Erdogan accelerating toward a fascist dictatorship

by Seit Aldogan* 

On Wednesday morning, at dawn, on the orders of the Erdogan regime, a huge operation was carried out with the participation of thousands of police officers. This time the target was the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, municipal councilors, his staff, journalists, etc. This operation occurred just days before Imamoglu was set to announce his candidacy for President of the Republic. The prosecutors acting on Erdogan's orders, accused him of setting up a terrorist organization and corruption. Of course, these accusations are not true. The regime was disturbed by the recent municipal elections, where the Kurdish party and the Republicans formed a coalition named the "Alliance for the City". The accusation of corruption does not hold either, as Erdogan's audit services were present in the municipality, meticulously examining all financial activities. So what is Erdogan's ultimate goal?

First of all, Erdogan is rapidly moving towards a fascist dictatorship, making his enemies disappear. He is exercising state terrorism against any opposition, including workers, trade unionists, intellectuals, journalists, and lawyers. The arrest of Imamoglu is an intimidation tactic towards any opposition in this course. Following the coup attempt in 2015, Erdogan initiated a purge of the military, judiciary, police, education, and other state services and organizations. He amended the Constitution, solidifying the regime and ensuring its sovereignty. Concurrently the regime was fortified with anti-democratic laws. The pursuit of opposition commenced during this period. Mayors, MPs, and thousands of leftists and dissidents were incarcerated. Simultaneously, Erdogan's industrial supporters accumulated substantial capital. Also, Turkey's expansionist policy became more noticeable in the wider region. 

Local and foreign capital fully supported the regime. Of course, this domination was strengthened by the exploitation of workers, civil servants, peasants, and small producers. Poverty has skyrocketed. Today millions of workers work on a basic wage and inflation is over 130%. The great instability of the economy is constantly burdening all wage earners. Even the latest police operation affected the lira with a downgrade. The Turkish central bank had to intervene in the market, selling 10 billion dollars in one day. And yet it was unable to stop the downturn. This means that 8 million workers working on a basic wage will lose 33.5 billion liras every month. On an annual basis, they will lose 402.7 billion liras. People are starving, families are deprived of basic goods, and health and education are paralyzed. 

As a response to this drive to dictatorship and mass poverty, social democratic values were strengthened across the country. 

The Republican Party came out first in the municipal elections and won almost all the major cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Adana, Izmir, etc. Erdogan's defeat, despite the accumulation of all the conservative, fascist forces around him, led him to become even more authoritarian. Nonetheless, the economic and political course of the Erdogan regime is constantly strengthening the opposition. In recent months there are almost no sectors that have not gone on strike, and daily, this discontent is expressed in various forms of struggle. 

The latest clampdown confirms that Erdogan does not want any elections to oust him from power. He will not even hesitate to abolish elections and move towards a totalitarian fascist regime. As mentioned above, the anger of the broad masses is constantly growing. But unfortunately, the opposition is constantly trying to retain that anger within the limits of Democracy and the electoral process. 

Yet, the only way at the moment for democracy and freedom to survive is to overthrow the regime. The demonstrations that took place in all the cities of Turkey against the arrest of Imamoglu confirmed this reality. The masses' slogan in the demonstrations was "Freedom is in the streets and not at the polls". The next few weeks are going to be a period of great struggles and demands. Everything will be judged in the streets. Either the masses will interrupt Erdogan's march or Erdogan will proceed to a fascist dictatorship.