Protestas en Turquía

La Dirección de Telecomunicaciones de Turquía bloqueó el acceso a la red social Twitter bajo la orden del primer ministro, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

20/03/2014 18:39 EFE


ESTAMBUL, 20 de marzo.- La Dirección de Telecomunicaciones de Turquía bloqueó el acceso a la red social Twitter, horas después de que el primer ministro, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prometiera en un mitin electoral "erradicar" este medio social.

El bloqueo se hizo efectivo al filo de la medianoche local y fue comentado de inmediato en la propia red bajo el 'hastag' #TwitterisblockedinTurkey.


Sin embargo, era aún posible evitar el bloqueo mediante el uso de herramientas de anonimato en la conexión a internet.

La web oficial de la Dirección de Telecomunicaciones señaló que Twitter estaba bloqueado por orden de la Fiscalía de Estambul fechada el día de hoy.

Erdogan había prometido en un mitin electoral, celebrado hoy en Bursa, que iba a "arrancar de raíz" esa red social, sin importarle lo que opinara la comunidad internacional.

Horas más tarde, la oficina del primer ministro señaló en un comunicado, recogido por la cadena NTV, que tal medida se tomaría como "último recurso", si la red social seguía sin hacer caso a "decisiones judiciales" turcas y se negara a eliminar determinados enlaces.

En el último mes, varias grabaciones con supuestas conversaciones telefónicas entre Erdogan y su círculo, que en opinión de la oposición turca demuestran la corrupción en las esferas gubernamentales, fueron difundidas por Twitter.

Luego de bloquear Twitter, Turquía ahora restringe el acceso al canal de videos YouTube

Por: Redacción / Sinembargo - marzo 27 de 2014 - 9:58

Estambul, 27 mar (EFE).- Las autoridades turcas han bloqueado hoy el acceso al canal de videos YouTube, informa el diario turco “Hürriyet” en su edición digital.

La Dirección de Telecomunicaciones (TIB) ha comunicado esa decisión a las empresas proveedoras de internet y el bloqueo ya es efectivo, según pudo comprobar Efe.

La TIB anunció en su página web que ha tomado esta medida por iniciativa propia y sin basarse en decisiones judiciales, algo posible bajo la nueva ley de telecomunicaciones, aprobada el mes pasado, aunque la norma prevé que ese tipo de decisiones deben ser ratificadas por un juzgado en un máximo de 48 horas.

Hürriyet relaciona la medida con la difusión hoy en You Tube de una supuesta conversación entre altos cargos políticos y militares sobre un plan del Gobierno turco para fingir un ataque desde Siria y provocar un conflicto bélico justo antes de las elecciones locales del próximo domingo.

El bloqueo del popular canal de videos aún puede evitarse mediante un simple cambio de los parámetros DNS en el ordenador, un truco habitual para parte de los internautas turcos.

La semana pasada ya fue cortado el acceso a la red social Twitter, horas después de que el primer ministro, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prometiera en un mitin electoral “erradicar” este medio social.

Un juzgado administrativo de Ankara ordenó ayer que se levantara el bloqueo de Twitter, al considerar que la medida vulnera los fundamentos del Estado de derecho, pero la sentencia aún no se ha cumplido. EFE

Activistas de Femen irrumpen en colegio electoral de Turquía para protestar contra el Primer Ministro (VIDEO)

Por: Redacción / Sinembargo - marzo 30 de 2014 - 13:02

Ciudad de México, 30 de marzo (SinEmbargo/EFE).– Un incidente se produjo en Estambul, Turquía, donde dos activistas de la red de protesta Femen irrumpieron en el colegio electoral donde usualmente acude a votar el Primer Ministro Recep Tayyip Erdogan, y se descubrieron el pecho para mostrar el mensaje “Prohibid a Erdogan”, antes de ser arrestadas.

La sociedad turca ha llegado muy polarizada a estas elecciones, las primeras después de las masivas protestas antigubernamentales del pasado mayo y de los escándalos de corrupción que han estado salpicado al Gobierno en los últimos tres meses.

Los últimos colegios electorales turcos cerraron hoy sus puertas a las 15.00 GMT en el oeste del país, una hora después de que en las regiones del este, tras nueve horas de votación marcadas por la alta participación y por peleas entre candidatos que dejaron ocho muertos y unos cuarenta heridos.

