many have been arrested. The trend has continued since last year’s elections. The next in line may be Van, a city in south-east Turkey, whose co-mayor was recently given a prison term.
Another recent arrest, that of Umit Ozdag, a far-right politician accused of “insulting the president” and inciting public hatred against refugees living in Turkey, suggests that Mr Erdogan may also be looking to smother potential opposition to his government’s outreach to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the armed group Turkey has fought for the past 40 years.
On or around February 15th, the anniversary of his capture by Turkish agents in Kenya, the PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, is expected to call on the group to disarm. The move, which follows months of secret talks, could put an end to a war that has claimed over 40,000 lives, and pave the way for concessions to Turkey’s 15m or so Kurds. Some Turkish nationalists, including Mr Erdogan’s allies in parliament, have dropped their long-standing objections to talks with the PKK. Mr Ozdag could be made an example to those who have not.
The next presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey are scheduled for 2028. Mr Erdogan is preparing for them well in advance. ■
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