Enorme giornalista turco (abbonati da 1,5 milioni su YouTube, anch’esso più visto) arrestato per “minacciare il presidente”

Personal comment: On Friday, during his daily newscast on YouTube, Fatih Altaylı referred to a poll that asked whether the participants would approve of Erdogan becoming “president for life”; the overwhelming majority of pollsters (~70%) replied that they would not. Fatih Altaylı proceeded to say that, while vulnerable to populism, historically and ideologically, the Turkish population has never been sympathetic to attempts at dictatorship, and they always want the head of the state to be “their guy”, even if it’s a “one man rule”. He gave the example of deposed and assassinated Sultans in the Ottoman era, and how popular opinion has always decided the outcome in crucial moments, even in a monarchical context.

Sections of the video were cropped to make the words seem especially inflammatory and targeted, and they became the object of a cancel campaign on social media. A chief advisor of Erdogan targeted the journalist on X, saying, “Altaylııı, your water is getting warm!” (as in, you’ve been misbehaving for a time, and it’s time for you to get boiled). Shortly after, he was detained, and today, arrested.

My opinion: His words constituted no direct threat or insult, as the prosecution claims — I’d listened to the news before and it had not struck me as even especially “defiant”. Turkish rule of law is disintegrating faster than ever.

Anyone surprised?

He mentioned that some Ottoman sultans who experienced power intoxication were eventually overthrown or killed in one way or another, and pointed out that the public has never been particularly fond of one-man regimes. Some people took it personally.

He should have known that Erdogan is the most fragile dictator in history.