Critics of Erdogan become victims of smear campaigns

On Aug. 6, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), appeared on a mainstream TV channel for an interview. This alone is newsworthy, as it is rare to see any politician other than presidential candidate and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on mainstream TV in Turkey. One of Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse columnists, Amberin Zaman, was among the journalists interviewing Kilicdaroglu.

Kilicdaroglu, explaining how convincing the arguments of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have become, said: “The AKP voter base accepts whatever Erdogan tells them as the absolute truth.” At that point, Zaman asked, “Is it not to be expected from a Muslim majority country, where Islam puts the community, not the individual, at the center, and the education system does not encourage critical thinking?” The interview continued as Zaman and Kilicdaroglu went on to explain how propaganda is more effective on the masses when there is limited access to information and critical thinking is not supported.

Instantaneously, a smear campaign from “Erdoganists” — a new term coined during this political lynching process — was initiated on social media, targeting Zaman and Kilicdaroglu. The “charges” against them were “insulting Islam and Muslims,” quite serious in a country with a history of political murders and serious legal consequences for insulting Islam.

Some of the comments on Twitter were threatening, asking Zaman what she was doing in a Muslim country and using profane language. Zaman’s comments were taken out of context and reframed as belittling the AKP electorate. As a handful of journalists and parliamentarians came to Zaman’s defense on social media, pro-AKP elites and “others” were silently watching as the troll accounts went on with their social lynching.