​Politics of COVID-19 getting ugly

TURKEY - In Brief 01 Apr 2020 by Atilla Yesilada

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I had resolved to withhold commentary on domestic politics until I see concrete evidence of how the outbreak is affecting its dynamics.There is now some evidence that politics are becoming even more divisive than usual (if you can imagine that) because of Erdogan’s policy announcements and the race for service between the administration and municipalities. A survey shows the public’s faith is declining in the ability of the government to combat the pandemic. Erdogan needs to declare a nationwide curfew soon, or the murmurs of protest could turn into a groundswell. The first cause of my disappointment is a legislation that grants a conditional pardon to over 90K convicts serving time for non-violent crimes. It is very positive that the AKP-MHP caucus which proposed the bill listened to the advice by the opposition to exclude sexual crimes against women and drug cartels. However, the bill excludes not only convicts of political crimes, such as “terror” which is incredibly broadly defined in Turkish law, but also those detained of similar charges awaiting trial. AKP missed a huge chance to release journalists, dissidents and household names such as humanitarian Mr. Osman Kavala and ex-HDP chairman Mr. Salahaddin Demirtas. Had it done so, it would have extended an olive branch to the voter segments it alienated and raised its credibility abroad. Erdogan then launched a National Solidarity Donation Campaign, where all donations will go to a single charity which may or may not account for how they are spent.The drive is widely viewed as a sign of empty Treasury coffers, which is certainly not good for economic sentiment. But, this is not the worst, within 48 hours of the dri...