What's behind Erdogan's call for 'national mobilization'?
Is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s surprising call for national mobilization a tool to eliminate objections to his executive presidency?
Following the twin suicide bomber attacks in Istanbul on Dec. 10 that killed 44 policemen and civilians, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Dec. 14 addressed his 32nd assembly of mukhtars (elected village and neighborhood headmen).
“From here I am calling on all my compatriots. As the president of the Turkish Republic, according to Article 104 of our constitution, I am hereby declaring a national mobilization against all terror organizations, whether they are called PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party], Daesh [Islamic State (IS)], FETO [the so-called Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization, a term Ankara uses to refer to Gulen followers], DHKP-C [Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front] or whatever,” he said.
