The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, turned his back on regional nations and today internal convulsions are rocking his grand designs. Internationally, it is known that Erdogan tries to manipulate the media in order to boost his own personal ratings. Yet given his outspoken nature towards other nations then Erdogan appears unstable and openly manipulative. Therefore, the current demonstrations are openly showing the people of Turkey that his shortcomings are indeed severe when it comes to natural communication and diplomacy. Erdogan stated that “There is 50 percent of [the country who voted for the ruling Justice and Development Party - AKP], and we can barely keep them at home [and prevent them from coming onto the streets for counter-protests]. But we have called on them to calm down.” However, he doesn’t appear to understand that Turkey is democratic therefore why is he implying that counter-demonstrations may take place whereby confrontation will become the order of the day? In a nutshell, irrespective of the positives and negative of his political leadership in Turkey; it is clear that he is“a dictatorial leader” who happens to be the leader of a “democratic nation.” Thankfully, the institutions of Turkey are not so weak despite certain areas being dismantled in relationship to secularism and other powerful areas. Despite this, you certainly feel that he wants to re-write and re-model modern Turkey within the dynamics of political Islam by stealth. Not surprisingly, it is the ordinary citizens of Turkey which are fed-up by his real intentions therefore the mass demonstrations currently hitting this nation have erupted because of his dictatorial approach to politics within a democratic nation. Demonstrations can erupt within a one party state, multi-party democratic nations, feudal monarchies, theocratic states and where ruling elites preserve power. Every nation will respond differently during times of crisis and sometimes outside nations will try to instigate mayhem when they see a weakness based on geopolitical factors. However, Erdogan belongs to a democratic state therefore he needs to respond in a manor within this framework. For example, recently you have had demonstrations in parts of Sweden but the leaders of this nation are not threatening to bring their supporters onto the streets in order to threaten the demonstrators. Therefore, why is Erdogan making it known that he could ask AKP members to start counter-demonstrations if he desired to do so? Erdogan is also turning against the media and social media like twitter. Once more, this sounds like a very dictatorial leader within the body politic of democracy in modern day Turkey. Ironically, the same Erdogan didn’t mind the same Western and Gulf media from propagating against the government of Syria. Also, while Erdogan went running to Washington about the chemical issue; he now appears to have lost his voice because the so-called Syrian opposition was caught in Turkey with chemical agents. In this sense, Erdogan propagated sensationalism against a neighboring nation based on open lies. Therefore, if opponents in Turkey propagate misinformation then he can’t cry wolf. However, his opponents in Turkey don’t need to propagate misinformation because they are just demanding that their way of life is protected from the ill-intentions of the ruling AKP government. The leader of Turkey is also showing his disdain towards the current political and social crisis in Turkey by leaving the nation in order to go on a political trip to Morocco. Erdogan stated prior to leaving that “There are those attending these events organized by extremists. This is not about Gezi Park anymore. These are organized events with affiliations both within Turkey and abroad.” “The main opposition party CHP has provoked my innocent citizens. Those who make news [and] call these events the Turkish Spring do not know Turkey.” Erdogan is now also trying to pin the blame on a foreign conspiracy. This is also ironic because under the ruling AKP government Turkey is a major conduit for terrorists, foreign security agencies, military arms, and other dark forces; which are entering Syria with the open approval of Erdogan. He therefore states that “Our intelligence work is ongoing [to determine the foreign actors behind the protests]. It is not possible to reveal their names. But we will have meetings with their heads.” “Those who advise us to be moderate must themselves first come to moderation.” It is clear that Erdogan is clutching at straws because he can’t see outside of the walls that he builds around himself. In reality, he wants to turn the social clock back and blatantly intervenes in the foreign affairs of regional nations. Not surprisingly, many swathes of the general public in Turkey are alarmed by his dictatorial ways based on the reality that Turkey is a democratic state. Paul Mason of the BBC comments that “The main meme – as with the flags – is “we are sons of Ataturk.”That is, we are a secular republic and we are worried about the autocratic use of power by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, combined with a creeping Islamisation.” He further states that “I have covered Syntagma, the Occupy protests and reported from Tahrir Square. This is different to all of them.” “First, it is massive. The sheer numbers dwarf any single episode of civil unrest in Greece.” “Second, the breadth of social support – within the urban enclave of Istanbul – is bigger than Greece and closer to Egypt.” Gulf petrodollars will not help Erdogan nor will the whims of Washington and the increasing reliance on NATO when dealing with neighboring events. Erdogan needs to wake up to the reality that arresting journalists, threatening to send the supporters of the AKP onto the streets and blaming outside nations – all sounds like a leader who is trapped within the democratic institutions of Turkey. Therefore, the more he rants, the more it becomes clear that Erdogan is not only an internal threat to secularism but he is also a danger regionally because of his undiplomatic approach to events. Even now, nobody knows the full extent of the ongoing political and social convulsions hitting Turkey because the crisis could spiral – or peter out based on many factors. Irrespective of this, it is clear that Erdogan is a very divisive figure and his rhetoric is not fitting for a major democratic leader. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-pm-gets-into-row-with-reuters-reporter-over-taksim-protests.aspx?pageID=238&nID=48101&NewsCatID=338 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22753418 http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-intelligence-looking-into-foreign-links-to-taksim-protests-pm-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=48097&NewsCatID=338 leejay@moderntokyotimes.com http://moderntokyotimes.com