Normally, it would be deemed scandalous in any democracy when state authorities attempt to intimidate opposition parties, but here in Turkey, such scandals have become so internalized — and the people so polarized — that they have little impact on the electorate.
The latest scandal was brought to public attention on Tuesday, Aug. 13, with a headline on the front page of Hurriyet: “Here are the CHP's index-card files.” CHP is the Turkish opposition Republican People's Party. Veteran journalist Sukru Kucuksahin broke the news. “CHP leadership is shocked by the discovery of index-card files for 15 of its deputies and local administrators,” the subheadline read. The newspaper printed a copy of some of those files for Emine Ulker Tarhan, Kamer Genc, Huseyin Aygun, Levent Gok, Ilhan Cihaner, Nihat Matkap, Fuat Cay and Mevlut Dudu.
