Opinion A festering discontent

The death of a teenage boy, in coma after being hit in the head by a teargas canister during the mass demonstrations that consumed Turkey last June, has become a lightning rod for renewed protests. In the aftermath of his funeral last Tuesday, simmering tensions boiled over, with violent clashes breaking out in several cities and two people losing their lives, fuelling further rage. Since last year’s protests, which grew from opposition to plans to scrap a local park in favour of a shopping mall into a flashpoint for the discomfort with the growing authoritarianism of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ruling Justice and Development Party has been rocked by a sprawling corruption scandal, and an increasingly ugly battle against former Erdogan ally, Fethullah Gulen.

Gulen, now accused of orchestrating plots to overthrow Erdogan from his self-imposed exile in rural Pennsylvania, is an Islamic preacher who was once Erdogan’s partner in his battle to limit the influence of Turkey’s powerful military and the secular establishment. His followers, known as Gulenists, were allowed to flood the police, judiciary and other state apparatus. After a reported disagreement over education policy caused the initial rift with Erdogan, Gulenists have been blamed for conspiring against the government, motivating purges of the police last year. Gulenists are also alleged by Erdogan loyalists to be behind a damaging leak that appears to have recorded the prime minister ordering his son to dispose of huge amounts of cash — a recording that has fed into the growing undercurrent of public discontent.

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As Erdogan adopts strong-arm tactics to re-establish control over the state institutions he believes to be influenced by Gulenists, he has damaged Turkish democracy. The municipal elections on March 30, a precursor to the August presidential election, are seen as a contest between the Gulenists and Erdogan, and a referendum on the latter’s rule. Festering popular anger against the government could be the deciding factor in this power struggle.