When the term “illiberal democracy” was coined in the 1990s, it was not widely seen as a threat to democracy but rather as a non-Western variety.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting with a delegation from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and his promise to support Kurds in northern Syria caused a furor in Turkey last week.
In my column last week, I raised the question of why the ruling party and its nationalist party ally are pushing so hard to further weaken the opposition with a new election law and other measures, if they are likely to win the next election in 2019. To answer this, the ruling party’s ambition is not simply to win the successive local and presidential election, based on my speculations.
In my view there is no doubt that the new election law undermines the legitimacy of democratic politics. The new law and arrangements are controversial not only concerning election security but they are obviously designed to empower the pre-election alliance between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and to weaken the opposition in the next parliament.
I hate to borrow from the title of Fouad Ajami’s 1998 book, “The Dream Places of The Arabs,” as I detest Ajami’s politics (especially concerning his support for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. But I must admit that his above-mentioned book is one of the best guides to understanding a “generation’s odyssey” of Arabs.
Turkey’s religio-nationalistic political alliance is sealed by the official announcement of the election agreement between the governing party and the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
I’m normally very happy when a journalist is freed from jail. Not so for German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel. Instead I felt bitter, not only because many more journalists still languish in prison, but also because the rapid “implementation of justice” came shortly after a meeting between Angela Merkel and Binali Yıldırım, as if to highlight the influence of political power over the judiciary in Turkey. The episode also shows that the understanding of justice on behalf of German authorities is no different from their Turkish counterparts.
It seems the authorities have started to comprehend the realities about immigration as the government stops relocating Syrians in Istanbul. Soon, it will be realized that no such measures will solve the problem.
I am against all sorts of wars and military operations, regardless of their justification and legitimacy even in terms of international law. But that does not stop me from feeling revolted by French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent remarks on Turkey’s military operation in Afrin, which came after he recently seemed very happy to sell military equipment to Turkey.
