You cannot govern the country like this!

Ekrem Dumanlı

…The ruling party has completely got out of control and moved away from justness and truthfulness, just days before the elections. It suffers from a deep anxiety. If the government had not been experiencing a panic attack, it would not have interfered with Koza İpek Holding in such a wild manner. It is impossible to explain the seizure of the media outlets of Koza Ipek through violation of the Constitution.

The personal property of the people has been seized. The reputation of certain individuals is being rattled and pressure is being imposed on them via fabricated accusations through the media. This frenzy has been ongoing for a long time, and the AK Party is facing a melt down with its loss of conscience.

The AK Party has abused all the values it promised society when it was being established. It has chosen a gradual suicide. We have seen how the party has diverted itself from justice during the police raid on the Bugün TV building. It was not only us who saw this; the entire world was able to view this image of tyranny, unlawfulness and despotism. Respect for Turkey has taken a hit. Unfortunately, the AK Party and Erdoğan have become the symbols of fear and repression, both in the West and in the Islamic world. However, there was no such concern either at home or abroad several years ago.

There is the other side of the coin, which is the democratic solidarity shown by the people who either came to the Bugün TV building or called its managers in order to extend their support to them. People from different walks of life, the rightists, the leftists, liberals and the pious have all acted in solidarity. Even Halk TV and Bengütürk TV's joint broadcast with Bugün TV during the police raid is a historical development.

Opposition politicians Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Devlet Bahçeli, Selahattin Demirtaş, Mustafa Kamalak, Mustafa Destici, Masum Türker, Cem Toker and Gültekin Uysal also delivered joint condemnation of the media raid. This means everyone other than those in pro-AKP circles condemned the independent media coup.

Let's face it. The AK Party has gone through a colossal transformation. It has deviated from its founding principles. It has grown more authoritarian and despotic. It has attempted to rule the country with arrogance and oppression using the tools afforded it by the state. It sowed the wind and reaped a whirlwind. There is a large group of angry opponents. Those who used the party to further their personal ambitions are to be blamed. Arrogance has intoxicated them to the point where they feel no shame in seizing a media group with police force. They say, "Doğan Media Group, Sözcü, Cumhuriyet, and Zaman will be the next." That means everyone will be silenced. If this is so, is that a democratic party? The AK Party's trolls aspire to become like Adolf Hitler.

You cannot govern the country like this.

Excerpted from the author's column published on Today's Zaman, 29 October 2015, Thursday