{"id":26823,"date":"2023-06-03T12:32:51","date_gmt":"2023-06-03T19:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=26823"},"modified":"2023-06-03T12:39:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T19:39:46","slug":"turkeys-marginalized-deeply-afraid-as-erdogan-wins-presidential-runoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/06\/03\/turkeys-marginalized-deeply-afraid-as-erdogan-wins-presidential-runoff\/","title":{"rendered":"TURKEY\u2019S MARGINALIZED \u2018DEEPLY AFRAID\u2019 AS ERDO\u011eAN WINS PRESIDENTIAL RUNOFF"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cErdo\u011fan\u2019s victory will consolidate one-man rule and pave the way for horrible practices, bringing completely dark days for all parts of society,\u201d warned one Kurdish opposition leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BY&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/therealnews.com\/author\/brett-wilkins\">BRETT WILKINS<\/a><\/strong>  MAY 31, 2023 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/therealnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/GettyImages-1494123199-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"Portrait shot of President Erdogan. He is wearing a dark suit and blue tie and has his right hand over his chest.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledges supporters at the presidential palace after winning reelection in a runoff on May 29, 2023 in Ankara, Turkey. Photo by Chris McGrath\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/therealnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cd_stacked_white_600.png?resize=600%2C150&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"Common Dreams Logo\" class=\"wp-image-268291\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/turkey-human-rights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">May 29, 202<\/a>3. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/gallery\/2023\/5\/28\/people-celebrate-as-erdogan-declares-victory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">home<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.palestinechronicle.com\/palestinians-in-gaza-celebrate-erdogans-victory-in-turkish-elections-in-photos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">abroad<\/a>&nbsp;celebrated his win of Sunday\u2019s runoff election, human rights defenders and marginalized people including Kurds and LGBTQ+ activists voiced deep fears about how their lives will be adversely affected during the increasingly authoritarian leader\u2019s third term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Turkey\u2019s Supreme Election Council confirmed Erdo\u011fan\u2019s victory over Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu on Sunday evening. Erdo\u011fan, the 69-year-old leader of the right-wing Justice and Development Party who has ruled the nation of 85 million people since 2014 and dominated its politics for two decades, won 52.18% of the vote. K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu, a 74-year-old social democrat who leads the left-of-center Republican People\u2019s Party, received 47.82%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Erdo\u011fan\u2014who was seen&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/lifestyle\/erdogan-hands-cash-supporters-polling-114904327.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">handing out cash<\/a>&nbsp;to supporters at a polling station in an apparent violation of Turkish election law\u2014mocked his opponent\u2019s loss outside the president\u2019s home in Istanbul, saying, \u201cBye, bye, bye, Kemal\u201d as the winner\u2019s supporters booed,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/gallery\/2023\/5\/28\/people-celebrate-as-erdogan-declares-victory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to&nbsp;<\/a><em>Al Jazeera<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Instead of congratulating Erdogan, EU leaders should ask about the backsliding democratic and human rights. <br><br>Turkey is already 103rd of 167 countries on democracy index, and we know Erdogan wants to take it further down&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AMSgP19YBG\">https:\/\/t.co\/AMSgP19YBG<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/guyverhofstadt\/status\/1663123271993241601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe only winner today is Turkey,\u201d Erdo\u011fan declared as he prepared for a third term in which his country faces severe economic woes\u2014inflation has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2022\/11\/09\/everything-is-overheating-why-is-turkeys-economy-in-such-a-mess\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">soared<\/a>&nbsp;and the lira is at a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2023\/05\/29\/turkeys-lira-sinks-to-near-record-low-as-erdogan-is-reelected.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">record low&nbsp;<\/a>against the U.S. dollar\u2014and is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/reliefweb.int\/report\/turkiye\/turkiye-earthquakes-recovery-and-reconstruction-assessment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">struggling to recover<\/a>&nbsp;from multiple&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/over-1600-dead-as-twin-earthquakes-devastate-syria-and-turkey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">devastating earthquakes<\/a>&nbsp;earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, in Turkish Kurdistan\u2014whose voters, along with a majority of people in most of Turkey\u2019s largest cities favored K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu\u2014people expressed fears that the government will intensify a crackdown it has been waging for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ardelan Mese, a 26-year-old cafe owner in Diyarbakir, the country\u2019s largest Kurdish-majority city,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/kurds-fear-erdogan-win-amid-sharper-nationalist-rhetoric-2023-05-25\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called<\/a>&nbsp;Sunday\u2019s election \u201ca matter of life and death now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t imagine what he will be capable of after declaring victory,\u201d Mese said of Erdo\u011fan in an interview with&nbsp;<em>Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After initially courting the Kurds by expanding their political and cultural rights, Erdo\u011fan returned to the repression that has long characterized Turkey\u2019s treatment of a people who make up one-fifth of the nation\u2019s population, while intensifying a war against the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK), a far-left separatist group that Turkey, the United States, and other nations consider a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Kurds fear that an Erdogan victory &quot;could reinforce a crackdown the state has been waging against them for years, alarmed by a surge in nationalist rhetoric ahead of Sunday&#39;s vote.