Amid a continuing crackdown against leftists and Kurds in Turkey that was facilitated by an intra-Islamist fight, the Palace of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan closes down 15 media and literary organs, fires thousands more public workers and arrogates the power to choose all university rectors

Turkey continued its descent toward dictatorship on 29 October, with the country’s government closing down 10 newspapers, two news agencies and three journals while also firing thousands of leftist and Kurdish public servants as part of a post-15 July counter-coup.

The Palace of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan passed two state of emergency decrees, KHK 675 and KHK 676, closing the media organizations, firing public workers and ending the practice of electing university rectors. As such, Erdoğan will have the power to install any rector he chooses for any university in the country.

Both Dicle News Agency (DİHA) and Jin News Agency (JINHA), the world’s first women’s news agency, were closed with the decree, as well as well-respected culture journals Evrensel Kültür and Tîroj. Earlier this month, Hayatın Sesi TV, which is a sister outlet to Evrensel Kültür, was also forcibly closed by the government.

Turkey’s only national, Kurdish-language daily, Azadiya Welat, was also closed as part of the state of emergency decree.

In addition, the Özgürlük Dünyası journal and the Özgür Gündem Gazetesi, Yüksekova Haber, Batman Çağdaş, Cizre Postası, İdil Haber, Güney Expres, Prestij Haber, Urfanatik and Kızıltepe’nin Sesi newspapers were also forcibly closed.

Oppositional voices in civil service dismissed

At the same time, the decree ordered the dismissal of 10,158 people from their public service jobs and imposed new constraints on the ability of lawyers to defend clients.

The measures were particularly directed at left-wing teachers and health professionals who are part of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK), with at least 528 teachers from KESK’s Eğitim-Sen trade union being fired, including 100 from Amed (Diyarbakır).

Some 1,267 academics were also fired from their university positions, including 11 Eğitim-Sen members from Istanbul University. “We have been dismissed for fighting the struggle, but we will continue doing the same thing in the future,” said Levent Dölek, one of the fired Istanbul University academics and the Deputy Chair of the Revolutionary Workers’ Party (DİP).

One of those fired from Istanbul University was also Sezai Temelli, who served as a lawmaker for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for Istanbul between 7 June and 1 November 2015.

Also at universities, rectors will now be solely chosen by the president. Previously, academics chose a rector among themselves for presentation to the president, who could then choose to heed their choice or select another academic. However, faced with the controversy of having to choose unpopular, pro-government academics over popular oppositional figures at some universities, particularly the internationally renowned Boğaziçi University, Turkey’s government has dispensed entirely with the process of rectoral elections, allowing Erdoğan to choose rectors at will.

A state of emergency was imposed after suspected members of the Gülen movement attempted a coup on 15 July, only to ultimately fail. Since then, Erdoğan’s government has staged a massive counter-coup, ostensibly detaining a number of coup plotters and lower-ranking Gülenists while also redoubling efforts to eliminate alternative voices in the country, particularly those of leftists and Kurds. As part of the crackdown, dozens of leftist and Kurdish media organizations have been closed, while thousands of members of the HDP and other parties have been imprisoned on alleged “terrorism” charges.

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