Zafer Yörük
Congratulatory messages sent to re-elected Turkish President Erdoğan from around the world can be classified in two categories: those who use official language and those who are genuinely happy. The sounds of the first category come from Western Europe and the USA. Almost all Western leaders, from Joe Biden to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, to German and British prime ministers, have issued messages of congratulations expressing their will to continue working together. The second category includes countries that are ‘partly free’ and ‘not free’ in terms of Freedom House classifications, and countries that fall into the ‘competitive dictatorship’ or ‘full dictatorship’ categories in other classifications. Addressing Erdoğan with words like ‘my dear friend’, they warmly express their satisfaction with the result. The most passionate in this category were Sheikh Tamim, the Emir of Qatar and the Hungarian President Viktor Orban, who both pronounced Erdoğan president before the vote count was over. Although Vladimir Putin did not act so early, the emphasis in his message on “the victory of independent foreign policy” and “Turkish public’s will for a strong state” is meaningful. Similar warm messages were received from many full or semi-dictatorial regime leaders, from the Chinese Communist Party to Venezuela and the Taliban.
As an intermediate category, it was noteworthy that French President Macron, Ukrainian President Zelensky and Israeli President Herzog broadcast messages in Turkish. The form of these messages, more than their content, that is, that they are published in Turkish, implies that they feel a little closer to Turkish society and government than those in the official category. As Marshall McLuhan, the founding name of communication studies, said, “the medium is the message”. In other words, the tools used in the formation and transmission of the message are actually the message itself.
It is seen that the election monitoring agencies of the United Nations and the European Union, although draw attention to some ‘irregularities’, tend to give a ‘fair election’ rating. In fact, The Telegraph’s Europe editor James Crisp has summarised the general mood of the Western governments and international institutions: “Europe took a sigh of relief with Erdogan’s stay in power.” Crisp outlines two main reasons for this. Erdoğan’s administration has kept immigrants who aim for Europe in Turkey in return for cash payments and removed Turkey’s European Union membership application from the agenda.
The only voice that differs from those emerging from the West and the world public in general is of Hungarian origin. Dutch MP Kati Piri comes from a family of Hungarian descent. After serving as the European Union Turkey rapporteur until 2021, she is currently a Labour Party deputy in the Dutch parliament. Knowing the Turkey-EU relations well, Piri criticised the attitude of European leaders in her tweet:
“You congratulate the autocrat Erdogan and call him ‘my friend’ just because you want to prevent the influx of refugees. Of course, you don’t care about political prisoners, Turkish youth who dream of democracy, and oppressed minorities. I ask all European Union leaders who congratulate Erdogan: Do you have a message for the 25 million opposition voters who defend Western values and vote for democracy?”
This question is pertinent when read in conjunction with The Telegraph’s commentary above. The answer came from another Hungarian, albeit indirectly. Hungarian President Viktor Orban said, “I can honestly say, thank God Erdoğan won. I prayed a lot for him to win”. Orban also stated that Erdoğan’s main rival was not Kılıçdaroğlu, but another world-famous Hungarian, American billionaire George Soros. He refers to Soros as “the greatest enemy of Hungarian national interests” and envisions his own political stance as a struggle against Soros’ plans to take over the world. He is quite sure that the opposition bloc that confronts Erdoğan, whom he sees as an ally due to his authoritarian tendencies, is also “Soros’ men”. This political paranoia is shared by Erdoğan, especially in similar statements he made about Osman Kavala, who is unlawfully imprisoned.
From within Orban’s world of perception and echo chambers, all major political developments take on a different meaning: For example, the recent electoral defeats of Trump and Bolsonaro in the Americas are but Soros’ dangerous victories. “It would have been a tragedy for us if Erdoğan had lost the election,” Orban says. In short, the world has entered the epoch of ‘Armageddon’ between two Hungarians: the good (Orban and his friends) and the bad (Soros and his men). Doomsday is on the threshold, the arrival of the Messiah or the Mahdi is imminent. The famous motto of Adnan Tanrıverdi, the founder of the Islamist paramilitary company SADAT, overlaps with Orban’s world here: “Will the Mahdi come? Yes, he will come. Well, don’t we need to do something? Don’t we need to prepare the ground for his coming?”
Michel Foucault lived in the 20th century, and before his death, he bequeathed to us the statement “The world is a madhouse”. The planet of the Hungarian president, who challenges Soros to become the most famous and mighty Hungarian in the world, could not be described otherwise. Fortunately, outside of this paranoid cosmos, there is still a Hungarian, Kati Piri…
