Turkish Elections To be Held Under The Shadow Of The Emergency Rule: The Bedrock Of Oppression

Nearly 60 million voters in Turkey — a country with a population about 83 million — are registered for a historically critical election for presidency and parliament on Sunday 24 June. The result will without any doubt define the character of the regime in the country: a hard-liner autocratic rule, or an extension of the crisis if President Erdoğan loses his grip on power in whole or in part.

The most ignored aspect of how sensitive and vulnerable this election is that it is going to be held under a tight emergency rule, dominated by harsh decrees. This situation has been maintained by Erdoğan's government in order to be able to control the state institutions in full, to keep the opposition and civil society in defence positions, and to seize the media.

The emergency rule, called OHAL in Turkish, was put in effect only four days after the attempted coup d'etat on 15 July 2016. It had a severe toll, with a massive purge and waves of arrests affecting the lives of millions of people who disagree with Erdoğan's policies. 

Since July 2016, more than 107,000 people have been removed from public sector jobs by emergency decree. Tens of thousands of others have been suspended, but most of them have subsequently been reinstated after investigation. There have also been a large number of dismissals in the private sector, but precise numbers are hard to come by.

The question is whether or not Erdoğan is ready lift the OHAL if he wins the elections, or whether or not the opposition bloc will succeed in doing so in the case of a victory. But the point is certain: the state of emergency lies at the very core of the Turkish crisis. BBC has assembled some key data, obtained in part from Turkish authorities, to remind of its magnitude.