And so he has crashed, still in full arrogant-mode, unaware of himself as a disaster. His now famous rant-week was tantamount to a political psychotic break, and maybe more. What he does now is what he knows: to threaten and name-call. The enormous throngs opposed to his fascist rule are “marginal groups.” They are “looters” and “plunderers.” Actually, he and his henchmen and henchwomen are exactly that, looters and plunderers, and are well on their way to being marginalized. Erdoğan is what he has been all along, a one-trick pony, an undereducated ruffian who betrayed his nation for favor, fame and fortune. He sits in the middle of his own demise like the Turkish youth sit in the gas-drenched, blood-soaked streets gasping from pepper gas, bloody, bruised, beaten by his nazi robo-cops. But the kids get up. But Erdoğan, like an idiot yelling at the moon, rants about building more mosques, bridges, canals, all irrelevant monuments to his own deluded magnificence. He is deaf and blind to reality.
The man has nothing except money. And that will kill him. His divisiveness and abysmally poor judgment have destroyed any notion of gaining a presidency of anything. His Middle East ambitions, bizarre from the outset are finished. The USA effectively dumped him and his manically dangerous foreign minister Davutoğlu three weeks ago when Kerry announced intentions for a Syrian peace conference. So for Erdoğan, no more White House smiley-face visits. No more USA boondoggles with his hundred businessmen friends in tow all working their deals. No more Syria invective. Assad has prevailed, kicking his butt in the world arena, making him and Turkey look like buffoons and criminals both. And the monstrously ludicrous Ergenekon fiasco will soon collapse.
He’s a beaten man, this Erdoğan. He exhibits the eccentric end-game behavior of Mubarak with the vicious police violence, gang attacks and claims of foreign influences. Strange isn’t it that the man imposed and supported by foreign powers on the Turkish nation now fingers as enemies his former staunch allies? But then remember what he did to former friends Gaddafi and Asad? Physically he looks beaten, ashen-faced with the out of sync gestures of Richard Nixon during his own last, dark days. And his rage is at its peak at the worst, most visible times. Witness his awful press conference yesterday with the Reuters journalist.
Now, with the entire world focused on Turkey, he stumbles, fumbles and stares down his audience like a street corner bully. He continues on his own obstinate journey and that’s why the violence from his gangster police worsens by the hour. The cops are his alter ego. And violence is what he knows hence they know. It’s the last hope of a desperate man to retain power and relevancy. He is worry-wracked man, this prime minister. He knows the jig is up with all the not so secret deals, bank accounts and CIA involvement. It’s a lot to handle even for a normal egomaniac. Erdoğan is either heading for a genuine psychotic break or a public statement or incident so humiliating to the Turkish Republic that he has no alternative but to give it up. Of course, I could be wrong. And if so, that’s when the real “fun” will begin. For what if the remnants of the so-called Turkish Army (the real army is in jail courtesy of Erdoğan) ) is called to reestablish order? Maybe it will take a lesson from the valorous resistance movement, screw up its courage and arrest Erdoğan for treason. It would certainly be an appropriate charge and the force used would surely be proportional. Both of these adjectives would have to be explained to the former prime minister and his former advisors. But I am sure they know what treason means. All will be revealed shortly.
Cem Ryan, Ph.D.
Istanbul, 4 June 2013
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Percy Bysshe Shelley Ozymandias