Turkey’s theatre of the absurd in full bloom

From The Washington Post:

These are dark days for journalists in Turkey, now the leader among governments that imprison newsgatherers.

In one week alone, nearly 70 journalists were on trial on false accusations of supporting terrorism.

Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and not all that long ago a boisterous democracy, has fallen into the grip of dictatorship. The theatre of the absurd is in full season. The nearly 70 journalists who were in court in separate trials in that one week faced baseless charges of supporting terrorism or attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Both these allegations have been favourites of Erdogan after the July 2016 coup attempt against him.

Of special concern is the case of Fevzi Yazici, the former art director of the newspaper Zaman, who has been in pretrial detention for 17 months.

According to family members and others, he was recently threatened by police and moved to solitary confinement.

Police have reportedly pressured the journalist to confess to carrying out orders from the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania.

Once an ally of the Turkish president, Gulen is now blamed for the coup; he denies involvement.

Erdogan’s paranoia and Stalinist tactics are running riot.

The losers will be the Turkish people.