World press on political situation in Turkey (December 25, 2013)

Hürriyet Daily News published an article by Serkan Demirtaş headlined "Scandal-hit Turkey risks becoming another source of regional instability."

"One common point all veteran journalists and pundits agree on is Turkey has never found itself in such a weird and dangerous situation. The state and its key institutions have been divided into two different camps fighting against each other and sometimes by using some very nasty ways," the article begins.

"Flared up by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s decision to close down prep schools, a matter of life or death for the Fethullah Gülen community or the Hizmet Movement, the political controversy has gained scandalous dimensions with the Hizmet-empowered judicial operation that unveiled a multimillion dollar graft and corruption organization with the involvement of four cabinet ministers," the author writes.

"In an effort to distract attention from huge bribery and corruption files, Erdoğan and his staff have begun to use their already wasted rhetoric of “external forces hand-in-hand with their local contractors behind the operation against a growing Turkey.” Their strategy is to create strong links between the Gezi Parkı protests and the current corruption operation, with hopes that public opinion will see the big plot against Erdoğan. Given that the AKP could maintain its votes and public popularity by this strategy during Gezi, the ruling party believes this fight against the movement will not hurt the AKP’s election targets," the article reads.

"Turkey’s objective is to become a fully democratic country where universal human rights and rule of law would prevail against all sorts of backward, authoritarian, one-man and one-party ruling systems. We have had enough with such systems that nourish “empires within empires” that spread only fear and pressure on the society. Before it’s too late, we should all behave in common sense and responsibly before Turkey becomes yet another source of regional instability like Syria, which threatens not only its own security but also the region," Demirtaş concludes.