For those opposing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan both at home and abroad, he has proven to be a very tough nut to crack. So in the past few years, his adversaries started punching the Turkish statesman below the belt with hopes that a well-organized smear campaign can defame him and ruin his huge popularity at home.
They even went to the extremes of applauding a bloody coup attempt carried out by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). Thus far, they have failed badly. Prime Minister Erdoğan has now become President Erdoğan and he is as popular as ever, but the president's adversaries continue their offensive to defame and discredit him.
Last week, the CHP deputy chairman and party spokesman, Bülent Tezcan, said: "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a fascist dictator, he is in fact the greatest fascist dictator."
Tezcan has made a very crude mistake that does not befit a politician. He is speaking on behalf of his party and insulting the president in very clear terms. It is clear that Tezcan is no fool. He knew well what he was doing and yet, he wanted to be a part of the perception campaign to defame Erdoğan. He knowingly and willingly insulted the president.
It is sad that Tezcan has become a part of a group of people who are not political adversaries of the president and the AK Party, but are part of a team that hates Erdoğan and would only be happy to see him dead. This hate campaign is unfortunately sponsored from abroad and continues to exploit every opportunity to spread and promote hatred. Their language is not a language of criticism, but clear enmity.
If Erdoğan is the dictator they claim he is, then why should he be bothered to order his lawyers to file court cases against them and the CHP deputy chairman in particular who insulted him in public? Like true dictators, Erdoğan would not have bothered to seek legal action. He would have used plain force.
A dictator would never be bothered by the rule of law and would simply send his goons to finish off his adversaries. If Erdoğan was a dictator, Tezcan would have never had the courage to challenge him.
