The Turkish public is afraid of the president

I’m sure you are also curious. How many of us shudder in fear when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan starts speaking? We turn off our TV sets. I’m not saying flipping the channel, because he is on every channel. 

In answer to a question in the latest survey carried out by the Gezici Research Company, 68.5 percent of people said they were afraid of President Erdoğan. Those who were not afraid of Erdoğan were only 25.5 percent. 

Can you imagine? Two out of three Turkish citizens are afraid of the president.  

If you ask a French person “Are you afraid of François Hollande?” they would most probably respond, “I did not understand your question.”

But if you had asked the same question a while ago in Iraq for Saddam Hussein or in Libya for Muammar Ghaddafi, most probably you would have received the “I am afraid” answer with a ratio close to ours.  

Why would a citizen be afraid of the president? One reason is because he has the tools to harm them. The second reason is that he has the features to be harmful. The third reason is because the citizen believes there are no institutions or justice in effect to protect them against this evil.  

A president who scares his public… 

I really would like to ask the president, with all my sincerity, “Isn’t it better to have authority over people with love and respect instead of fear, pressure, a crushing flashiness and totalitarian ceremonial order?”

I wonder what he would like to leave his grandchildren. I think it is still not too late to think this over. This would be good, both for himself and for Turkey.

Looking for a journalist

In such days, I yearn for fellow veteran journalist Fehmi Koru. I am wondering what he would have commented if he had heard Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s words. 

When a bloody attack was made on the Council of State building, his theory was, “Whoever has benefitted from this terror incident was the perpetrator.” 

The prime minister said, “After the Ankara blasts, our votes increased.”

Well, who has benefitted from the bombing? 

Where are you brother Fehmi? Did you not see this; did you not hear it? Are you too old? Or are you also afraid like us? 

Masochist or sadist?  

In reviewing the last survey of the Gezici Research Company, I saw that 63 percent of the people thought the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Erdoğan were responsible for the Ankara incident. Those who said the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were responsible totaled 38 percent. 

The survey showed that 59 percent of the people believed the government did not take the necessary precautions at the Ankara train station. Those who believed in the opposite totaled 27.5 percent. Out of those who said the government did not take adequate measures, 74 percent of them said they would not vote for the AKP. Some 19 percent said this would not affect their vote. 

A total of 65 percent said Davutoğlu made them gloomy; 28 percent said he did not. 

In more populous regions, such as the Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean regions, a fall in AKP votes is expected; the votes in the southeast will remain the same. In less populous regions such as the Black Sea, Central Anatolia and eastern Anatolia, a slight rise is expected. 

Then how come there was a 1 percent increase in the AKP votes after the Ankara massacre?