Turkish riot police used tear gas to forcibly enter the headquarters of the main opposition party, the CHP, in Ankara. The action followed a judicial decision to remove its leadership and appoint former president Kemal Kilicdaroglu as interim leader. While supporters blocked the entrances, security forces broke through barricades, drawing condemnation from human rights groups who see this as an attack on democracy.
Democracy in debug mode: judicial system failures 🛠️
From a technical perspective, the Turkish judicial system appears to operate with administrator privileges not assigned to the common user. A court's decision to replace the leadership of a political party is akin to a rootkit altering the kernel of democracy. While in conventional operating systems a critical failure would require a security patch, here a hard reset with tear gas was chosen as the validation method. The transparency of the judicial process, on the other hand, has more bugs than a free software beta.
Itchy opponents: Ankara's new perfume 🌶️
If the Turkish police launched a line of fragrances, their star scent would be Eau de Tears with notes of spicy pepper. For CHP supporters, the experience of blocking the headquarters included an intensive course in applied chemistry and evacuation gymnastics. The only thing the gases failed to disperse was the doubt about judicial independence. At least now protesters have a solid excuse not to pay their heating gas bill.