Los más de 52 millones de turcos con derecho a voto acudieron masivamente a elegir a sus alcaldes, representantes municipales y jefes de barrio entre 26 listas posibles, en unos comicios que han trascendido lo local y han adquirido un carácter de examen al Gobierno islamista del primer ministro Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

El jefe del Ejecutivo, presionado por escándalos de corrupción y acusaciones de creciente autoritarismo, aseguró al votar en Estambul que la participación estaba siendo muy alta. “Pese a todas las declaraciones y discursos no deseados en los mítines, nuestra gente dará hoy su veredicto final. Será lo que diga el pueblo”, señaló el mandatario.

El Presidente Abdullah Gül reconoció al votar en Ankara que la campaña para estas elecciones había sido especialmente dura. Lo cierto es que en el sureste del país, escenario de episodios violentos en pasadas jornadas electorales, varias peleas entre partidarios de candidatos a representante local dejaron ocho muertos y treinta heridos.

En Ankara, partidarios del partido gubernamental AKP hirieron a diez simpatizantes de otro partido, según informó el diario Miliyet en su página web. Además, una anciana murió de un ataque al corazón mientras esperaba en la cola para depositar su voto y un hombre en búsqueda y captura por tenencia de armas se suicidó cuando la Policía lo localizó justo después de haber votado.

Pese a esa situación, los últimos sondeos de intención de voto daban al gubernamental AKP (islamista) el 46 por ciento de los apoyos, siete puntos más que en las municipales de 2009.

La oposición socialdemócrata del CHP obtendría el 27 por ciento, aunque hay analistas que creen que el resultado final podría ser muy superior, debido al efecto del voto útil de muchos turcos que ven estas elecciones como un plebiscito a favor o contra Erdogan.

La difusión de resultados y de participación está vetada, en principio, hasta las 19.00 GMT, aunque es posible que la Junta Electoral adelante esa hora.

Los principales partidos han desplegado a decenas de miles de voluntarios para seguir la votación y el recuento y prevenir así cualquier tipo de manipulación. EFE

The move against YouTube came a day after a court ordered a suspension of the Twitter ban [Reuters]


Turkey bans YouTube over security leak
Move follows release of audio file on YouTube, purporting to be of security meeting about military action in Syria.
Last updated: 27 Mar 2014 19:32


Turkey has banned video-sharing website YouTube, having blocked Twitter a week earlier, after both were used to spread audio recordings damaging to the government, local media reported.

The move came hours after the release of an audio file on YouTube, purporting to be of a security meeting in which top government, military and spy officials discuss a possible scenario for military action inside Syria.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan Erdogan on Thursday slammed political opponents he said had leaked the audio tape.

"They have leaked something on YouTube today," he told a campaign rally ahead of crucial local elections Sunday, following the latest in a series of damaging social media leaks.

"It was a meeting on our national security ... It is a vile, cowardly, immoral act. We will go into their caves. Who are you serving by eavesdropping?"

The move against YouTube came a day after a court ordered a suspension of the Twitter ban.

The foreign ministry described the latest leak as "espionage" against the country's national security.

It added that it was a "natural practice" by the state to discuss how to protect Turkish property from "terrorist elements" but added that some part of the conversation had been "distorted".

Erdogan, whose party faces key local elections on Sunday, has been dogged by a string of leaks, including apparent wire taps suggesting a major corruption scandal, which have gone viral on Twitter and other social media platforms.

Turkey vs Twitter
We look at how Ankara's crackdown on social media is creating a firestorm ahead of a critical presidential election.
Listening Post Last updated: 30 Mar 2014 20:04

Last month the Listening Post reported on demonstrations in Turkey over a new internet law which allows the government to unilaterally shutdown any website, without going through the courts.

The law has since claimed its first victims: Twitter and then YouTube. And that has led to an all-out online media war. The timing could not be more important - Turks go to the polls for local elections on March 30, and they are considered critical bellwether ahead of the presidential election later this year.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s opponents say his online clampdown is just a cynical, short term political move and a response to a growing story about government corruption. But Turks have refused to let the ban stop them from getting onto the micro-blogging site.

Talking us through the story this week is Cemalettin Hasimi, the director at the office of public diplomacy; Nagehan Alci, a host on CNN Turk; Fadi Hakura, a fellow at London’s Chatham House; and Bulent Mumay, the digital editor at Hurriyet newspaper.

