We have followed the rapid destruction of the secular government and civil liberties in Turkey under the authoritarian rule of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan used a failed coup to push his effort to create a de facto Islamic regime and to complete his work in arresting his critics, including forcing the resignation of thousands of secular academics, and suspending all civil liberties in a proclaimed state of emergency. Despite Erdogan’s repression of dissidents and groups in the name of Islam, there remain people of courage who defy him and his government. Sebahat Tuncel was sentenced Saturday for saying (four years ago) that Erdogan was a “complete misogynist” and an enemy of women — statements that are demonstrably true.
Erdogan’s government regularly imprisons people who criticize him or his imposition of religious intolerance in Turkey, a nation that once followed a secular tradition of separation of church and state. Erdogan ran on the promise that he was going to respect that tradition. He lied. As soon as he secured a majority, he set about turning Turkey into another abusive government opposing religious orthodoxy on its population.
At the same time, his government jailed people for up to four years for insulting the president — the eradication of any semblance of free speech in Turkey.
While President Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Erdogan, he is a blood-soaked petty tyrant.
Tuncel is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin who served in the Parliament and was previously convicted of belonging to a “terrorist organization.” Her criticism stated the obvious about a president who has publicly rejected the very notion that women are equal to men and denounced women who refuse to be mothers as “deficient” and “incomplete.”
