Turkey’s Mainstream Opposition Is Squandering the Coronavirus Crisis
Led by the autocrat Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s government has responded to the coronavirus crisis as you would expect: with an iron fist. But the mainstream opposition isn’t proposing a democratic, egalitarian alternative. Workers will have to step in to fill the void.
People chant slogans as they gather outside Istanbul’s famous Hagia Sophia on July 10, 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. Burak Kara / Getty
When Turkey registered its first official COVID-19 infection on March 11, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan struck a firmly upbeat tone: “No virus is as strong as our preparations.” Since then, his tenor has not changed much. In a complete distortion of facts, Erdoğan’s government has presented Turkey as more or less the world leader in fighting the coronavirus pandemic while the developed West is ailing — authoritarian hubris at its best.
Erdoğan, and the right-wing nationalist regime he leads — effectively comprised of his own Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its fascistic ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) — desperately need the appearance of grandeur, as the situation is rather dire: poor handling of COVID-19, falling approval ratings, a severe economic crisis, and an emboldened opposition. Aware of its precarious position, the ruling bloc has radicalized its methods of authoritarian consolidation, pursuing a coercive diplomacy by military means in its foreign policy, repressing dissidents domestically, passing laws to weaken civil society and opposition mayors, and spouting chauvinist and sexist propaganda.
COVID-19, in other words, has become a catalyst for intensifying social antagonisms in Turkey.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.