‘Obey the order’ democracy

...The post-2002 AK Party years of our democracy have been shaped by an increasingly authoritarian tendency following the first period, in which major reforms were made and the borders of the freedom of expression and democratic debate were widened . ... An important merit against all the defeats of Turkey’s democratic practice was that the elections could be conducted properly and fairly. Leaving aside debates over the 2014 local elections, this tradition, along with the April 16 constitutional referendum, is now seen as a problematic area. Elected mayors of the biggest cities in the country have unexpectedly had to leave their posts on the say so of President Erdogan. The concept that symbolizes this practice is a saying, which Ankara mayor Gokcek referred to while explaining the grounds for his resignation: “Obey the order, no matter what.” ...Thus, new software has been introduced to the theory of democracy that determines the “imperative mode.” We can characterize this new era as “Obey the order democracy.”