Snow tends to fall.

In Turkey it falls in a special way. It is white here too, just like it is yours.

But the snow that has fallen in Istanbul since my last letter to you is very different from the snow here.

What happened in the wake of the snowfall that paralyzed the city for a few days wasn't due to the weather, it was a kind of résumé of Turkey in the Erdoğan era.

On the Turkish version of the column


Yazının Türkçe orijinalini okumak için tıklayın


There had been warnings days earlier, and snowfall began in Istanbul on Thursday night.

The city, governed by the opposition, managed to keep the inner-city streets free.

But the highways, for which the central government is responsible, were completely snowed in within a few hours.

And thanks to Erdoğan, who wanted to punish the city that lost in the last local elections and blame the opposition mayor İmamoğlu.

Hundreds of thousands of Istanbulites were stuck in their cars for hours.

The message was clear: "If you don't vote for us, you will have to bear the consequences yourself."

Aftershocks of ingratitude

It wasn't just about the streets.

Istanbul could not be reached from the air either.

Erdoğan had commissioned billions of dollars to build the new airport from related entrepreneurs, and now it was drowned in snow that only fell for a few hours.

Arrivals and departures were no longer possible, the roof of the freight terminal collapsed and air traffic was suspended.

The airport, which is said to be the largest in the world, was inaccessible by air or land for 48 hours.

Until the travelers protested.

The mostly foreign passengers had been given cardboard boxes to sleep on, but it wasn't until they chanted "We Need Hotel" that the state finally managed to clear the access road.

However, not to accommodate the travelers in hotels,

but to give the riot police access to the international terminal.

Keep this in mind: If you ever need the help of officials in Turkey but don't get it, protest, chant slogans.

Then the state is in front of you in no time.

A few days before the travelers became acquainted with our "advanced democracy", Erdoğan had toned: "We are in the mood for space." With half a meter of snow, they are unable to maintain air traffic, but they want to go to space.

Some people may be skeptical about how seriously this is meant.

Especially when you hear what kind of people have been appointed to the space agency founded by Erdoğan.

A civil servant with a vocational school degree in the field of vegetable production technology was appointed as a consultant.

Who knows, maybe he should research whether there is life in space, in terms of vegetables.

In 2013, the current space adviser attracted attention when he explained that there were aftershocks after the earthquake in Van because Erdoğan had not been thanked.

Used for political defamation

Let's return from space to the ground and snow.

Air traffic had to be stopped at Istanbul Airport, which is far outside of the city.

What did the old Istanbul airfield called Atatürk Airport look like?

So that no larger machines could land there, Erdoğan had a hospital built at the end of the runway.

The old airport is closed to the public, but private planes owned by Erdoğan and his ministers are in operation.

While travelers were miserably stuck at the new airport, private jets kept landing and taking off at the old airport.

At the beginning I mentioned that the palace planned to tie Mayor İmamoğlu out of the snow chaos.

This attempt is documented by a photo leaked to the press on the day of the heaviest snowfall.

For security reasons, central points in the city are equipped with surveillance cameras.

One of these cameras recorded İmamoğlu having lunch with the British ambassador.

The footage was leaked to the press loyal to Erdoğan, which made the following headline out of it: "The people are stuck on the road, İmamoğlu is stuck eating".

The cameras installed to thwart possible terrorist attacks were misused for political defamation.