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aAhHVqjmf4\">https:\/\/t.co\/aAhHVqjmf4<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KenRoth\/status\/1661715350176559106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 25, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cErdogan\u2019s victory will consolidate one-man rule and pave the way for horrible practices, bringing completely dark days for all parts of society,\u201d Tayip Temel, the deputy co-chair of Turkey\u2019s second-largest opposition party, the center-left and pro-Kurdish Peoples\u2019 Democratic Party (HDP)\u2014which backed K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu\u2014told&nbsp;<em>Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Human rights defenders\u2014many of whom have chosen or been forced into exile\u2014also sounded the alarm over the prospect of a third Erdo\u011fan term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf the opposition wins there will be space, even possibly limited, for discussions for a common future. With Erdo\u011fan, there is no civic or political space for democracy and human rights,\u201d Murat \u00c7elikkan, a journalist who founded human rights groups including&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/amnesty-international\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Amnesty International<\/a>&nbsp;Turkey,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/crd.org\/2023\/05\/26\/interview-with-murat-celikkan-this-is-a-historic-moment-to-be-able-to-create-change\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>&nbsp;in an interview with Civil Rights Defenders just before Sunday\u2019s runoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00c7elikkan called Erdo\u011fan a \u201cvery authoritarian, religious, pro-expansionist conservative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTurkey, according to judicial statistics, has the largest number of terrorists in the world, because the prosecutors and judges have an inclination to use anti-terror laws arbitrarily and lavishly,\u201d he continued. \u201cThere are tens of thousands of people who are being trialed or convicted by anti-terror laws. Thousands of people insulting the president.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Today <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Turkey?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Turkey<\/a> is holding a presidential election runoff. But what is at stake?<br><br>Read the interview with Murat \u00c7elikkan, human rights defender from Turkey, about possible impact of the election outcome on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/HumanRights?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#HumanRights<\/a>:<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7a8HTEELUp\">https:\/\/t.co\/7a8HTEELUp<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HKzv3gyHIU\">pic.twitter.com\/HKzv3gyHIU<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Civil Rights Defenders (@crdefenders) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/crdefenders\/status\/1662700229362343936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 28, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNowhere in Turkey you can make a peaceful demonstration and protest,\u201d \u00c7elikkan added. \u201cThe security forces directly attack and detain you. The minister of interior targets and criminalizes LGBTI+ people on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LGBTQ+ Turks voiced fears for their future following a campaign in which Erdo\u011fan centered homophobia in his appeals to an overwhelmingly Muslim electorate and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.turkishminute.com\/2023\/05\/04\/erdogan-again-accuse-his-rival-kilicdaroglu-opposition-parties-being-pro-lgbt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">repeatedly accused<\/a>&nbsp;K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu and other opposition figures of being gay. During his victory speech Sunday evening, Erdo\u011fan again&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/live-news\/20230529-turkey-s-lgbtq-community-dread-future-under-erdogan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lashed out&nbsp;<\/a>at the LGBTQ+ community while excoriating K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu for his campaign pledge to \u201crespect everyone\u2019s beliefs, lifestyles, and identities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Erdo\u011fan vowed in his speech that gays would not \u201cinfiltrate\u201d Turkey and that \u201cwe will not let the LGBT forces win.\u201d At one point during his address, an&nbsp;<em>Al Jazeera<\/em>&nbsp;interpreter&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Nick_Ashdown\/status\/1663129114100871169\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stopped translating<\/a>&nbsp;a 45-second portion when the president called members of the opposition gay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">During his victory speech President Erdo\u011fan repeated: \u201cWe will not let the LGBT forces win!\u201d. <br><br>He then emphasised \u201cLGBT cannot infiltrate among us. We will be reborn. The family is sacred for us. The violence against women is forbidden and haram for us, no one can resort to this\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nQz5SPfAHq\">pic.twitter.com\/nQz5SPfAHq<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u2022 (@Alhamdhulillaah) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Alhamdhulillaah\/status\/1662935206280454146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 28, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ilker Erdo\u011fan, a 20-year-old university student and LGBTQ+ activist,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/live-news\/20230529-turkey-s-lgbtq-community-dread-future-under-erdogan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a><em>&nbsp;Agence France-Presse<\/em>&nbsp;that \u201cI feel deeply afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFeeling so afraid is affecting my psychology terribly. I couldn\u2019t breathe before, and now they will try to strangle my throat,\u201d he added. \u201cFrom the moment I was born, I felt that discrimination, homophobia, and hatred in my bones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ameda Murat Karaguzu, a project assistant at an unnamed pro-LGBTQ+ group, told&nbsp;<em>AFP<\/em>&nbsp;that she has been \u201csubjected to more hate speech and acts of hate than I have experienced in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Karaguzu blamed Erdo\u011fan\u2019s government for the increasing hostility toward LGBTQ+ Turks, adding that bigots are keenly \u201caware that there will be no consequences for killing or harming us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ilker Erdo\u011fan struck a defiant tone, telling&nbsp;<em>AFP<\/em>&nbsp;that \u201cI am also part of this nation, my identity card says Turkish citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou cannot erase my existence,\u201d he added, \u201cno matter how hard you try.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cErdo\u011fan\u2019s victory will consolidate one-man rule and pave the way for horrible practices, bringing completely dark days for all parts of society,\u201d warned one Kurdish opposition leader. BY&nbsp;BRETT WILKINS MAY 31, 2023 (CommonDreams.org) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledges supporters at the presidential palace after winning reelection in a runoff on&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/06\/03\/turkeys-marginalized-deeply-afraid-as-erdogan-wins-presidential-runoff\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[658],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26823"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26823"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26825,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26823\/revisions\/26825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}