Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to distract public attention from soaring inflation
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskThe presidential and parliamentary elections Mr Erdogan faces next year look set to be the toughest of his long career. The official inflation rate has now topped a staggering 73%. The true figure may be in triple digits. Opinion polls suggest that most Turks have no faith in the country’s statistics agency. And even more pain may be in store.
The Turkish leader’s election strategy is starting to come into focus. With the economy beyond repair, at least with the current monetary-policy settings in place, Mr Erdogan has decided instead to search for monsters to destroy, abroad and at home. Dressed up as a war on terror, a new wave of repression is gathering steam.
Leaders of the country’s biggest Kurdish party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party , including Selahattin Demirtas, a former presidential contender, have already spent years in prison on trumped-up terrorism charges. Turkey’s constitutional court may soon close down the, a banned terrorist organisation. The courts are also starting to go afterheavyweights. Mrs Kaftancioglu will not be the last.
Mr Erdogan has also made clear that he will not tolerate any popular unrest. On June 1st, the anniversary of the mass demonstrations that erupted across the country in 2013, he called the protesters “terrorists” and for good measure, “sluts”. Weeks earlier, a Turkish court had convicted seven activists who took part in the same protests of plotting to overthrow the government and sentenced them to 18 years in prison.
Mr Erdogan has also been banging war drums, warning of a new offensive against Kurdish troops, whom Turkey considers terrorists, in Syria. A successful invasion would link up areas Turkey captured in three previous offensives, giving its troops, flanked by thousands of Syrian Arab mercenaries, control over a 650km long strip of northern Syria. The decision may hinge on approval from Russia, which backs the Kurds and has some troops in the area.
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