LETTER FROM ISTANBUL
The voice is strong. Rage in the heart, words of fire. Behind his face, marked by a thousand wrinkles, with his calloused hands extended towards the police, impetuous and inconsolable, Bayram shouts at the “betrayal” and to“injustice”.
At 63 years old, this father of five children, a modest retiree, a former street bouncer – a Hamal in Turkish – in different neighborhoods of Istanbul, is here, in front of the Esenyurt municipality building, to protest against the arrest, on October 30, of the mayor of this popular and peripheral district of the megacity, the largest electoral election in the country. with its millions of inhabitants. For five days he has been walking the streets in his little dark blue suit, shabby, simple but dignified, like the last vestige of a Türkiye of yesteryear.
Bayram is angry because his councilor, Ahmet Özer – “A man of science, can you imagine? » – He was fired for alleged ties to a terrorist organization. “He is a veteran politician, a public figure of Kurdish origin respected by everyone.says. This whole accusation is nonsense, the custard cake when those in power want to get rid of an adversary. » There is a mixture of certainty and appeal to common sense in his voice: “If he is so guilty, how is it possible that he was able to participate in the elections without the authorities finding fault? »
Elected in March, during municipal elections that marked a historic victory for the opposition, Özer, candidate of the center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP), defeated his opponent from the Justice and Development Party, the AKP, founded by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leading the country for more than twenty years.
The little man sits up and catches his breath. “I am deeply attached to our Republic, but I can no longer bear it to be mistreated in this way. With the crisis and inflation we can no longer buy anything. Justice, health, education no longer work. And the slightest criticism can land you in jail. Türkiye has never been so wrong. »
“Where Turkish democracy is at stake”
Listening to it, it is a little piece of the entire recent history of the country that parades through your memories. We see the figure of President Turgut Özal (1927-1993), the man of the country’s liberal turn. The evocation of Süleyman Demirel (1924-2015), the populist and pragmatist, administrator of all alliances. From Abdullah Gül, a former ally of Erdogan who was president from 2007 to 2014 before locking himself into a discreet opposition. “I can’t stay silentBayram says bluntly. Everything that is happening is dramatic, that is why I am here, on this stretch of sidewalk, where Turkish democracy or what remains of it is at stake. »
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