The newspapers of the world are packed in the name of the infamous Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the news followed by many question marks and exclamation points, and met with a lot of silence and negligence from the international community, about his illegal colonial moves towards the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. rise to overthrow Erdogan

No one in the East nor the West can deny that Erdogan and his party, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood classified as a terrorist organization in many countries, is the largest sponsor, with generous funding from Qatar, of terrorist organizations that wreak havoc in the Middle East and Europe.

It had become a regular and frequent matter in the corridors of international politics to hear about economic partnerships between the Erdogan regime and the ISIS terrorist organization, which ransack the wealth of the Levant and sells it to him in exchange for the money that the organization uses to kill innocents in Syria and Iraq, whom Erdogan himself did not spare when he used the Turkish army In cold blood in the ethnic cleansing operations in northern Syria, the end of last year.

However, the greatest oppression that Erdogan practices on a daily basis against the Turkish people have not received enough international attention, on the media or political level, except recently, in what is considered the energy of hope that the angry Turkish people must use to resume the political movement resisting that terrorist group that seized power. In Turkey, under the banner of democracy, which once Erdogan came to power, destroyed.

He destroyed it by manipulating the texts of constitutions and laws, to give himself broad powers that enabled him to practice all forms of direct repression against the Turkish people, and to exploit Turkey's resources and wealth to achieve the aspirations of his group and his party, to the point that the Turkish economy fell to a miserable state of poverty and lack of resources, and the unemployment rate reached 13. 7% at the end of 2019, with expectations for a higher percentage at the end of this year.

In January, the United Nations Human Rights Council discussed the human rights issue in Turkey, as part of the procedures for the universal periodic review that examines and evaluates the human rights situation in member states periodically every four and a half years. rise to overthrow Erdogan

During the session, Turkey was subjected to intense discussion by states and human rights organizations participating in the meeting, it even turned into a kind of interrogation or trial session, as an expression of the amount of international anger towards the deteriorating human rights situation inside Turkey and against Erdogan's brutal regime.

The session, which lasted over three hours, ended with the announcement of 455 recommendations to improve the human rights situation in Turkey, a massive number that maybe no country has obtained before Turkey throughout the history of implementing this essential international mechanism.

The most prominent recommendations, which Turkey made a manifest disregard towards, were to condemn the repressive practices, arbitrary arrests, systematic torture and extra-judicial killing by the regime against citizens, especially media workers, opinion-holders, and influencers on social media that Erdogan had blocked a few years ago among many other international news sites.

In March, the US State Department issued its annual report on the human rights situation in the world, devoted to Turkey for a long chapter, describing the tragic condition of human rights in it, which reached its peak after the coup attempt that Erdogan claimed he was exposed to a few years ago.

The US report focused on the ugliness of the Turkish regime in exploiting laws to justify the oppression of citizens and the violation of fundamental rights and freedoms, primarily what is known as the "terrorism law" which Erdogan issued in parallel with the declaration of the state of emergency after the alleged coup attempt, only to use it to pursue political opponents and opinion-holders who reject his foreign and domestic policies.

What a cruel scene that allowed the first sponsor of terrorist organizations in the world to accuse journalists and opinion-makers of practicing terrorism, and to imprison them in prisons and detention centers for years without trial, under the silence of the international community, sometimes interspersed with some manifestations of sympathy that do not result in any real and decisive action against Erdogan.

The violations committed by Erdogan and his regime were not limited to the issues of arrests, killings, arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearances, the pursuit of journalists and the blocking of websites to restrict the freedom of expression, as well as violating women's rights, but also extended to the practice of financial and administrative corruption.

Through a network of companies run by Erdogan's son, operating from within Turkey and in cities in Europe, to launder money for the activities of the Turkish regime aimed at financing and supporting terrorist organizations in the Middle East, from ISIS to the Muslim Brotherhood.

However, despite the world's knowledge of these violations that Erdogan and his regime are no longer afraid of being held accountable for, and despite the approval of many prestigious international bodies, such as this report issued by the US State Department and only two months before the report of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the international community continues to refrain from taking a decisive stand against Erdogan and his sadistic regime. Fearful of their regional, economic, and security interests with Turkey.

Especially in light of the ongoing political, security, and economic imbalances that afflict most of the Middle East countries, which could play the role of Turkey's alternative partner to the major countries. rise to overthrow Erdogan

Perhaps this unfortunate situation will not change except with a new popular political movement from inside Turkey that calls for the downfall of Erdogan, similar to what happened in the years 2012-2014, and there is a high possibility that this popular movement if done in an organized and calculated manner, this time, will receive strong support from the Turkish army who is exhausted by Erdogan’s unjustified wars. Likewise, the support of the international community, which is fed up with Erdogan's madness, his indifference to international norms and covenants, and his lack of respect for the sovereignty of states.

It remains for the political opposition in Turkey to take this golden opportunity now available to encourage the people to break the barrier of fear that Erdogan has built over the past few years, and then to participate positively and express its position through non-violent means of resistance that have proven their effectiveness and strong impact around the world.

Dalia Ziada - Director; Liberal Democracy Institute