The extent of the violence, its location, and the number of civilians killed in Turkey have not been clear. That has now changed and the patterns we see are eye-opening.
Violence directed at political opponents of the Turkish state has been on the increase recently, with the Deputy Head of the Future Party being violently attacked in his car, a day after threats from the Deputy Head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) against him.
There have been reports that the AKP is worried its coalition partner MHP’s voter share is dropping and might be looking for other partners ahead of possible elections which could be called.
Within this context, the MHP could be using intimidation to keep the various nationalists within its own coalition together by targeting former allies who have left and become critical of the party.
Deputy Head of the Future was attacked by 5 people as he got into his car in Ankara on Jan. 15. He was immediately taken to hospital for treatment after losing a lot of blood.
This attack was followed shortly by one on Orhan Uğuroğlu, the Ankara correspondent for opposition nationalist newspaper Yeniçağ, who was also attacked as he got into his car. It is notable that the news of the attack was not being covered by any mainstream Turkish media.
The rise of political violence, clearly directed by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) cadres towards, is a painful reminder of the frequency of political assassinations in the 1980s and 1990s.
Turkey has been more vulnerable to political violence in periods of greater political movement, such as during the late 70s and 90s. The use of violence could therefore signal that the ruling coalition is worried that its political power is decreasing, and is aiming to use violence to deter defectors and opponents.
At the moment, the nationalist thugs are only dispensing severe beatings to their opponents, but the worry is that they may soon go further as political tensions increase in the run up to a potential general election.
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