On this week’s News Bytes: A journalist’s story on her time reporting on the Afghanistan war is removed from the international edition of the New York Times in Pakistan; an Iraqi journalist is killed - allegedly by a politician’s bodyguard; another reporter leaves Bloomberg News, part of the ongoing fallout over the organisation's reporting on politics in China.

Since the 1997 handover between Britain and China, Hong Kong has been operating under a 'one country, two system’ rule.

The city was promised a high level of economic and social autonomy from the mainland, including freedom of the press. But over the past few years that situation has been deteriorating and commentators say it is down to the growing influence of the government in Beijing.

This has meant that a city once known as a haven for free speech is now a place where critical journalists are attacked, newspaper editors are criticised for self-censoring, and the government in Beijing is being told to back-off. In this week’s feature, the Listening Post’s Gouri Sharma looks at the steady erosion of press freedom in the city of Hong Kong

Turkish elections turn deadly in local feuds
Isolated clashes see people fight with clubs, knives and guns, as Erdogan and his party seek validation in polls.
Last updated: 30 Mar 2014 16:35


Violence has hit Turkish municipal elections, with eight people being killed in fights between groups supporting rival candidates.

The isolated clashes took place on Sunday, Reuters news agency reported, as tens of millions of Turks cast their votes into the evening.

The Dogan news agency said six people died and four were wounded in the village of Yuvacik, in the southeastern Sanliurfa province.

Separately, in the southern city of Hatay, Dogan reported that rival families fought with clubs, knives and guns in a battle over their respective candidates. The agency said two people died and nine were injured.

More than 50 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots in Turkey's local elections, amid corruption allegations and damaging security leaks that have shaken the 12-year rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

The municipal elections have become a crisis referendum on the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, and his religiously conservative AKP.

The party, which swept to power in 2002 on a platform of eradicating the corruption that blights Turkish life, hopes on Sunday to equal or better its overall 2009 vote of 38.8 percent.

Erdogan crisscrossed the nation of 77 million during weeks of hectic campaigning to rally his conservative core voters, during which he temporarily lost his voice.

"They are all traitors," Erdogan said of his opponents at a rally in Istanbul, Turkey's commercial capital and the most populated city, on Saturday.

"Let them do what they want. Go to the ballot box tomorrow and teach all of them a lesson... Let's give them an Ottoman slap."

Erdogan has purged thousands of people from the judiciary and police following the anti-corruption raids in December targeting businessmen close to Erdogan and sons of ministers.

The prime minister said that those behind the investigations were trying to form a "state within a state" or “parallel state”, blaming the movement of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Turkish cleric whose followers are apparently highly influential in Turkey's police forces and judiciary. Many analysts say that the two sides used to be allies in the past in their struggle against Turkey's politically dominant military.

Lira loses value

The uncertainty has taken its toll on the stock market and the Turkish lira, which has lost four percent of its value this year. Many foreign and domestic investors are awaiting the elections and their aftermath before making decisions.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), portrays Erdogan as a corrupt "dictator" ready to hang on to power by any means. Capture of the capital Ankara or Istanbul would allow them to claim some form of victory.

Erdogan formed the AKP in 2001, attracting nationalists and centre-right economic reformers as well as religious conservatives who form his base. Since his 2011 poll victory, he has in his statements, moved more towards these core supporters.

The corruption scandal, also involving anonymous Internet postings of tapped state communications implicating Erdogan in corrupt actions he denies and media interventions he confirms, was all but eclipsed in recent days by the leaking of a recording of a top-level security meeting.

YouTube and Twitter blocked

In the recording, the intelligence chief, foreign minister and military commanders discussed possible armed intervention in Syria. The Turkish intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan, allegedly talked about staging a fake attack on Turkish soil in order to start an operation on Syria.

Turkey has blocked YouTube and Twitter, and has reportedly intercepted various Domain Name Systems after tens of leaks had been shared on the two online platforms.

It is unclear who recorded the meeting and posted it on YouTube - though officials point a finger at Gulen’s movement.

Erdogan describes the movement as a terrorist organisation in an "alliance of evil" with major opposition parties.

