Erdogan

Ask any two Turkish nationalists how they will vote in their country’s upcoming referendum, and you’re likely to get two different answers. In just under a month, Turks will vote on a constitutional amendment that, if passed, will usher in the biggest political revolution since Kemal Ataturk founded the modern republic. It would shift the country from parliamentary democracy to executive presidency. This weekend I called round my contacts from Turkey’s various nationalist groups and asked them how they will vote. Exactly half said they will tick the box supporting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his bid to become executive president with almost unchallenged power, and a potential mandate until 2029.

‘Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter,’ bellowed Turkey’s President Erdogan as he officially launched the country’s first and only global English language public broadcaster this week. Thousands gathered for the booze-free spectacular to welcome TRT World onto their screens. But elsewhere in Turkey, the media has been punished. In 2016 more than a hundred media outlets have been closed. Thousands of journalists have been left unemployed and many have been jailed, all for simply being a potential thorn in the side of Erdogan. So when I heard the President saying TRT World was needed to tell Turkey’s story, because other channels are ‘partial’, I almost choked.

Hurray!  It is not often one gets good news, but here is some.  Jan Boehmermann, the German comedian who read out a rude poem about Sultan Erdogan on German TV, has had the prosecution against him dropped.  In the last couple of hours prosecutors in Mainz said that they did not have ‘sufficient evidence’ against him. Well I say ‘Ha’ to that, for it is purest face-saving.  The evidence was broadcast out on German television in March for any and all to see.  President Erdogan complained and with the approval of Chancellor Merkel an ancient and outdated German law (about not insulting foreign rulers) was dusted off and Jan Boehmermann faced years in prison.

On a cool day in Istanbul the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge was opened to much fanfare. Hundreds, if not thousands, came to watch Turkey’s President Erdogan unveil a masterpiece in design and engineering. Named after the conquering Ottoman Sultan who expanded the Empire into the Middle East, it has been billed as a ‘bridge to the future’ for the city and the country. But while this third bridge over the Bosphorus may connect the European and Asian Continents once more, the same can’t be said for Turkey with many of its own communities nor its allies. In an off-the-cuff rambling speech the President used the opportunity to reiterate his core message. 'We are on a mission and we will keep going,' he said.

At a luncheon to mark a thawing of relations between Turkey and Russia this week, the diners were given a particular treat. I'm not talking about Beluga caviar, though it may have been on the menu, but rather the special crockery bearing the image of each country's presidents set out at each placing. The idea of having Putin and Erdogan beaming at me from ceremonial plates doesn't appeal hugely, but it seems to have set some of my Turkish colleagues off in raptures. For them the 'bromance' is back on. I'm not so sure. The plates were commissioned to mark a meeting between the two men in June 2015.

'One day my mortal body will turn to dust, but the Turkish Republic will stand forever,' said Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern nation. As such he is rewarded a special place in Turkish history as the ‘father of the Turks’. Indeed this is what Ataturk, the surname he was given by the people, means. And it’s impossible to be in Turkey without seeing his image wherever you go. His face adorns the currency, both paper and coinage, it’s engraved on plaques, printed on flags, statues celebrating the man are too numerous to count, there is even a shop in Istanbul which has one item on its inventory, gold laminated Ataturk masks. The man is an icon to Turks. He is Turkey and Turkey is him. But for how much longer?

The three-month school summer recess began in Turkey just over four weeks ago. But for some teachers they may never see the inside of a school here again. As part of President Erdogan’s post-failed coup cleansing, 21,000 teachers have had their licenses revoked. I’ll say that again, 21,000 teachers have had their licenses revoked. Why? It’s simple, they’ve been accused of having links to a movement which Turkey has proscribed a terrorist organisation. In reality this is McCarthyism playing out in the 21st century. The group they’ve been associated with is an Islamic and social movement led by a cleric called Fethullah Gulen. It funds private schools and universities in more than 180 countries. Until a week ago, that included Turkey. No more.

'Big theatre,' the man who runs the shop downstairs said to me as I tried to buy a tin of tuna. Normally our exchanges are limited to a simple polite 'hello, how are you, see you soon'. But this time he wouldn’t let me leave. He had something to say and I was his audience. He waved his arms about as the words flowed. He speaks no English, but through the Turkish I have learned and his hand signals I knew what he was trying to tell me. As if his words weren’t enough, he then began showing me the videos. I have seen some things in my time, but this was unfathomable. Unarmed soldiers, barely turned out of school, having their heads smashed in by the hordes who rallied to the Turkish president’s call.

Turkey's President Erdogan is already facing international calls to respect human rights in Turkey following last weekend’s failed coup. Now he's also being encouraged to champion the rights of Christians living in the country as well. The call is coming from the Anglican Church’s venerable man in Istanbul, Canon Ian Sherwood, who for 28 years has been chaplain of the British consulate there and priest of the Crimean Memorial Church in the city. ‘As long-centuries established Christians in Turkey we are alarmed at how life is evolving in Turkey,’ says Sherwood, who warns that the climate of tolerance has changed in the country, which is more than 99 per cent Muslim, mainly Sunni.