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This is certainly no endorsement of Erdogan and the AKP regime and its sharp authoritarian drift, especially in its current form in alliance with [its former enemy] the Turko-nationalist MHP. The HDP certainly did well to get "over the line" despite its leaders having to campaign from prison cells, but the reality is they were never going to be the main opposition. And governments win partly because of oppositions. What is more odd is the international view that the main opposition party, the Kemalist CHP, is part of a broadly "centre-left" opposition to the AKP. While the CHP may have made some opportunistic leftward poses, and may even be supported by some genuine leftist elements out of desperation with Erdogan's growing repressiveness, and it may even be unfair to associate the current CHP with the decades of right-wing Turko-nationalist military dictatorships and deep states that ruled under the 'Kemalist' banner, one thing is for sure: nowhere else in the world is "left" associated with extreme national chauvinism and going to the polls with an election promise to expel millions of refugees from your country!! On this issue, CHP candidate Ince had it all over Trump, Salvini, Wilders, Le Pen etc. Even the MHP itself couldn't keep up. And it should be noted that while the AKP was allied to the far-right nationalist MHP, the CHP is allied to the far-right nationalist split from the MHP with the same politics, the IYI party of former MHP leader Aksener. Here are a few choice quotes from the CHP's ultra-rightist campaign, which, somehow, have not seen the light of day in virtually any media reportage. It is not difficult to understand why the now nearly 4 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, despite growing distrust of Erdogan, breathed a sigh of relief when the reactionary, chauvinist opposition was trounced: https://twitter.com/DanaNawzar/status/1007941415329042433 I am amazed how the anti immigration and xenophobic rhetoric of Muharram Ince, the most likely rival of Erdogan in a possible 2nd round of Turkey's presidential elections does not make any headline in the international media! Here are a few of his most recent remarks. May 24 on CNN Turk: "There are 4.5 million Syrians living in Turkey.72 thousand people go to celebrate eid & come back. Why you come back? for holiday? It means you are in good condition. When they go, the door should be closed on them. Are we a food bank? June 1, while talking at an election rally, Ince commented on AKP's filing a candidate of Syrian origins saying sarcastically, "Soon you will have a Syrian MP. Congratulations!" The crowd followed by booing June 13, 2018, talking at an election rally in Giresun, Ince said, "We have spent 40 billion dollars on Syrian refugees. If Erdogan is elected again, we are doomed. Another 2,5 million Syrians will come to Turkey" At the same election rally, Ince said, "There are 4 million Syrians in Turkey but we do not have an embassy in Damascus. If I am elected i will reopen the embassy and return the Syrians to Syria!" Ince has a long history of playing to Turkish nationalist sentiment. Before nomination, he was CHP's anti-HDP, anti-Kurdish face. He's now using a much more dangerous xenophobic language. if he was a candidate anywhere in Europe, would be on a far right ticket. Meral Aksener, the ultra-nationalist Turkish candidate has the exact same theoretic. Aksener who will certainly back Ince up in a possible 2nd round has made same promises: to send all the Syrians home! She renewed the promise just few days ago ................................ As Sam Hamad writes (with links in article) https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2018/6/26/erdogans-re-election-is-good-news-for-syrians-in-turkey: The main opposition forces in Turkey have been ramping up rhetoric and racist propaganda against Syrians to cultivate and exploit racism. The CHP, the single largest opposition party and the main force in the 'Nation Alliance', launched a social media campaign claiming Syrian refugees are forcing up the rent prices, stealing the jobs of and, perhaps most sinister, threatening the security of Turks (eliding Syrian refugees with IS is not uncommon). Most of this will sound familiar to readers from the UK who saw those three basic racist arguments utilised so well in the Brexit referendum, as well as those in the US who continue to witness Trump's racist exploitation of 'immigrants' and asylum seekers. Indeed, it was during a recent opposition rally that the presidential candidate of the CHP said that he would send four million Syrians back to Syria, which prompted ominous celebrations from the huge crowd. This call to simply send all Syrian refugees back to Turkey was echoed by Meral Aksener, presidential candidate of the CHP's electoral allies the IYI (Good) Party. She claimed that the $36 billion spent on Syrian refugees ought to be spent on Turks instead, also claiming that the AKP "have intervened in Syria's internal politics and then we had 4 million Syrian refugees… all citizens are free and happy in their own country… after I am elected, my first action will be to fix our relations with Syria and to send the 4 million [Syrians]… back to their countries." _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
