"Empire" and "dictatorship" conveniently made their way into prominent London-based weekly The Economist's cover ahead of another election in Türkiye with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the country's helm. The weekly's report accompanying the body, which reads "Turkey's Looming Dictatorship," claims Türkiye is on the brink of a disaster as it may go from a "deeply flawed democracy into a full-blown dictatorship." The piece, again conveniently, ignores more than two decades of democratic elections the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its leader Erdoğan easily won, mainly with a landslide victory, with the opposition admitting defeat.
The upcoming elections are critical for the opposition and seemingly for foreign media obsessed with tagging democratically elected presidents as "dictators." For the opposition, it is the last chance to unseat Erdoğan from office as their vote erodes with every election they lose. For foreign media, it means the West will have to face an uncompromising Türkiye, which pursues global diplomacy while "sticking to its guns" and improving its local defense industry against multiple security threats it is subject to. Thus, they hope that an early exit will be better for Erdoğan, as a recent article on Foreign Policy called for. "(His) political legacy would have been different if he stayed less committed to holding power and resigned willingly earlier," the article says. However, it is forced to acknowledge that Türkiye is "still a functioning representative democracy." This line is more or less adopted by most major media outlets, from The Guardian to The New York Times, whose opinion pieces or news reports repeatedly highlight the so-called "authoritarian" or "autocratic" regime of Türkiye, usually before every election.
"An English magazine cannot determine Türkiye's fate; it is my nation that will determine it," Erdoğan said in remarks to reporters in Istanbul on Friday in response to The Economist's cover. These were similar to his comments earlier this week when he signaled that the 2023 elections might be held on May 14, on the anniversary of the 1950 elections, the first time Türkiye had a multiparty vote, more than two decades after the declaration of the republic.
Communications Director Fahrettin Altun slammed The Economist for engaging in "cheap" anti-Türkiye propaganda over its latest issue.
"Here we go again! The Economist recycles its intellectually lazy, dull, and purposefully ignorant depiction of Türkiye. Instead, they seem obligated to announce the end of Turkish democracy through regurgitating cliches, misinformation, and blatant propaganda. Outrageous headlines and provocative imagery might help them sell their so-called journal, so we congratulate them on their ingenious marketing techniques! But we must remind audiences that this is sensationalist journalism based on cheap propaganda and disinformation," Altun said on Twitter.
"Turkish people have demonstrated their commitment to democracy, equality, and freedom time and again. Our political system has undergone many tribulations, including a treacherous coup attempt in 2016 when our people spilled their blood to save our democracy. When President Erdoğan called on our citizens to resist the putschists, their response was a lesson for the ages. The so-called journalists and editors at the Economist never bothered to engage in decent journalism on our people's struggle for our democracy," Altun said. He noted, "This is largely due to their inexplicable and ongoing hatred against our democratically elected President, who has won every election he has contested," adding, "If you can't be bothered to investigate how and why the Turkish public trusts Erdoğan, why should anyone take you seriously?! "Our country is headed for yet another election season where there is a vibrant debate about how to solve our challenges. There is real democratic politics taking place, and the opposition has been trying to figure out their strategy for months now." He also stressed that Turkish democracy's vibrancy and people's ownership of their political system are "robust."
"I am convinced the Economist will never bother to report on what is happening in Türkiye. Therefore, I want to warn unsuspecting readers about their sad state," Altun added.
Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın also slammed The Economist's cover. "Western media try to spread a viewpoint trying to put the Turkish nation's free will under the yoke. This is nothing new. We are accustomed (to such reports). They do it before every election and will do it in the future. But they will be proven wrong, just they were proven wrong in the past," he told an event in Istanbul on Friday.
Kalın also said "some people were disturbed" by "Türkiye's call for reform in an established global order that is unjust. "Our president exposes the (unjust) global order, and those behind the global order are uncomfortable. Instead of concentrating on improving themselves, they prefer hitting back at the person who exposed their wrongs. According to their analysis, Türkiye spoils their game, and its axis is shifting away from the West, which is not fulfilling their demands. Again, before another election, they started spreading fake news and defamation, claiming Erdoğan would win the election because he or the government would intervene in the elections (if he loses). This is the perception they try to create. I always tell those analysts and journalists that they always make mistakes in their prediction of election outcomes because they don't know the Turkish public. They don't know voter behavior; they don't know how Türkiye reached its current point. They have an unchanged mindset and try to adapt it to Türkiye. When the situation on the ground contradicts what they had in their mind, they blame Türkiye," he said.