Turkey: Striking shoppers exert political pressure
As part of a wave of protests, supporters of the imprisoned Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoğlu, called on the public not to go shopping on Wednesday in a bid to up the economic pressure on President Erdoğan. Information about the impact of the boycott varies, but the authorities are now investigating citizens who reposted the boycott call.
Panic in the face of consumer power
Birgün notes that the state power has now felt the power of resistance from the wider public for the first time:
“Calls on social media to join the boycott were well received and many celebrities joined in. Citizens used their legitimate power as consumers to urge companies to change their codes of ethics. This is precisely where popular resistance became a 'tangible threat'. The government's panic was evident when ministers joined live broadcasts in the middle of the night and posted on social media at dawn, and the public prosecutor's offices launched an investigation. They were unanimous in claiming that this was 'economic sabotage'.”
What's the crime?
In Istanbul, the call for a boycott is being investigated by the public prosecutor. Cumhuriyet views this as a waste of resources:
“This initiative was perhaps the most pointless consequence of the boycott. It makes no sense for a high authority like the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to invest time, energy and even financial resources in matters such as 'Who went shopping? Who called for a boycott?' Moreover, whether people shop or not is up to them. ... Nobody can interfere with this. Especially not in free market conditions! President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the government have also called for similar boycotts in the past, and no one went hunting for crimes or offenders.”