At the end of this process, they claim Turkey will end up being a country like Russia and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will turn into a leader similar to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who is known to have an authoritarian soul. However, an overwhelming majority interpret the latest developments in Turkey as signs of normalization and democratization while characterizing the fear mongers’ arguments as being ill-intentioned.Milliyet’s Hasan Cemal, who does not share the concerns of some circles that have fears of an authoritarian regime emerging in Turkey, says if he had believed that Turkey was moving toward civilian fascism, he would do his best to help remove the AK Party from power. “But I do not believe in the civilian fascism story. I see the government’s mistakes and deficiencies in the fields of democratic rights and freedoms and I criticize the government for these, sometimes in a harsh way, sometimes in a gentle way. Since I know democracy is a two-winged bird -- one wing is the government while the other wing is the opposition -- I have been thinking for a long time that Erdoğan should overcome his intolerance of criticism. But I have never believed that Turkey is heading toward civilian fascism through the hands of Erdoğan,” says Cemal. In his view, the change in Turkey is related to democracy and the state of law and there has been a wall blocking this change for years and there are military-civilian guards behind this wall. “This wall has begun to crack and collapse. Countries such as Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy have already undergone the change that Turkey is going through now. Turkey was late. Now, it is Turkey’s turn. I do not know when it will happen exactly but that wall will collapse in Turkey sooner or later. Do not stand on the wrong side, you could be crushed,” warns Cemal.
Yeni Şafak’s Fehmi Koru agrees with Cemal that there is no threat of civilian fascism in Turkey and says all the controversy surrounding this reminds him of similar arguments brought forward by the same circles in the past, such as Turkey becoming a Malaysia-like country ruled by Shariah, the existence of peer pressure and Turkey changing its foreign policy axis from West to East. According to Koru, fears over the prospects of Turkey becoming an authoritarian regime are fed by the Doğan Media Group because of the fines imposed on Doğan’s companies by the Finance Ministry as they want to put the government in a difficult position and reduce public support for it in revenge.
Hürriyet’s Ahmet Hakan complains that he cannot make a decision as to whether he should be on the side of the concerned or unconcerned regarding Turkey’s future. “I feel crushed between those saying everything will be fine and those saying everything will go wrong. On the one side, there is an iron fist on my head saying, ‘Military tutelage is ending, why aren’t you happy about this?’ On the other side, there is a big clock saying, ‘Military tutelage is ending but civilian tutelage is coming.’ In short, I do not know how to feel about this; I feel rather confused,” says Hakan.