Erdogan: poll win a blow to immoral politics
Turkish prime minister claims victory in local elections, saying results are a rejection of "aimless, immoral" rivals.
Last updated: 31 Mar 2014 03:17



Erdogan said his rivals would 'pay the price' [AP]


Turkey's prime minister has has declared victory in local elections that had become a referendum on his rule, calling the results a blow to the "immoral, aimless politics" of his rivals.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned his rivals would "pay the price" for their loss as preliminary results on Sunday showed his Justice and Development party, known as the AKP, took up to 47 percent of all votes cast.

The main opposition Republican People's Party, known as the CHP, had 28 percent and the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, had 13 percent, the Anatolia news agency reported late on Sunday.

The elections, which were being held amid corruption allegations and damaging security leaks that have shaken the 12-year rule of the AKP government, were widely seen as a vote of confidence for the rule of Erdogan.

At a rally in Ankara in the early hours of Monday, Erdogan said that "democracy and free will" had won.

"These poll results show more than who won, it shows how lost," he said. "Immoral politics have lost. Politics on tapes, on false recordings have lost. Immoral and aimless politics have lost."

He took aim at rivals who sought to capitalise on the leaked recording in their campaign against him, and the press.

"I ask the leader of the opposition if he didn't have the recordings, what would you have said on your campaign? You only utter lies and false statements."

He gave warning that his foes would "pay the price". "From tomorrow, there may be some who flee," he said.

Hectic campaigning

More than 50 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots in Turkey's local elections.

The AKP, which swept to power in 2002 on a platform of eradicating the corruption that blights Turkish life, hopes on Sunday to equal or better its overall 2009 vote of 38.8 percent.

Erdogan crisscrossed the nation of 77 million during weeks of hectic campaigning to rally his conservative core voters, during which he temporarily lost his voice.

His government has purged thousands of people from the judiciary and police since December following the anti-corruption raids targeting businessmen close to Erdogan and sons of ministers.

The prime minister said that those behind the investigations were trying to form a "state within a state" or "parallel state", blaming the movement of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Turkish cleric whose followers are apparently highly influential in Turkey's police forces and judiciary.

Many analysts say that the two sides used to be allies in the past in their struggle against Turkey's politically dominant military.

The CHP portrays Erdogan as a corrupt "dictator" ready to hang on to power by any means. Capture of the capital Ankara or Istanbul would allow them to claim some form of victory, although no result has been declared in either city.

Por Afp
dom, 30 mar 2014 11:37

Ankara. Los turcos acuden este domingo a las urnas para unas elecciones municipales que se han convertido en un referéndum para el primer ministro Recep Tayyip Erdogan, blanco de graves acusaciones de corrupción y de protestas callejeras. Más de 52 millones de electores están llamados a las urnas para renovar sus ejecutivos locales en un voto que empezó a las 05H00 GMT en las provincias del este del país y terminará a las 15H00 GMT. Los primeros resultados serán divulgados a primeras horas de la noche.

En un ambiente contaminado por escándalos políticos y financieros, estos comicios se han convertido en un voto de confianza para Erdogan, cuya mayoría islamista-conservadora dirige el país desde hace más de una década.

El jefe de gobierno, de 60 años, es considerado por sus partidarios como el artífice del impresionante desarrollo económico turco, y tildado de "dictador" por sus detractores que le reprochan una deriva islamista y autoritaria.

Un último día de campaña electoral tenso y violento confirmó el sábado esta fractura.

Fiel a su retórica agresiva y provocadora, Erdogan llamó a sus tropas a dar una "gran bofetada" a sus oponentes y a "dar una lección" a los "espías" y a los "traidores" que conspiran contra él.

En su línea de mira está la cofradía del imán Fethulá Gülen, retirado en Estados Unidos, acusado de haber infiltrado el Estado, principalmente la policía y el poder judicial, y de propagar acusaciones de corrupción y de escuchas telefónicas para socavar a su gobierno.

Esta guerra fratricida entre los dos ex aliados del movimiento islámico-conservador tuvo su punto culminante el jueves, con la divulgación de una grabación de una reunión confidencial en la que varios altos cargos del país plantean la hipótesis de una intervención militar de Turquía en Siria.

La difusión de esa grabación sonora, después de varias más que acusaron al gobierno de corrupción, llevó a las autoridades a ordenar el jueves el bloqueo de YouTube, una semana después del de Twitter.

Esta medida reforzó las críticas de la oposición y de numerosas capitales extranjeras, que manifestaron abiertamente su preocupación por el autoritarismo de Erdogan.

