Erdogan’s alliance with the deep state

Source:Asia Times Date:23May2019

This is speculative yet plausible theory advanced by noted Turkey affairs scholar and dissident Omer Taspianr about the nullifcation of Istanbul elections.  It was decided jointly by Erdogan and “the Deep State”  a shadowy alliance  of natonalists  interests permeating  security, intelligence and bureacracy.

After 16 years in power, Erdogan has proved himself to be a Machiavellian survivor who successfully transformed the deep state’s secularist threat perception. Political Islam, in today’s Turkey, is no longer perceived as a threat. This is because Erdogan infused his religious conservatism deep into Turkish nationalism. As a result, long gone are the days when the headscarf was seen as a harbinger of an Islamist revolution.

With Islam now internalized within the political system, what remains an existential threat to the deep state is Kurdish nationalism – a rising force both at home and in the region. The alliance between Erdogan and the deep state, therefore, is predicated on conservative Turkish nationalism. Its principal aim is to neutralize Turkey’s ascendant Kurdish political movement.