Like mother, like daughter

The tactics applied by the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government to silence its critics can be collected in several thick volumes. The AKP and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have run out of tolerance totally. Assuming that a farmer who criticized the premier several years ago during a visit to Mersin might boo the premier again, the police, at orders of some officious local administrators, confined that farmer to house arrest when Erdoğan travelled to Mersin. Though there is still confusion whether they were trying to protect the farmer from the premier or the premier from the farmer, it was sad for the Turkish democracy to experience such practices if there is freedom of expression in this country and if "equality of all in front of law" is a valid norm.

There are lots of such "exceptional" and "individual" cases in the land of the "last sultan." But what might be more dangerous than such actions is the unfortunate reality that we are accustomed to such developments and have started to ignore them.

Similarly, the attempts of the AKP and Prime Minister Erdoğan to silence the Doğan group and create from this country a rose garden without thorns have become routine. While the lofty 826.3 million Turkish Liras, or $490 million tax fine imposed on the Doğan Media Group, or DMG, on grounds of being eight days late in reporting its books sale of some shares of the group’s Doğan TV to the German Axel Springer was a shock for everyone, the decision of the Finance Ministry to reject the collateral shown by Doğan was treated as "was expected anyhow." Why, because it has become clear for everyone that the finance ministry, acting on orders of the premier and his government, was "not after eating grapes, but to beat the vigneron." Speculations are abundant in Ankara regarding the intentions of Erdoğan and his party. "Doğan first, Koç (group) second" some claim. Why might Erdoğan and his party have such absurd exterminatory approaches?

Daughter is no different

Anyhow, this is the current reality in the "motherland" Turkey. What about the "daughterland" northern Cyprus? While the "mother" is heading to local elections, the "daughter" is heading to parliamentary elections which apparently have existential importance for both President Mehmet Ali Talat, the senior partner of the ruling coalition Republican Turks’ Party, or CTP, as well as the Cyprus peace talks. Public opinion polls indicate that CTP is heading to a humiliating defeat while conservative National Unity Party, or UBP, will make a comeback with either a one-party government or as majority partner of a coalition.

Talat, Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer and the CTP are obsessed with the pro bability of losing power, frustrated with the criticism and apparently decided to follow the example in the motherland: Silence the critics!

On Thursday, the Turkish Cypriot Finance Ministry forgot that in October 2008 it presented a certificate of appreciation to Asil Nadir’s Kıbrıs Media Group as one of the highest tax payers in northern Cyprus and clamped a 9 million lira fine based on an ex officio tax calculation based on the 2003 to 2007 records in the books of the company. Furthermore, the ministry first gave the company until the end of office hours Thursday to pay the tax fine, later "agreed" to give the group time until yesterday afternoon.

The Turkish Cypriot finance minister appeared in front of cameras Thursday midnight and claimed that his ministry’s move was not politically motivated while the opposition parties rallied support behind the Kıbrıs Media Group and charged the CTP-led coalition government of trying to stifle a critical media group ahead of the April parliamentary polls.

It was odd. How this situation will end cannot be estimated from now. But, there is yet another saying in Turkish, "Fear is no remedy to death!"