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.

The files included information on these CHP deputies’ educational backgrounds, as if this was not already public information. 

In Turkey, when people run for office, they must show electoral officials proof that they do not have a criminal record. But Ilhan Cihaner was painted in his index cards as if he “aided the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Black Sea region of Samsun while he was serving as the public prosecutor.”