Writer Şafak: As Turkey Regresses, How Can It Be A Model For Other Countries?

Elif Şafak, one of Turkey's most popular writers, has questioned the idea that Turkey might be a role model for the region -- an idea that is widely articulated by key political figures -- asking how Turkey can set an example for others while it is regressing, in an article written for a Swedish daily.

Şafak penned an article for Swedish Svenska Dagbladet daily on Friday evaluating the recent political discussions and pressure on the media, as well as increasing conspiracy theories expressed by the government, accusing certain civil society groups of aiming to unseat it.

"The [Justice and Development Party (AK Party)] government has created a political sphere where criticism of it is being seen as 'treason.' Those who oppose the government's practices and criticize it are not only being accused of not being sufficiently patriotic, but also are being charged with collaborating with the foreign powers.
"Soon after the attack on [the satirical Charlie Hebdo] magazine [in January], [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan targeted the Western world, saying, 'We, as Muslims, never engaged in terrorist slaughter. They [the Western world] is playing a game against the Islam world.' Those Turks who hear such statements start to believe the European powers are trying to create trouble in the Middle East and Turkey," Şafak wrote in her article.

Highlighting that Turkey has lost all the gains it made in the past 10 years, Şafak went on to write: "Pressure on the Internet, freedom of press and expression [by the government] is getting worse. More than 400 journalists lost their jobs over the last year as 150 others wait for trial due to various accusations leveled against them.
"Human Rights Watch wrote in its 2015 report that the AK Party undermined the fundamental principles of democracy and rule of law in the last 10 years, damaging all the gains the country had made in this period."

Emre Oğuz, Stockholm (Cihan/Today's Zaman)