Turkish President Recep Tayyiyp Erdogan had obviously not thought much when he challenged the Turkish people saying “If one day our nation says ‘enough,’ then we will step aside.” The magic sentence with the crucial key word “Enough” – Tamam in Turkish- was spoken out during his speech in the parliament on Tuesday.
Within minutes, Erdogan’s opponents, political opposition parties, dissidents, activists and democrats flocked on social media, preferably on Twitter creating a hashtag #TAMAM and calling on Erdogan to go.
More than two million Turks in 24 hours posted their Tweet urging Erdogan to step down.
"What have i done?" T A M A M #Tamam pic.twitter.com/qC5fcJCbkU
— Ismail Küpeli (@ismail_kupeli) May 8, 2018
“Soon after the speech, the “Tamam” hashtag swept across Turkish-language Twitter, then became a global trending topic,” notes middleeasteye.
“We want democracy so we say #enough to Erdogan. Please leave your seat, you did insane things to our country and people. Enough,” said one user.
“You will not step aside quietly. You will give account for the things you did. Enough!” said another.
Erdogan’s rivals in the presidential polls also jumped in, with the “tamam” tweets from three of his main opponents together garnering more than 10,000 retweets.
“Time is up. Enough!” tweeted Muharrem Ince, the candidate of the main opposition CHP.
Social media has become the primary platform for opposition to the government in Turkey, where traditional media is saturated with coverage of Erdogan and his ministers. Erdogan’s speeches, usually two or three a day, are all broadcast live on major channels, while opposition parties get little to no coverage.
The “Tamam” tweets also provided a moment of opposition unity with all major parties, including the pro-Kurdish ones who rarely find common ground with Turkish nationalists.
#change it for turkey#DEĞİSTİR #BİLGEBAŞKAN #TAMAM #tamaminsallah #enough pic.twitter.com/t6kua59iIC
— gamze (@bbenmeyra) May 9, 2018
“Enough: It’s very strange that Erdogan has offered the opposition a uniting slogan,” tweeted journalist Rusen Cakir.
Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, tweeted the hashtag, calling Erdogan to lift the ban on his website in Turkey. Wikipedia has been blocked in Turkey since April 2017.
I love Turkey. I love the Turkish culture and people. The beautiful city of Istanbul… great food, great wine, great culture. I call on Erdogan to unblock Wikipedia and to listen to the people! #tamam #wemissturkey
— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) May 8, 2018
Even Hollywood star Elijah Wood jointed the #Tamam wave.
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) May 8, 2018
The Turkish government dismissed the social media wave, which had accumulated close to 1.5 million posts by Tuesday night. Calling them “keyboard heroes,” government officials said that those behind the enough-movement were online bots associated with Kurdish PKK militants and Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Muslim cleric blamed by Ankara for a 2016 failed coup.
“Most are being sent from countries where the FETO and PKK are active. Most are bot accounts. We can also understand Greece, but what about those inside (Turkey),” said Mahir Unal, spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling AK Party.
FETO is an acronym for Gulen’s network of supporters and the PKK are the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party that has been waging a war against the Turkish government for autonomy.
Erdogan supporters later came up with the hashtag #Devam (Go on!).
On 24. June, Turkish voters will have the chance to tell Erdogan #Tamam in real life.
