Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been busy lately boasting of the difference between the “New Turkey” it claims to have built and the “Old Turkey” left behind. This narrative tells us that we Turks have overcome a past of utter darkness, leaving all evil behind, and have opened up to bright horizons with all good ahead of us.
A sharp eye, however, would instead discern that the “New Turkey” is in fact a continuation of the “Old Turkey” in many aspects. So much so that even the big bugaboo of the “Old Turkey” — “the reactionary threat” — continues to exist today, even if with different names.