Peace, Justice and the Ultimate Crime

On April 16 th , Turkish voters will go to the polls to cast their ballots in a referendum on whether to give (even more) extraordinary powers to their current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Or at least that is the ostensible purpose of the plebiscite. But seen from a broader perspective, what the Turkish people will be voting on is democracy itself. The advances that Erdogan has made toward an autocratic takeover of political power in Turkey over the past three years have been dizzying. Toward the end of 2013, when he was still the country’s prime minister, it looked as if his political career might melt down and end in scandal, after a series of taped conversations appeared to leave no doubt that he and his son Bilal were involved in a vast (and personally lucrative) network of corruption. But clever and undeniably able politician that he is—with a career spanning two decades, from his days as mayor of Istanbul—and armed with the flourishing power that his profile as an ally...

     Turkey’s close call with a military coup this past week not only sent shockwaves through that country but also through the Western world. Because of its strategic position between East and West and its ever-tense alliance with the Western powers, instability in Turkey sets off alarms in Europe and the United States, particularly so at a time like this, when Western allies have Islamic State (ISIL) on the run in battlefield combat but when the ultra-Islamist terrorist network is changing tactics and encouraging small terrorist cells or lone-wolf killers to infiltrate Western capitals and wreak havoc. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan It is believed that the reasons behind the attempted coup were not only President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s authoritarian advances against democratic rule in Turkey but also because of attacks carried out by ISIL in the heart of Turkish society. The perception among many is that Turkey is paying with innocent blood for the sins...