Contrary to much recent commentary, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a big fan of the protests that have been shaking Istanbul for the past five weeks.
The standoff began in the first days of the year, following his decision to appoint a non-academic and acolyte of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as the new rector of Turkey’s top public university, Bogazici. This sparked on-campus protests calling for the new rector’s resignation and a university system free of government control.
Authorities cracked down hard, wielding batons, spraying teargas and arresting dozens of protesting students, which in turn encouraged more students to protest, joined by faculty. The Bogazici protests soon swelled in size and scope to move beyond Istanbul and encompass broader issues such as high unemployment and widespread dissatisfaction among Turkish youth.
The crackdown has continued apace, with dozens more arrested last weekend. But the demonstrators have held their ground. Some news outlets have hailed these protests as the political emergence of Turkey’s generation Z, which has known only Mr Erdogan as its leader and is now saying it has had enough.
Why might all of this please the Turkish president? For starters, these demonstrations pull eyeballs away from the most urgent issue in the country today, which is how its deeply troubled economy is driving more people into poverty.
The government has subtly acknowledged the depth of this problem with a new campaign to help Turkish citizens survive on next to nothing. On Sunday, a programme on state-run television network TRT advised people not to waste food and explained that eggs could be eaten after their expiration date.
The day before, the front page of Takvim, a newspaper closely linked to AKP, presented a grim walk-through on wielding one's will power to save money while grocery shopping. "Shop on a full stomach." "Avoid nice smells." "Don't touch the products – the feeling of ownership will force you to buy it."
The reality is that Mr Erdogan’s government is failing to find ways to provide for its people. “They’re expecting Turks to live in abject poverty and this is the guidebook to survival,” analyst Can Okar tweeted.
In its 20-year history, the AKP has never lost a national vote. Though the next election is more than two years away, the current economy could end that winning streak: two recent polls show backing for the government’s electoral alliance has fallen significantly below support for the opposition alliance.
These numbers point to another reason Mr Erdogan appreciates the protests. They present the perfect opportunity to do what he does best: divide and conquer. And indeed he and his allies have begun to polarise the country further and rally his main vote banks, nationalists and religious conservatives.
In a tweet Twitter soon deleted, Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party, AKP’s parliamentary partner, described the demonstrators as “snakes whose heads need to be crushed”. To put a scare into the protesters and help rally the nationalists, Mr Bahceli’s pal Alaattin Cakici, a convicted murderer, urged the Erdogan-appointed rector not to resign.
There has also been significant outreach to Turkey’s conservative Islamist crowds, who are often in opposition to so-called "Western values". Seeing a pro-LGBT symbol among the protesters, the interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, blamed “LGBT perverts” for the unrest, an accusation that has since been repeated a number of times.
“We don’t accept these people as the youth of our country,” said Mr Erdogan, who described the protesters as “terrorists”.
These protests mark the political emergence of Turkey's generation Z
This demonising is straight out of the populist playbook. Longtime Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez often denounced his foes as homosexual, Zionist, part of the bourgeoisie or backed by Americans. The objective, of course, is to pit a virtuous and supposedly homogenous group, “the people”, against a grab-bag of elites and problematic “others”.
Mr Erdogan has often railed against the meddling of Jewish-American philanthropist George Soros in reference to the mid-2013 Gezi Park protests. He did it again on Friday, saying that Ayse Bugra, the wife of Osman Kavala, a jailed philanthropist who founded the Turkish chapter of Mr Soros's foundation, was “among the provocateurs”. Ms Bugra is a professor at Bogazici.
Mr Erdogan has gone even further to exploit the protests. Last week, he issued a decree creating two new departments at Bogazici, law and communications, in a suspected attempt to increase the number of loyalists among the faculty.
We must be careful not to downplay the value of protests in pushing back against creeping authoritarianism or governmental overreach in Turkey and elsewhere, from Lebanon to Myanmar. Demonstrators have, in this century, forced the ouster of many leaders and persuaded countless governments to reform.
But Turkey has seen this film before and it does not have a happy ending. Apart from showing Mr Erdogan’s critics that they are not alone, the primary outcome of the Gezi Park demonstrations was to enable Turkish parliament to pass a security law in 2015 that greatly empowered police to silence protests violently and brutally. Some argue that Gezi Park spurred many to find their political voice and shaped the results of the subsequent 2015 national election, but that is all but impossible to know for sure.
Meanwhile, that new security law is why today’s protests are a fraction of the size of Gezi Park and unlikely to have a lasting effect. One thing in the protesters’ favour is that they are backed by majority opinion; a new survey from MetroPoll showed that 75 per cent of Turks polled preferred universities independent from politics.
But Turkish authorities likely will continue with the current level of crackdown for another week or two, until they go all-in and end the protests entirely, as they did in Gezi Park. Until then, the demonstrations are for the government mainly a welcome distraction from harsh economic reality and a chance for Mr Erdogan and his allies to regain some political ground – at least until their bill comes due in 2023, when Turkey again goes to the polls.
David Lepeska is a Turkish and Eastern Mediterranean affairs columnist for The National
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
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Points to remember
- Debate the issue, don't attack the person
- Build the relationship and dialogue by seeking to find common ground
- Express passion for the issue but be aware of when you're losing control or when there's anger. If there is, pause and take some time out.
- Listen actively without interrupting
- Avoid assumptions, seek understanding, ask questions
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Indika
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Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- Margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars
- Energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- Infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes
- Many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts
How Beautiful this world is!
Day 3, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Lahiru Gamage, the Sri Lanka pace bowler, has had to play a lot of cricket to earn a shot at the top level. The 29-year-old debutant first played a first-class game 11 years ago. His first Test wicket was one to savour, bowling Pakistan opener Shan Masood through the gate. It set the rot in motion for Pakistan’s batting.
Stat of the day – 73 Haris Sohail took 73 balls to hit a boundary. Which is a peculiar quirk, given the aggressive intent he showed from the off. Pakistan’s batsmen were implored to attack Rangana Herath after their implosion against his left-arm spin in Abu Dhabi. Haris did his best to oblige, smacking the second ball he faced for a huge straight six.
The verdict One year ago, when Pakistan played their first day-night Test at this ground, they held a 222-run lead over West Indies on first innings. The away side still pushed their hosts relatively close on the final night. With the opposite almost exactly the case this time around, Pakistan still have to hope they can salvage a win from somewhere.
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Naga
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Mane points for safe home colouring
- Natural and grey hair takes colour differently than chemically treated hair
- Taking hair from a dark to a light colour should involve a slow transition through warmer stages of colour
- When choosing a colour (especially a lighter tone), allow for a natural lift of warmth
- Most modern hair colours are technique-based, in that they require a confident hand and taught skills
- If you decide to be brave and go for it, seek professional advice and use a semi-permanent colour
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Cricket World Cup League 2 Fixtures
Saturday March 5, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy (all matches start at 9.30am)
Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy
Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy
Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy
Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, CP Rizwan, Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Akif Raja, Rahul Bhatia
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Company Profile
Company name: Big Farm Brothers
Started: September 2020
Founders: Vishal Mahajan and Navneet Kaur
Based: Dubai Investment Park 1
Industry: food and agriculture
Initial investment: $205,000
Current staff: eight to 10
Future plan: to expand to other GCC markets
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
more from Janine di Giovanni
ON%20TRACK
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
