Will the fists… shake the political coalition?

On the same day, the deadly beating of the deputy chairman of one of the opposition parties, as well as an attack on an experienced journalist and a lawyer, caused the eyes to turn to the same address again. Because after the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) supported the government with a 180-degree turn in the fall of 2016 and the governance system of the country changed, not only attacks on politicians, journalists, and the editorial office of a Turkish nationalist newspaper were largely justified from that address but also threats continued. However, the Turkish public was very sympathetic to the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, Devlet Bahçeli, "for removing young nationalists from the streets and directing them to university corridors and libraries."

Although Devlet Bahçeli made a statement the day after the beatings of Selçuk Özdağ, Deputy Chairman of the Future Party, who was elected from the AKP three times and was AKP Deputy Chairman for several years, 70-year-old journalist-writer Orhan Uğuroğlu, and lawyer Afşin Hatipoğlu by stating that "they do not need to beat someone", just as the harsh criticism of three well-known journalists and writers by naming them further complicated the case, the reaction of MHP Deputy Chairman, Professor Semih Yalçın, was very specific: "I do not respect Orhan Uğuroğlu. There are many madmen in our movement, we cannot control them." What sounds more poetic compared to the words of Hafiz Hajiyev, one of the most colorful personalities of Azerbaijani politics and one of Adalat Valiyev's disciples, "I gave an instruction to cut off Akram Aylisli's ear, then the US embassy called, and I canceled"? Let the reader decide.

Let us briefly ask whether the beatings of journalists and politicians at intervals over the past four years and the attacks on newspaper editorial offices have benefited the radical wing of Turkish nationalism, a minor ally of the government, and in general, how these planned attacks can affect the overall rating of the government in both senses::

• What do these attacks, which no one doubts is supported by the MHP, bring to the radical wing of Turkish nationalism as a political party? Do they add something to its rating or do they lead to falling from grace?
• At a time when 90% of the media is under the control of the government and all the doors are open to the MHP, politicians, and journalists who criticize Mr. Bahçeli have not been responded to through the media. Young nationalists are openly introduced into the circulation of and turned into "screws and wheels" of the mechanism of illegal punishment. What is the need for that? What messages are wanted to be given to the community by reducing the punishments, which were carried out with firearms 40-45 years ago, to the level of fists and sticks?
• What political interests can the Nationalist Movement Party pursue with the methods of illegal punishment: Will it aim to further oppress the major partner of the government with its password - "I am, in fact, the ruler of the country behind the scenes"? Although there are examples of extreme pressure and threats in the political practice of the AKP, a major ally of the government, it is difficult to remember examples of beatings of politicians and journalists and attacks on newspaper editorial offices. So the question arises: why has the MHP resorted to this method, which the AKP has largely avoided, in recent years? Does it believe that this will completely silence the objective media and opposition policy?
• And finally, the most important question: how does the AKP, a major ally of the government and which never needed the support of the MHP until the referendum on April 16, 2017, analyze these well-known attacks on opposition politicians and journalists? While the AKP wing of the government, led by President Erdoğan, has never adopted these illegal methods of punishment, is it planned to take any action against the MHP's increasingly aggressive method? Because if everyone sees that this illegal punishment methodology of a minor partner has a negative impact on the rating of the government, shouldn't the major partner take the most effective measure to stop it?

It is clear that the attempts to punish the opposition policies and the objective media have not led Turkey to any good points.

Azerbaijan should never follow this example.