Author Archives: Daniel Stylianou

The continuing threat to democracies

By Daniel Stylianou | Sun 14th May 2023 - 12:00 pm

I wrote an article earlier this week about the hope for renewed democracy in Turkey should the opposition leader – Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu – be successful in the upcoming Presidential elections. But democracy continues to come under threat across the globe, as more countries seem to be sliding down the steep path to dictatorship and the abolition of civil liberties and human rights.

Human Rights Watch has today published an article focusing on the state of affairs in Tunisia. The authorities have placed a further 17 current or former members of Ennahda, the largest opposition party in the country, in prison. That means that, as of today, over 30 political figures who are critical of President Kais Saied are behind bars accused of “conspiring against state security”. According to Human Rights Watch, the detainees include former ministers, the party President, two vice presidents and the former Speaker of Parliament. The Tunisian authorities have simultaneously shut Ennahda’s offices across the country.

In Myanmar, the military has used a “thermobaric” munition – designed to cause the maximum amount of casualties – on the village of Pa Zi Gyi in response to an opposition-controlled administrative office being opened. The blast was followed by helicopter assaults using cannons, grenades and rockets as innocent civilians tried to flee. A resident confirmed that the anti-junta People’s Defence Forces was present at the opening, but that the office was for tax filing, town meetings and judicial events, not for military purposes.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged human rights, hungary, international, italy, pakistan, poland, right wing, sudan and tunisia | 8 Comments

The fight for Turkey’s soul

By Daniel Stylianou | Wed 10th May 2023 - 1:19 pm

He hasn’t been successful throughout his career. A former civil servant and ex-accountant, his political party has lost every general election since he became their leader in 2010. And yet, despite this, millions of Turks now look to him to save their country from their autocratic President and fulfil his promise to restore democracy to their country.

He is, of course, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People’s Party and head of the National Alliance. Comprised of six opposition parties, many hope the National Alliance will finally unseat incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, ending his grip on power.

In four days Turks will go to the polls in the 2023 Presidential Elections. It is estimated over 60 million Turks will cast their vote and elect a President for a new five year term. The opposition leader has been cast in the role of Turkey’s saviour; his signature hand gesture is to hold them in the shape of a heart, and he professes to live as ordinary Turks do (he has claimed he will eschew living in the presidential palace if elected).

Having lost every general election since elected as leader of the CHP, it is perhaps surprising that Kılıçdaroğlu has become the frontrunner to defeat Erdoğan. But actions speak loudly, and Kılıçdaroğlu has campaigned tirelessly to restore democracy to a country on the steep, dangerous slope towards complete autocracy. In 2017, a CHP politician and member of the Turkish parliament was sentenced to 25 years in prison, accused of leaking state secrets. Kılıçdaroğlu organised a 28-mile walk from Ankara to Istanbul in response – the “Justice March” – which, despite being attacked with stones and manure, carried their peaceful mark over 25 days to end with a rally in Maltepe.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged turkey | 3 Comments

Voting Liberal Democrat for the first time

By Daniel Stylianou | Sun 7th May 2023 - 8:30 pm

Since I was eligible to vote, I have voted for the Conservative Party. Local elections, by-elections, General Elections; I’ve always “voted blue, no matter who”. Part of the reason, I’m sure, is the influence of my grandparents who have always voted Conservative. The other reason is easier to identify; as someone always interested – and now working in – law, the fact that the Conservative Party has always been identified as the “party of law and order” naturally drew me to them.

I won’t lie. I have never delved too deeply into the individual policies of the party. I started voting Conservative and didn’t stop. I followed Conservative MPs on Twitter and Facebook, I read “right leaning” newspapers and, for a period of time, I joined the local party association and gave my support as a local activist. I was even asked, where I used to live, to consider standing for the council (albeit as a paper candidate).

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged civil liberties, conservatives and new member | 34 Comments