Diez meses después de las protestas que hicieron estremecer al gobierno, cientos de miles de turcos aprovecharon este mes el funeral de un adolescente fallecido como consecuencia de heridas sufridas en las manifestaciones de junio de 2013 para reclamar la dimisión del primer ministro "asesino".

Envuelto desde diciembre en un grave escándalo de corrupción, Erdogan se enfrenta a estas elecciones debilitado, aunque aún dispone de bases sólidas. Todo apunta a que su partido, que ha ganado todas las elecciones desde 2002, volverá a encabezar los votos, por delante del Partido Republicano del Pueblo (CHP), socialdemócrata, y del Movimiento para la Acción Nacionalista (MHP).

"Erdogan es un político muy hábil y sigue ejerciendo una fortísima presión sobre todas las instituciones turcas", recuerda Brent Sasley, politólogo de la universidad de Texas. "Es difícil cuantificar el retroceso que sufrirá pero hay pocas posibilidades de que ponga en entredicho su popularidad", añade.

Los responsables del partido en el poder aseguraron que un resultado superior al 38,8%, obtenido en las municipales de 2009, se considerará una victoria.

Erdogan, muy seguro de sí mismo, proclamó públicamente que abandonará la política si el AKP no encabeza los resultados electorales.

Pese a su ventaja a nivel nacional, el partido del primer ministro está en apuros en las dos principales ciudades del país, cuyos resultados tendrán un valor simbólico.

La probable victoria de la oposición en la capital, Ankara, o en Estambul, donde Erdogan lanzó su carrera como alcalde, podría tener consecuencias para su futuro político.

Si su partido obtiene una victoria el domingo, el primer ministro podría presentarse a las elecciones presidenciales del 10 de agosto, las primeras que se celebrarán por sufragio universal directo.

En el caso contrario ha dado a entender que podría modificar los estatutos del AKP, que le impiden tener más de tres mandatos, y adelantar las legislativas, previstas en 2015, con el objetivo de volver a ser jefe del gobierno.

En fin, querellas locales entre candidatos al codiciado cargo de jefe de aldea dejaron ocho muertos y varios heridos el domingo en las elecciones en dos localidades del país, informó la agencia de prensa Dogan. Estos enfrentamientos son frecuentes en comicios en estas pequeñas aldeas turcas, aunque sin consecuencias tan graves como las de este domingo.

Turkey elections: Democratic chance or authoritarian restoration?
The Turkish local elections brought a tarnished victory for the ruling AKP.
Last updated: 05 Apr 2014 10:48



Kerem Oktem is a research fellow at St Antony's College, University of Oxford and currently a Mercator-IPC visiting fellow at Sabanci University, Istanbul. He writes on Turkey's domestic politics and foreign policy and on urban protest in the Middle East and Southeast Europe.



The Turkish opposition has demanded vote recounting in Ankara and Antalya [AFP]

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won Turkey's local elections with 45 percent of the vote. In a defiant speech on election night, the Prime Minister announced his victory from the balcony of the party headquarters and declared his opponents - the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), the far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP) as well as the Hizmet movement of Fethullah Gulen and the protestors of Taksim Square - as failures.

Inside Story - Turkey elections: Test of Erdogan's rule?

Considering the massive attack Erdogan and his inner circle of power have faced from these actors during the election campaign, this is indeed a success. Yet how sustainable a success it is and what it means for Turkey's place in the world and for its future as a democratic country is yet unclear.

No landslide, but a solid AKP victory

On the night of March 30, the ruling party did indeed gain its best result so far in a local election. Not only did the party defend the two most important metropolitan seats of Istanbul and Ankara, it also won a number of CHP-ruled cities and districts.

Crucially, the AKP emerged as the only political party, which is represented in councils all over the country, from the Kurdish provinces to the western shores. It did however fail to take the Izmir metropolitan area, as well as Antakya, a city bordering Syria. In both cities, the party ran with former government ministers of great repute. In Antakya it lost because of the increasingly precarious security situation and the growing tensions between locals and Syrian refugees. Izmir has been a stronghold of the main opposition party CHP, which fared relatively well in the west of the country and posed a serious challenge to the incumbent AKP mayors of Istanbul and Ankara.

