The last example of a party-state

The constitution is constantly violated. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been disregarding a couple of articles of the constitution in each of his rallies for days. The “party-state” structure is also a part of this. This is what happened at the Yüksekova rally in the eastern province of Hakkari:
 
Before the outdoor meeting, the office of the Hakkari Governor’s Youth and Sports Directorate issued a memorandum “To the Attention of All Staff.”

“Based on the order of the Office of the Hakkari Governor number 4977 and dated May 20, 2015, within the context of the visit and opening program during the visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to our province on May 26, 2015, all personnel leaves have been cancelled on the dates May 23, 24 and 25, 2015. (...) All personnel will attend the opening ceremony of the airport in our Yüksekova district. No excuses will be accepted for those who do not attend; there will be legal procedures applied against them.”

This was a full-scale threat, whatever kind of punishment was deemed proper for the ones who did not attend. Fundamental rights and freedoms were disregarded. Whoever wants to go may go, and whoever does not want to may not go; what is it to you? 

Because of the rally, normal functions of the state were stopped with an order. An outdoor meeting where Erdoğan and Davutoğlu would participate together was more important than official business. It was all with the aim of making the square look crowded.

A political party was organizing the rally. There, the president delivered a speech. In his speech, he said “we,” while the prime minister was standing right beside him. 

The state was present at the meeting, he openly announced that. It was the mirror of a “party-state” structure from top to bottom. The language and the content of the memorandum from the office of the governor do not exist in any democracy. 

Six-and-a-half days in one month  

Tayyip Erdoğan spoke between April 27 and May 24 for a total of 152 hours and 29 minutes on eight to 10 television stations; several meetings and rallies were broadcast live. That was nearly six-and-a-half days in one month. There was no such record, even in past elections. 

While Erdoğan was breaking records, the Supreme Election Board (YSK) and the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) were also breaking records. The YSK was obliged to provide the impartiality and equality of the elections. It can issue decrees; it has not. It only engaged in turning down complaints on violations. It should make a call to RTÜK for equality and justice in broadcasts; it has not. 

RTÜK only watched that hours were allocated to a person who should not actually be involved in the elections and only minutes were allocated to leaders running for office. 

Wow, he does not know the Vatican 

The showdown about the Mercedes for the head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), Mehmet Görmez, has turned into allocating a “plane” to him. President Tayyip Erdoğan explained the reasoning as, “Mehmet Görmez is not only the religious leader of this country. Look at the Vatican, the religious leader has a plane… “

Wow. The Vatican is a state and, more importantly, the Pope is both a president of a state and the spiritual leader of Catholics. The Pope can be given a private plane as a president but he does not have a plane. He flies with Italy’s Alitalia. 

It is a serious gaff for a person who has served as a prime minister for 12 years to base the allocation of a plane to the head of Diyanet on the Pope’s non-existent private plane.