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Newsweek
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
What Washington Can Do To Slow Turkey's Despotic Turn
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is tearing his country's democracy apart, and getting bolder by the day. He has been on a spree of imprisoning foes and, on July 7, began an effort to ban nearly half of the main opposition party from sitting in parliament. The United States and Europe, puzzlingly, back Turkey's strongman, enabling the emergence of a new, full-fledged autocracy on Europe's periphery. While Brussels perceives Ankara as an essential security partner in the face of a growing Russian threat, Washington is looking for even more. The Trump administration thinks it can rely on Turkey to stabilize Syria, help achieve peace in Ukraine, and even mediate a deal between Israel and Iran. Such enthusiastic support from Western allies frees Erdogan to focus on further consolidating his power at home. Erdogan's Turkey has always stood apart from other democracies. Yes, it holds elections, but Erdogan manipulates the playing field so only he can win. He has hollowed out his country's civil society, curbing free speech and freedom of the press. Few dare to criticize him, and when they do, prison is often their next stop, as key opposition figures learned earlier this month. To be clear, Erdogan has spent a long time pruning democratic institutions in Turkey. Since the Gezi Park protests of 2013, when Turkish citizens first rose to challenge Erdogan's abuse of power, the Turkish president has crushed democratic norms relentlessly. Inspirational thought leaders like Osman Kavala—who championed the Gezi protesters' challenge to Erdogan's abuse of power, anti-environmental practices, and corrupt governance—are in jail for life, branded "terrorists." In fact, Turkish jails are bursting at the seams with political prisoners who have been incarcerated for such "crimes" as insulting Erdogan. The Turkish leader has also used the 2016 coup attempt against him as an excuse to pull apart the rule of law and any vestiges of institutional governance in Turkey. Everyone and everything must be personally loyal and accountable to him. That includes the media, where independent outlets were sold to Erdogan loyalists who dominate the information space to misinform and spread fear among citizens. Erdogan's popularity has waned despite (or perhaps because of) his draconian measures. Turkish voters punished him and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in local elections last year. In a vote of no confidence in their president, the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) took a large percentage of the country's local government positions. Erdogan perceived the results as a rebuke of his domestic and economic measures, and fears for his job in the 2028 elections. But unpopularity is no reason to lose an election if you are an autocrat. After 23 years in power, it's not surprising that Erdogan resorts to brazenly undemocratic methods. THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - JUNE 25: President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference at the NATO summit on June 25, 2025 in The Hague, Netherlands. THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - JUNE 25: President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference at the NATO summit on June 25, 2025 in The Hague, is denying the CHP the opportunity to truly challenge him. On March 19, the CHP mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, was arrested and jailed on spurious corruption charges. Imamoglu has been the leading contender for the presidency since 2023, and the one candidate whom Erdogan fears the most. He is young, charismatic, and has won the Istanbul mayor's office three times since 2019. Imamoglu's jailing was a gamechanger. It revealed Erdogan's willingness to pressure the judiciary to preemptively jail a political opponent—in this case the one who appeared best suited to beat him in 2028. In this way, Turkey begins to resemble Russia, where qualified candidates are considered a threat just because they are qualified. The regime's crackdown on the CHP has not ended with Imamoglu's imprisonment. Erdogan is seeking to remove the present leadership of the party, including Ozgur Ozel, who lead the CHP to its local election victory in 2024. The president wants to bring back the previous chairman, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who has consistently lost to Erdogan, most notably in the 2023 vote. On July 5, the CHP mayors of Adana, Adiyaman, and Antalya were arrested on charges of corruption. As in the Imamoglu case, these charges have not been substantiated, and the arrests are attempts to decapitate the CHP. On June 7, the AKP filed a parliamentary petition seeking to remove the immunity of 61 CHP MPs out of 135, putting them at the mercy of the coopted judiciary. Today, it looks as if no one inside Turkey has the power to put the brakes on Erdogan's blatant power grab. That makes it crucial for pressure to come from Turkey's allies, not just to offer a democratic lifeline to Turks, but also to preserve Western security. As his commitment to democracy has disappeared, Erdogan has found common cause with the West's adversaries, including Vladimir Putin. Since 2019, Ankara has deepened its strategic ties with Moscow, to include arms purchases that threaten NATO's security and interoperability. The two are also developing a joint civilian nuclear power program that carries the potential to evolve into a nuclear weapons program. To show its displeasure with Erdogan's anti-democratic moves and preserve Western security, Washington must maintain its sales ban of F-35 aircraft to Turkey. Provisioning the country with F-35s risks arming an ally in the process of becoming an adversary. It also carries the risk that the F-35's stealth secrets could fall into the hands of Erdogan's pals in Russia, China, and Iran. Additionally, the European Union should suspend current negotiations for Customs Union reform between itself and Turkey. While Ankara is interested in expanded trade opportunities with Europe, increased trading privileges must be tied to improved human rights and democratic governance. Simultaneously, Turkey's participation in the E.U.'s Security and Action for Europe strategic plan must be resisted. Europe's democratic values must not be compromised by developing procurement chains from autocratic states. Lastly, the White House should also consider limiting the sale of Turkish manufactured weapons systems—such as drones—to entities approved by the Department of Defense and other NATO countries. Such a move would pull back on Erdogan's hopes of turning Turkey's defense manufacturing into a major industrial engine for the country. By doing so, the rest of NATO can offer at least some reason to hope that Erdogan will more carefully consider the consequences of denying freedom to his people. Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Tyler Stapleton is director of Congressional relations at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Action (FDDA). The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
The Star
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Analysis-Turkey detains hundreds of Erdogan opponents in pursuit of 'octopus' of corruption
ANKARA (Reuters) -Tayyip Erdogan's main political opponents have faced an unprecedented crackdown that has seen more than 500 detained in just nine months, according to a Reuters review of a sprawling investigation that has accelerated dramatically in recent days. Turkey's president says the probe tackles what he calls a corrupt network that is like "an octopus whose arms stretch to other parts of Turkey and abroad." The investigation, which began in Istanbul but has spread across the country, has targetted only municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, the party of modern Turkey's secularist founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The CHP denies the corruption allegations and calls them a naked attempt to eliminate a democratic alternative for Turks, a charge the government refutes. The crackdown tightens Erdogan's two-decade grip on power at a time that Turkey's influence in the Middle East and Europe has grown. For this reason, diplomats and analysts say, it has garnered only muted criticism from Western allies as a threat to democracy even as street protests erupted in the spring. According to the review of legal filings and state disclosures, 14 elected CHP mayors, including Istanbul's Ekrem Imamoglu - Erdogan's main rival - and more than 200 party members or local officials have been jailed pending trial. Not since a series of coups in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s have such high-profile political leaders been removed from office on the basis of as yet unpublished evidence, which suspects' lawyers dismiss as fabricated. "These investigations are being used as a tool for political attrition rather than objective investigation of concrete events," said Ertugrul Gunay, a former culture and tourism minister in Erdogan's cabinets between 2007 and 2013. He resigned from the ruling AK Party (AKP) after thousands of Turks were arrested over the anti-government Gezi Park protests of 2013. The latest legal drive, though smaller in scale, has gone further in targetting a would-be future government, riding high in the polls. It reflects "anxiety and panic that (Erdogan's) ruling party has for the next elections," Gunay told Reuters. Erdogan and his ministers have repeatedly rejected as unfounded critics' accusations of judicial interference, saying the independent courts need time to sort through evidence. They say such criticism reflects an opposition party reckoning with its illegal practices and internal strife, and undermines public trust. "This is a legal process, not a political one. We are not involved in any aspect of this process," Erdogan told his AKP MPs in parliament on Wednesday. MORE THAN 220 IMPRISONED At the centre of the investigation is Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul's 17 million people, who was jailed in March pending a court hearing on corruption charges he denies. He is the CHP presidential candidate in any future election, and his arrest sparked the biggest protests since Gezi and a sharp lira selloff, both of which have since abated. But beyond Imamoglu - who from behind bars still leads Erdogan in some polls - the Reuters review found that more than 500 people were detained and questioned since the probe began in October last year, including at least 202 since last week alone. Of those, more than 220 were imprisoned or put under house arrest, according to the review, which was based in part on a compilation of reports by state-run Anadolu Agency. Erdogan's office and the Justice Ministry did not respond this week to a detailed request for a tally of detentions and arrests, and for a comment on the Reuters review's findings. Reuters further found that at least 36 people, mostly those in the private sector doing business with municipalities, provided a second statement to prosecutors from prison under the "effective repentance" provision of Turkish law - after which 32 of them were released from prison under judicial control measures. These statements have identified more suspects, disclosures from prosecutors and others show. Since Tuesday last week the investigation has spread to Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city, as well as Antalya, Adana and Adiyaman - all won by the centrist CHP over Erdogan's ruling conservative AKP in last year's March municipal elections, the party's biggest ever electoral defeat. TENTACLES Erdogan has in recent months predicted, correctly, that more charges and detentions were to come, further stoking concerns over political interference. Days after his octopus comment in May, five district mayors from Istanbul and Adana were arrested on corruption charges. Erdogan's office and the Justice Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on critics' claims that authorities' public comments about the probe harm judicial independence, and that it unfairly targets only the CHP for political gain. Turkey's Directorate of Communications released a list of past AKP mayors who were convicted on similar