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The Raids Against the Opposition in Turkey Show Erdoğan’s Weakness

By
Max Zirngast

This morning, Turkish police arrested 82 leading members of the left-wing, pro-Kurdish HDP, while also mounting a separate assault on the opposition in Istanbul. As its own social base crumbles under the weight of economic and public-health crises, Erdoğan’s regime is mounting an increasingly desperate campaign against “the enemy within.”

Police Disperse Supporters Of The Pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party

An anti-government protest in Ankara, Turkey. on November 4, 2016 after leaders of the pro-Kurdish political party Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were detained in a police raid on the HDP party headquarters. Photo: Getty

This morning, Turkey once again awoke to news of massive police raids against the opposition.

Such news is hardly uncommon. Just two weeks ago, there was a concerted raid against the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi, ESP), with seventeen people first taken into custody and then detained.

But this morning’s raids were a much vaster operation, spanning many provinces all over the country. As the picture became clearer, we came to understand that there were actually two separate attacks going on — with two related but different targets.

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