State of Emergency will reveal AKP’s true intentions

TURKEY - In Brief 21 Jul 2016 by Atilla Yesilada

---

After a recommendation from the State Security Council, Turkey’s Cabinet of Ministers resolved to propose a State of Emergency to the Grand Assembly. While opposition parties CHP and HDP immediately objected to the proposal in strong terms, I think the resolution will pass easily. The State of Emergency (SoE) grants the Cabinet the authority to rule by decree, suspends habeas corpus in certain cases, establishes limits on freedom of press and gives provincial governors extraordinary powers, among other things. While to the opposition and most foreign observers of Turkey the declaration of SoE sounds like affirmation of AKP’s long-disguised intention to move Turkey to a authoritarian regime, I beg clemency on behalf of the party for the time being. Readers know that I have not shied away from criticizing Erdogan or AKP in harshest terms and do still harbor severe doubts about its democratic credentials. Yet, I also think the party deserves some amount of empathy. Erdogan barely missed an assassination attempt, was betrayed by his military escort and saw the Army with which it has fought so hard to establish a cordial relationship collapse in a matter of minutes. The fact that the National Intelligence Agency caught wind of the coup attempt at 4 pm and Erdogan didn’t receive intel until 8 pm is certain to have added to his sense of isolation and desperation. So I say, give AKP the benefit of doubt and establish concrete benchmarks to measure whether the SoE is disguised attempt to suspend democracy. The most immediate test would be CHP’s planned democracy rally on Sunday in Taksim Square, if it is banned, I’d give AKP its first poor mark. So far, 56K people have been put...