charges in separate probes, saying claims that the CHP is exclusively targetted are "entirely unfounded". Most of those listed were investigated after leaving office and were not jailed pending trial. The Reuters review of the latest probe shows no legal actions were taken in the 14 of Istanbul's 39 districts run by the AKP. Mehmet Pehlivan, Imamoglu's lawyer who was also jailed last month on criminal-membership charges he denies, told Reuters from prison that the investigation seeks for the first time to criminalise the right to practice law and to a legal defence. He said the mayor faces "not a single concrete piece of evidence". Prosecutors have not yet issued indictments. In one window into the probe, a 121-page transcript of police questioning seen by Reuters shows that Imamoglu faced one claim that he colluded with a group of men who allegedly met at a cafe to discuss bribe payments. Police asked how his phone connected to the same cellular tower as those of the men at least 150 times, the documents show. He responded that his home at the time was close to the cafe so his phone would naturally use the same tower. A spokesman for the prosecutor did not immediately comment on the police questioning. The CHP has rejected all corruption allegations against its municipal officials but has said it will investigate after Turkey's TRT state broadcaster released footage of the deputy mayor of Manavgat, in the southern Antalya province, allegedly accepting bribes. FUTURE ELECTION Turkey has in the past seen waves of mass arrests of pro-Kurdish leaders, civil society members, military officers and outlawed groups, especially during Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian tenure. The CHP had been relatively spared in the Erdogan era, in which it lost a string of elections to his AKP since 2002. Though the next presidential vote is not scheduled until 2028, it will need to come sooner if Erdogan wants to run again. He could also seek to amend the constitutional two-term limit. The CHP mayors, including 14 in jail and one under house arrest, all deny the corruption, bribery and terrorism-related charges for which they await a court decision. Some have been suspended from duty. CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel said the mayors "have fallen prisoner to this coup against Ataturk's party" in a speech on Sunday, that itself prompted a separate probe on charges including insulting the president. (Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever and Jonathan Spicer; Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay in Ankara and David Gauthier-Villars in Istanbul; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
eNCA
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- eNCA
Top director Akin slams Turkey's 'mobster' leaders over arrests
Acclaimed film director Fatih Akin said he fears ending up behind bars if he returns to Turkey, with his manager there in jail accused of attempting to overthrow the government. The Turkish-German auteur -- a hero to many in the country for films like "Head-On", "In the Fade" and the Istanbul music documentary "Crossing the Bridge" -- told AFP late Friday that agent Ayse Barim is "totally apolitical and innocent" of the charges, which relate to protests 12 years ago. "If they put her in prison, what the hell is going on?" Akin asked. "So I better not go there. I don't want to take the risk." Barim, 56, who was arrested in January, denied helping to organise the 2013 Gezi protests that shook the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- who was prime minister at the time -- saying she only attended the protests to accompany her clients, some of Turkey's most famous stars. Prosecutors accused her of "pushing" her actors to take part, a claim she denies. A small demonstration to save some trees in a park in central Istanbul spiralled into nationwide anti-government protests that brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets. Hamburg-born Akin, whose new film "Amrun" premiered at the Cannes film festival, said "officially there is no warrant for me". "But to be honest, I don't know," he added, saying anything was possible as Turkey was being run by "mobsters". "They have other values, it's shocking," he said. - Opposition silenced - "Certain politicians are not even afraid to go to war if this helps them to stay in power. And Erdogan is one of them," he added. Turkey has been hit by the biggest wave of protests since Gezi since the arrest in March of Istanbul's opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption charges. The popular mayor is Erdogan's biggest political rival, with the opposition and rights groups saying he was locked up to stop him running against the president in elections in 2028. Nearly 2,000 people, including journalists, have been arrested in the crackdown on dissent since, with Imamoglu's X account blocked. Akin, whose family comes from the Black Sea region like Erdogan's, said part of the "nonsense" case against Barim is that "she had talked 39 times" with jailed liberal philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2022. "Those 39 times were because of my film 'The Cut'(which touched on the Ottoman-era genocide of Armenians) because Kavala financed part of it and she's managing me. So they talked because of me and both are now in prison. I'm the connecting point," he said. Barim was about as far from an activist as you could imagine, he added. "She's an agent, a talent manager -- a neo-liberal capitalist for heaven's sake." The Golden Globe and Golden Bear winner, 51, said he suspected Turkish prosecutors would try to pretend that he was also "part of the gang" plotting to overthrow Erdogan. "A lot of people are proud of me" for showcasing Turkish culture and the diaspora, "but these people don't care about that", Akin added. Turkish authorities regularly target journalists, lawyers, celebrities and elected political representatives, especially since a failed 2016 coup against the government. By Fiachra Gibbons
France 24
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Top director Akin slams Turkey's 'mobster' leaders over arrests
