Erdogan sowing chaos to win 2023 elections – Turkish journalist
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkey, by threatening Syria to launch a military operation, is trying to sow chaos, aiming at winning next election scheduled for June 2023, a Germany-based Turkish journalist said.
In an exclusive interview with France 24 that was publicized on Tuesday, Can Dundar, the former editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, one of Turkey’s main newspapers, said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is “doing his best to stay in power.”
He added Erdogan is threatening to launch a new military operation against Syria’s north and also threatening to hit Greece in an attempt to sow chaos “to convince people that the country needs a strong leader instead of a coalition government.”
On November 20, Turkish air force launched intense airstrikes on all Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)-held areas on Syrian-Turkish border in addition to bombarding areas which are more than 40 km away from the border such as the Global Coalition military base and Hawl Camp in Hasakah and the village of Makman in the northern countryside of Deir ez-Zor.
On Dec. 11, the Turkish president threatened to hit the Greek capital with missiles that are developed at home unless “you stay calm.”
Speaking of freedom of speech, Dundar said about 80 percent of the Turkish media is controlled by Erdogan and that a journalist is “branded a terrorist or a traitor,” if he or she challenges the government’s interests.
In 2016, Dundar was sentenced to five years behind bars for publishing a video purporting to show Turkish arms being smuggled to jihadists in Syria, according to France 24.