Protests have taken hold of Turkey in recent months, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to consolidate more and more power in the country. Recently, Erdogan’s government arrested a major political opponent, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, leading to widespread demonstrations.
As Erdogan consolidates power, the government is engaging in a new peace process with left-leaning Kurdish groups that have long maintained an insurgency against the state. Simultaneously, Turkey has been expanding its influence in Syria, Ukraine, the Mediterranean, and even Western Europe.
Erdogan has led Turkey for over two decades, reshaping the country from its republican roots into a more right-wing, nationalist, and Islamist state. To discuss the history of Turkey, its political evolution, and recent developments, Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Selim Koru. Koru is the author of “New Turkey and the Far Right: How Reactionary Nationalism Remade a Country” and an analyst at the Ankara-based Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey.
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I had no love for Erdogan’s government—until the Zionist apartheid state dropped the mask and laid bare its intent to remake the Middle East in its own genocidal image. While the so-called Arab leaders remain silent, complicit, or bought, Erdogan is at least willing to push back. If he’s the one pressing a finger on the scale to stop the slaughter in Gaza, then let his influence grow. At this point, power that confronts genocide is more legitimate than power that enables it.