Turkey's opposition faces upsurge of physical attacks as Erdogan gloats
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s open endorsement of a mob attack on a prominent opposition leader indicates the extent of immunity for assaults on opposition in Turkey.
A mob attack on a prominent opposition leader and her entourage has sounded the alarm in Turkey on the extent of impunity for perpetrators of assaults on the opposition, as the Turkish president has openly endorsed the incident as a “good lesson” to his critics.
Good Party leader Meral Aksener traveled to Turkey’s Black Sea province of Rize on May 21, which is also the hometown of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As Aksener was scouting the streets and talking with shopkeepers in various parts of the province, dozens of Erdogan supporters gathered around her entourage to protest her remarks likening Erdogan to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid the Israeli-Hamas flare-up.
