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Remembering the night filled with jets, guns, prayers
The jets of FETÖ coup plotters seemed fixated on the
Istanbul Police Headquarters, descending only to ascend again over the
Marmara without dropping their bombs amid the ground fire. They repeated
this back-and-forth until dawn. The loud prayer calls broadcast from
the minarets of Fatih’s famous mosques, each with their sect and
religious affiliations, eventually created a discordant harmony akin to a
multi-voiced orchestra.
As television broadcasts shared updates
from across the country, it became evident that the coup, heavily
influenced by American elements, had failed. Following the jet flights
and the intermittent sounds of gunfire from the police headquarters, I
made one last call to Aydın Engin at the newspaper. When I asked, "Is it
over?" he responded, "It's over, we've sent the pages to print." Though
I wasn’t entirely sure how relieved I should be, I remember feeling
like we had narrowly escaped another blow to our country.
In the
following years, I couldn’t have predicted the prolonged period of
civilian authoritarianism and the significant loss of rights.
Historically, military coups are said to have ten-year cycles with
severe, albeit brief, impacts. Yet, civilian authoritarian regimes, with
equally painful average ten-year cycles, have left deep scars. We have
experienced these cycles with the Democratic Party, the Demirel years,
and Özalism. President Erdoğan's alliance with Fethullah Gülen also
extended a form of civilian authoritarianism for a slightly longer
period.
In 2014, Erdoğan, in coalition with Gülen, imposed an
unprecedented model of authoritarianism through a referendum, ironically
claimed to be borrowed from America but starkly opposed to American
democratic values. Since that night, eight more years have passed, and
Erdoğan's single-man rule has entrenched itself deeply. The resulting
authoritarian practices have trampled on rights and laws, with
corruption breeding further corruption.
The rapid decline in all
aspects of life in our country is clear from the accumulating data,
making it increasingly difficult to perceive the inevitable outcomes. As
the cadres of the single-man regime master the art of marketing these
inevitable results, we face new challenges daily. Regardless of the
severity of the hardships, the game continues as long as it can be
played, with the promise that enduring more pain will lead us to a way
out.
If we submit and endure, this infinitely corrupt system will
only grow. The continuation of the regime's reign, benefiting from this
corruption through relentless pressure and threats, shows new instances
of rights being trampled. This unbearable, corrupt system will either
persist or be challenged by the growing alliances of those awakening to
reality. Can life be lived without taking a breath?
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