Following the attempted armed attack during a dinner in Washington, the message issued by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan drew considerable attention. Condemning the attack, Erdoğan stated: “In democracies, political struggle is carried out through ideas; there is no place for violence of any kind.”
Undoubtedly, this statement recalled one of the most fundamental principles of democratic politics: political competition is conducted at the ballot box, through speech, and through ideas; the way to confront an opponent is not through force, but through law. Yet it is precisely at this point that one inevitably turns back to Turkey — more specifically, to Edirne Prison.
Because the case of Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been kept behind bars for years, remains one of the clearest examples of the deep contradiction between the democratic message projected outward by the government and the political order it has built at home. Despite repeated rulings by the European Court of Human Rights finding rights violations and politically motivated detention, Demirtaş has still not regained his freedom. This only makes the question of judicial independence in Turkey more urgent with each passing day.
That the political authority can find the right democratic language in response to the attack in Washington, while failing to display the same democratic reflex in the face of this long-standing injustice in Edirne, is not merely an inconsistency; it also exposes the limits of the government’s understanding of democracy.
The universal principles of democracy do not change according to individuals, countries, or political interests. If political struggle is truly to be carried out through ideas, then that principle must apply not only to Trump, but also to Demirtaş.
