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The last sultan!
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Did you have a chance to see Bernardo Bertolucci’s "The Last Emperor"? It is a dramatic history of Aisin-Gioro "Henry" Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
I must say it was a great biographic film on the life of Pu Yi, who at the age of three was named the Emperor of China, and died as a peasant worker.
I was reminded of this magnificent film when I read in Güngör Mengi’s column Wednesday that at an election rally in Istanbul some supporters of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did the unthinkable and raised a "The Last Ottoman Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan I" placard.
Was the placard a surprise to Erdoğan? Apparently not because not only he did not ask his supporters to put the placard away but more so for a long time he has been acting like a sultan anyhow. Many people who have interest in the last period of the Ottoman Empire would recall for example the oppressive regime of Sultan Abdulhamit the Second. Right, Abdülhamit II was one of the most talented diplomat-sultan this country ever had. He rigidly opposed the creation of an Israeli state in Palestine. For the most part of his long reign there were subsidies on almost everything and the average citizen of the time did not feel the impacts of the economic collapse of the empire. However, during that period the coffers of the empire was emptied, the economy of the empire became the hostage of some foreign countries and debts of the empire skyrocketed to such levels that up until the early 1950s the young Turkish Republic continued to pay back the inherited debt.
Worse still, Abdülhamit II was so obsessed with security, so scared that he would be killed that he had established a perfect police state. That period saw the creation of an advanced intelligence agency. Such a ruthless system was established that it is impossible not to shiver reading the stories from that time of sons reporting on their fathers, borthers reporting on brothers and of course of those people concocting fictional plot theories and sending imperial security agencies on their enemies. One could say that while for a minority the Abdülhamit II era was a paradise, the Ottoman Empire had turned into an empire of fear particularly for the intellectuals.
The new sultan!
The new sultan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the First indeed did exactly the same, but through different methods. He created an allegiant media. He has been leading a ruthless campaign against his opponents and calling on the citizens to boycott those media outlets that continue to criticize him and his administration. That’s not enough, his administration is clamping ruthless fines on the media companies that insist on not joining in the allegiant media camp. What happened to the Uzan group is a bitter reminder for the rest. The attacks on the Doğan group testify to the ongoing campaign of the new sultan to get rid of all of the opposition and of all of the critics at any cost.
Was he not the sole decision maker when it came to pick a new president for the Turkish state? Is it not he who decides singlehandedly on the future of all civil servants irrespective of their seniority? Is it not he who decides singlehandedly the steps to be taken in the economy, domestic politics as well as in foreign policy? Who will become governor; who will become ambassador; who will become director general of a state concern or any of the "autonomous" bodies? Erdoğan has become the single and undisputed decision maker for such top appointments as well. Unfortunately, the placard raised by Erdoğan’s supporters in Istanbul was nothing more than acknowledging what has been already accomplished and continuing on for many years. What’s so far missing is people not yet started glorifying him with "Long live my Sultan" chants. Perhaps that’s also in the pipeline. Once the neo-Ottomanist and neo-Islamist AKP of Erdoğan gets over 50 percent in the upcoming mayoral elections, Turkey may start witnessing the last stage of this transformation.
In democracies, however, emperors may sometimes face bitter consequences.
I was reminded of this magnificent film when I read in Güngör Mengi’s column Wednesday that at an election rally in Istanbul some supporters of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did the unthinkable and raised a "The Last Ottoman Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan I" placard.
Was the placard a surprise to Erdoğan? Apparently not because not only he did not ask his supporters to put the placard away but more so for a long time he has been acting like a sultan anyhow. Many people who have interest in the last period of the Ottoman Empire would recall for example the oppressive regime of Sultan Abdulhamit the Second. Right, Abdülhamit II was one of the most talented diplomat-sultan this country ever had. He rigidly opposed the creation of an Israeli state in Palestine. For the most part of his long reign there were subsidies on almost everything and the average citizen of the time did not feel the impacts of the economic collapse of the empire. However, during that period the coffers of the empire was emptied, the economy of the empire became the hostage of some foreign countries and debts of the empire skyrocketed to such levels that up until the early 1950s the young Turkish Republic continued to pay back the inherited debt.
Worse still, Abdülhamit II was so obsessed with security, so scared that he would be killed that he had established a perfect police state. That period saw the creation of an advanced intelligence agency. Such a ruthless system was established that it is impossible not to shiver reading the stories from that time of sons reporting on their fathers, borthers reporting on brothers and of course of those people concocting fictional plot theories and sending imperial security agencies on their enemies. One could say that while for a minority the Abdülhamit II era was a paradise, the Ottoman Empire had turned into an empire of fear particularly for the intellectuals.
The new sultan!
The new sultan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the First indeed did exactly the same, but through different methods. He created an allegiant media. He has been leading a ruthless campaign against his opponents and calling on the citizens to boycott those media outlets that continue to criticize him and his administration. That’s not enough, his administration is clamping ruthless fines on the media companies that insist on not joining in the allegiant media camp. What happened to the Uzan group is a bitter reminder for the rest. The attacks on the Doğan group testify to the ongoing campaign of the new sultan to get rid of all of the opposition and of all of the critics at any cost.
Was he not the sole decision maker when it came to pick a new president for the Turkish state? Is it not he who decides singlehandedly on the future of all civil servants irrespective of their seniority? Is it not he who decides singlehandedly the steps to be taken in the economy, domestic politics as well as in foreign policy? Who will become governor; who will become ambassador; who will become director general of a state concern or any of the "autonomous" bodies? Erdoğan has become the single and undisputed decision maker for such top appointments as well. Unfortunately, the placard raised by Erdoğan’s supporters in Istanbul was nothing more than acknowledging what has been already accomplished and continuing on for many years. What’s so far missing is people not yet started glorifying him with "Long live my Sultan" chants. Perhaps that’s also in the pipeline. Once the neo-Ottomanist and neo-Islamist AKP of Erdoğan gets over 50 percent in the upcoming mayoral elections, Turkey may start witnessing the last stage of this transformation.
In democracies, however, emperors may sometimes face bitter consequences.
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