Istanbul's election outcomes are in fact a case study of the degree of political polarisation the country has been experiencing lately. With more than 10 million voters, this is a city that matters nation-wide. The AKP got close to 50 percent, followed by the CHP with 40 percent. Yet the votes are distributed very unevenly. All established middle-class and coastal districts elected CHP mayors, with shares of up to 76 percent. In Besiktas, Turkey's first openly gay politician, LGBT activist Sedef Cakmak will serve as council member. The historical peninsula, immigrant neighbourhoods and the periphery voted predominantly for the AKP.

The nationalist MHP lost considerably in Istanbul, but it did win a number of important cities like Mersin and Adana, where resentment over industrial stagnation and strife between Turks and Kurdish migrants - most of them fled the Southeast during the conflict in the 1990s - has been building up over the years. MHP mayors also took some towns in the Aegean interior, which used to be leaning towards the CHP. In all these cities, ethnic tensions may rise.

Finally, the pro-Kurdish BDP managed to hold on to its mayoral seats in the Kurdish region and to stop the gradual rise of AKP votes there. The BDP election strategy was based on a quota for female candidates and thereby significantly raised the share of women in local government. The goal to become a party with nation-wide representation, however, did not materialise, despite a coalition with smaller parties of the socialist left and parts of the Gezi protest movement.
Inside Story - Turkey turns off Twitter

Depending on the angle, one could indeed suggest that all other parties have lost: The CHP failed to reach out beyond its traditional strongholds, and attracted almost no votes at all in the Kurdish region. The MHP failed to increase its votes, and the BDP failed to overcome its identity as an ethnic Kurdish party. The Hizmet movement, strongly represented in the administration, the judiciary and the economy, has also failed in the sense that its support for opposition parties has not created the anti-government front, which it had hoped to build. Yet, has the AKP won enough to claim that its credibility is now restored?

Contestation and challenges

The credibility of the prime minister and his party has indeed suffered gravely since the Gezi protests of May and June 2013, when the government responded to hundreds of thousands of protesters with brutal police force. It has taken more blows with a series of graft investigations launched by Istanbul courts in December last year, allegedly instigated by the Hizmet movement.

To quash the evidence emanating from the investigations, the prime minister unleashed a whirlwind of measures that have put the very foundations of Turkey's democracy at risk: Thousands of judges, prosecutors and policemen were withdrawn from active duty, the already feeble independence of the judiciary was suspended and the media was reigned in through government censorship and manipulation. When Twitter and Youtube were banned by administrative order only a few days before the elections, Turkey's international standing took a heavy blow, whose medium-term effects we are yet to see. For now, it is evident that the country's bid for EU membership as well as its place in the Western security alliance is in jeopardy.

Considering that election day came amid the rapid erosion of the rule of law and the fiercely polarising rhetoric of Erdogan, who left no doubt that this was a struggle for the survival of the nation if not himself, allegations of vote-rigging and manipulation in favour of the AKP are not surprising. Thanks to more than 30,000 independent elections observers - many of them mobilised through the Gezi events - many such attempts have been documented and some have been averted.

Opposition parties have requested recounting of ballots in hotly contested seats like Ankara and Antalya, as well as in many districts, where the AKP and CHP went head to head. The election boards in those two cities rejected the requests, but CHP is expected to take its case to the Supreme Election Board. In some Kurdish towns on the Syrian border, dismay at alleged vote-rigging - probably heightened by frustration at Turkey's Syria policy and its support for Jabhat al-Nusra against Syrian Kurdish forces - has resulted in heavy clashes with the police.

The picture emerging from the local elections is hence not the one the prime minister would have wanted: Fought as a referendum for him and his party, at the cost of local concerns, he received 45 percent of the vote. If this had been the presidential election scheduled for August, for which he plans to run, it would have meant a failure to win the first round.

The bans on Youtube and Twitter - both of which have now been lifted after a decision of the Constitutional Court heavily criticised by the government - and the questions over the fairness of the elections are stains that will not be taken easily by Turkey's Western allies and even less so by the 55 percent which did not vote in favour of Erdogan. Turkey's government will continue to face internal and external criticism and much will depend on whether it will go down the route of authoritarian restoration or whether it will be able to use this window of opportunity to return to a less polarising and more inclusive form of democratic politics.

Kerem Oktem is a research fellow at St Antony's College, University of Oxford and currently a Mercator-IPC visiting fellow at Sabanci University Istanbul. He writes on Turkey's domestic politics and foreign policy and on urban protest in the Middle East and Southeast Europe.