The Turkish-German auteur -- a hero to many in the country for films like "Head-On", "In the Fade" and the Istanbul music documentary "Crossing the Bridge" -- told AFP late Friday that agent Ayse Barim is "totally apolitical and innocent" of the charges, which relate to protests 12 years ago. "If they put her in prison, what the hell is going on?" Akin asked. "So I better not go there. I don't want to take the risk." Barim, 56, who was arrested in January, denied helping to organise the 2013 Gezi protests which shook the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying she only attended the protests to accompany her clients, some of Turkey's most famous stars. Prosecutors accused her of "pushing" her actors to take part, a claim she denies. A small demonstration to save some trees in a park in central Istanbul spiralled into nationwide anti-government protests that brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets. Hamburg-born Akin, whose new film "Amrun" premiered at the Cannes film festival, said "officially there is no warrant for me". "But to be honest, I don't know," he added, saying anything was possible as Turkey was being run by "mobsters". "They have other values, it's shocking," he said. Opposition silenced "Certain politicians are not even afraid to go to war if this helps them to stay in power. And Erdogan is one of them," he added. Turkey has been hit by the biggest wave of protests since Gezi since the arrest in March of Istanbul's opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption charges. The popular mayor is Erdogan's biggest political rival, with the opposition and rights groups saying he was locked up to stop him running against the president in elections next year. Nearly 2,000 people, including journalists, have been arrested in the crackdown on dissent since, with Imamoglu's X account blocked. Akin, whose family comes from the Black Sea region like Erdogan's, said part of the "nonsense" case against Barim is that "she had talked 39 times" with jailed liberal philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2022. "Those 39 times were because of my film 'The Cut'(which touched on the Ottoman-era genocide of Armenians) because Kavala financed part of it and she's managing me. So they talked because of me and both are now in prison. I'm the connecting point," he said. Barim was about as far from an activist as you could imagine, he added. "She's an agent, a talent manager -- a neo-liberal capitalist for heaven's sake." The Golden Globe and Golden Bear winner, 51, said he suspected Turkish prosecutors would try to pretend that he was also "part of the gang" plotting to overthrow Erdogan. "A lot of people are proud of me" for showcasing Turkish culture and the diaspora, "but these people don't care about that", Akin added. Turkish authorities regularly target journalists, lawyers, celebrities and elected political representatives, especially since a failed 2016 coup against the government.
Int'l Business Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
Top Director Akin Slams Turkey's 'Mobster' Leaders Over Arrests
Acclaimed film director Fatih Akin said he fears ending up behind bars if he returns to Turkey, with his manager there in jail accused of attempting to overthrow the government. The Turkish-German auteur -- a hero to many in the country for films like "Head-On", "In the Fade" and the Istanbul music documentary "Crossing the Bridge" -- told AFP late Friday that agent Ayse Barim is "totally apolitical and innocent" of the charges, which relate to protests 12 years ago. "If they put her in prison, what the hell is going on?" Akin asked. "So I better not go there. I don't want to take the risk." Barim, 56, who was arrested in January, denied helping to organise the 2013 Gezi protests which shook the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying she only attended the protests to accompany her clients, some of Turkey's most famous stars. Prosecutors accused her of "pushing" her actors to take part, a claim she denies. A small demonstration to save some trees in a park in central Istanbul spiralled into nationwide anti-government protests that brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets. Hamburg-born Akin, whose new film "Amrun" premiered at the Cannes film festival, said "officially there is no warrant for me". "But to be honest, I don't know," he added, saying anything was possible as Turkey was being run by "mobsters". "They have other values, it's shocking," he said. "Certain politicians are not even afraid to go to war if this helps them to stay in power. And Erdogan is one of them," he added. Turkey has been hit by the biggest wave of protests since Gezi since the arrest in March of Istanbul's opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption charges. The popular mayor is Erdogan's biggest political rival, with the opposition and rights groups saying he was locked up to stop him running against the president in elections next year. Nearly 2,000 people, including journalists, have been arrested in the crackdown on dissent since, with Imamoglu's X account blocked. Akin, whose family comes from the Black Sea region like Erdogan's, said part of the "nonsense" case against Barim is that "she had talked 39 times" with jailed liberal philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2022. "Those 39 times were because of my film 'The Cut'(which touched on the Ottoman-era genocide of Armenians) because Kavala financed part of it and she's managing me. So they talked because of me and both are now in prison. I'm the connecting point," he said. Barim was about as far from an activist as you could imagine, he added. "She's an agent, a talent manager -- a neo-liberal capitalist for heaven's sake." The Golden Globe and Golden Bear winner, 51, said he suspected Turkish prosecutors would try to pretend that he was also "part of the gang" plotting to overthrow Erdogan. "A lot of people are proud of me" for showcasing Turkish culture and the diaspora, "but these people don't care about that", Akin added. Turkish authorities regularly target journalists, lawyers, celebrities and elected political representatives, especially since a failed 2016 coup against the government.
