'Islamist' Turkish elections, 'If Erdogan is thwarted, his vengeful wrath may be dangerously unconfined'

Sunday 'Islamist' Turkey has elections, 'If Erdogan is thwarted, his vengeful wrath may be dangerously unconfined'. (Guardian).

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s long-running feud with Turkey’s feisty opposition media has descended into open warfare ahead of Sunday’s general election, amid claims that his ruling neo-Islamist Justice and Development party (AKP) is plotting to fix the results and shrill threats to lock up journalists and editors en masse.

But Erdogan’s livid fury with the press may be rooted in a deeper, personal unease. Turkey’s apparently untouchable Teflon president, who has dominated political life since 2002 and now plans to rewrite the constitution, sideline parliament and grab sweeping dictatorial powers, increasingly fears he may have fatally misread the electorate’s mood.

“As he falls from grace, the sense of total exhaustion and loss of prestige is driving him [Erdogan] to excessive aggression,” said Bulent Kenes, editor-in-chief of Today’s Zaman newspaper.

“Threats and insults are tossed around, but Erdogan – who gives the impression of being a paper bully – fails to scare anyone. Honourable people from all ideologies and beliefs … can defy Erdogan and his crime syndicate with the courage of knowing they are right,” Kenes wrote.

The threats against Cumhuriyet and other media have provoked international protests, including from Human Rights Watch and European parliamentarians. 

Erdogan appears to be past caring. He lashed out at the BBC, CNN, and the New York Times this week, claiming they were the trashy tools of an international, implicitly anti-Islamic conspiracy. “Do you know what their aim is? To weaken Turkey, to divide it, to disintegrate it and then to swallow it.”

The weekend election now looks like a turning point. Columnist Yavuz Baydar summed it up: “In a nutshell, it has turned out to be a simple choice between giving approval or not for all Erdogan now stands for: introducing to Turkey an arbitrary rule, disrespect for human dignity, rejection of supremacy of the rule of law, eradication of rights and freedoms, unaccountability and impunity, and construction of a new system in which there will be no separation of powers.”

If he gets his way on Sunday, Erdogan will be unstoppable. If he is thwarted, his vengeful wrath may be dangerously unconfined. Hmmm.....As long as his BFF Obama protects him he won't care about any 'opposition'.Read the full story here.