An Open Letter to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Turkey:

Mr. Erdoğan:

I wish to express my admiration for you, above all, as a champion of justice and of freedom of world historical significance. As an admirer, I would like to lend you my words for a public statement you have been literally dying (whether you're willing to admit it) to find the words and the personal courage to publish. I am sure a good Turkish translator will have no trouble preserving the spirit of what I say, its all pretty universal:



I, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a sailor's son, a child of Turkey and of Asia, born in the most beautiful city in Europe, etc. etc., you can tell it better than I, have been blessed by God to be esteemed a leader by my own people. The great heroes of freedom, of whom I am truly blessed of God to have yet a hope of joining, if we, as a Turkish nation, can find a place for compassion in our hearts during this, the first civil crisis of a new Turkey, have set a precedent of humility that their aspirant successors abrogate at their immortal peril.

The eyes of God and of men cannot look down on me if I decide to seek the Presidency of my nation, for I have played the game skillfully, and by the rules. If my partisans are, in all humility, more securely in power, within the law, than the law is really meant to give to any single organization, and if I, therefore, have more power than the leader of a free country is meant to possess within his own borders, then it falls to me, in the sight of God, as a leader of free men, to assure my countrymen that I remember my people, that I will not abridge their freedom, and that I will not resist legitimate attempts to unseat my government at the ballot box.

For my people's future, for the future of the political movement I do not wish to die with me, and for my own immortal reputation, I will not serve concurrently as the leader of my political party and the president of my nation. To some this will seem an insufficient, insignificant gesture, political theater, meant to appease just enough people to survive this crisis, and to them I say, ORGANIZE!!! Use these moments in the streets together, misbehaving in the name of justice, taunting your countrymen in uniform with hurled insults and hurled stones, use this time to glorify your people, in the name of justice, and of righteousness, and in the glory of God.

Challenge me. Challenge my AK Party to be better, to serve you better, to lead you better. Because you are right: I have, in some sense, too much power, even if I still feel infuriatingly powerless in times like these, and you, the younger generation, the rising heart of a growing Turkish Nation do not see yourselves in the laws of my party. But this is not because I am right, or wrong, or a dictator or a democrat. It is because I am in power in a still-young democracy and because you, Turkey, you must find yourself in this crisis, for my party is what you, its members, make of it, what you challenge it to be.

This is not about a park, although I have ordered a review of the development plan to evaluate if there are ways that the community which felt slighted in the planning process can be accommodated. This development, however, must go forward, ultimately. Turkey must go forward, and although this neighborhood and many beautiful Turkish places across the nation will be forever changed in this process, together, as a nation, we will build a future that has as much to give us pride in being Turkish as the past we have, with reverence, and respect, build anew.



At least, that's what I would say, and do, if I were in your position. You are not the foolish Mr. Putin, to watch the reputation and the nation you have carefully nurtured crumble around you because you do not feel personally ready to stop working. At a certain point, the same work that was righteous yesterday becomes tyranny tomorrow, and you, sir, do not get to choose when that is.

Respectfully,

George Levin