TURKEY last year successfully fended off a military coup, preventing a group of rogue officers from toppling the AKP-led government. Considering the country’s history of frequent military interventions, the Turkish administration’s victory over the coup-makers was seen as a success for democracy. However, in the months since, there has been an air of vindictiveness in Turkey, with the government moving seemingly against all its opponents and not just those who were believed to be involved in the coup. On Tuesday, nearly 500 people went on trial on charges connected to the coup. Before the trials began, President Erdogan’s administration had initiated a thorough ‘cleansing’ of the system, with mass arrests and imprisonments. Those rounded up include not only army men involved in the plot, but also teachers, police personnel, judges and journalists. The Turkish state seems to be using the opportunity to crack down on all dissent, and has blamed the attempted coup on exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, a charge Mr Gulen has denied.

Undoubtedly, those involved in trying to topple a democratically elected government must be held accountable. The message must be clear that military intervention will not be tolerated. Therefore, those officers and troops, as well as their facilitators, should be tried with transparency. However, including all opponents of Mr Erdogan and the AKP and terming them ‘enemies of the state’ is ill advised. Granted the AKP has won multiple elections in Turkey, proof that many of the country’s citizens approve of its governance. It is also true that many common citizens took to the streets last year while the coup was under way to defend the administration. However, this must not mean that the party uses its popularity to erode democratic norms and adopt an authoritarian course. Tarring political opponents of the administration, as well as critics such as journalists and academics, with the same brush as the coup-plotters is a dangerous move and in fact imperils Turkish democracy. The trials must continue with due process and those involved in last year’s coup must be punished. But Mr Erdogan and his administration need to think twice about alienating opposition groups. Tolerating dissent is part and parcel of the democratic system, while the AKP leadership should remember it was this lack of tolerance for democracy and dissent that helped past military coup-makers, and their civilian supporters, send elected governments packing. The world will be watching Turkey’s coup trial closely.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2017