Soma mining accident rocked Turkey, the operating company posted poor returns, the government responds tactless. Survivors and relatives of the victims are horrified. Reply to criticism supporters of PMErdogan with hatred – even against German Der Spiegel.

Now the whole world knows Soma. Because very many reporters this week have reported from this city in western Turkey. You did not do it because they just had nothing better to do, but because there occurred something tragic newsworthy. Journalists investigate and provide information, arrange a analyze, comment.

In Soma scenes have played that have burned into memory. One dead after another was taken out of the coal mine after it had come there on Tuesday in an explosion. According to official figures up to 302 workers lost their lives. 284 bodies have been recovered so far, 18 men are believed still down. No one expects to find them still alive.

Dozens of people were buried at the same time, at the graves I saw difficult to bear images, as in the morgue, where parents, children, siblings identified their dead relatives. We journalists came, as always with such events in the delicate situation, speak with those affected, but at the same time they do not interfere in their grief, not wanting to aggravate their suffering.

Turkey Mining Accident:Anger at the government

When several reporters rushed simultaneously to a weeping man or a woman struggling for composure , I expected that these people would say : Enough , enough! But instead, they began to tell and to ask questions , to which answers they wait until today.

People are angry at the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. You want to know how such a catastrophe could happen , why long demanded protective measures are not taken , why safety standards were not met. But the powerful remain the answers to questions about their responsibility guilty , for example, on what they have done so far to prevent such a catastrophe , or what they intend to do to ensure this does not happen again.

Instead, Erdogan upset them with a speech that feel a lot of people as heartless. Instead, enters a consultant Erdogan on a protester and delivers a half-hearted apology after . Instead, dive on videos, as Erdogan gets together with a young man . And instead prohibits the Soma Holding , the private operator of the mine , the miners and the rescue workers to talk to journalists after the had alleged that the death toll was fined . Fortunately, not all keep in mind .

A miner told me: “I ​​would not have uttered such a thing until now, but now I want to Erdogan only say: Go to hell” The quote was about one of my articles. This seems some Turkish media and bloggers now to be a welcome opportunity to put my criticism in the mouth. The quotation quotation marks is studiously read, so now I’m the journalist, one who appeals to Erdogan. Supporters of the prime minister’s start a hate campaign.

A few thousand e-mails, Facebook comments and tweets can reach me. Under the hashtag # ScherDichZumTeufelDerSpiegel let Erdogan fans on German and Turkish tweeted her anger run free. “This missile is shot from me to ‘Merkel’ and ‘The Mirror’!” Writes a Twitter Licensees over the photo of a veiled armed woman. Other spread a homemade photo with a cartoon of Angela Merkel in Nazi uniform to a SPIEGEL cover page. A Star of David is to see it, because the whole thing a “conspiracy of the Jews” is yes. Still others are content to simply distribute only the hashtag.

The German Nazi past as well as the NSU murders are used to point to Germany , the self “enough skeletons in the closet ” have – and therefore German journalists had kindly not critical to report on issues in Turkey. Things are netted against each other , even though they have nothing to do with each other .

How should I understand this part harsh accusations that go beyond the usual verbal abuse, where one is often exposed as a journalist ? How I deal with them, nor with all the dead in the head , the weeping of survivors in the ear ? What is all this? Even colleagues , a Briton and an American, tell me about hostility . Also , they are clueless . We are wrong with our coverage?

We think not. The sound of our critics is reminiscent of the campaigns of the Erdogan – faithful during Gezi protests , was accused as foreign journalists , Turkey split or want to destroy either . Turkish journalists reported that the ruling party had a ” 6000 -man Twitter army” set up to carry out such campaigns in the social networks . Accordingly, these mostly young people would be trained to a systematic approach to media that reported critical. Evidence that there is such a unit , though do not exist , but the kind of campaigns, of which other journalists – Turkish and foreign – report suggest that the matter is progressing as planned .

Erdogan open war against Der Spiegel:Turkey begins to change

Criticism of the rich and powerful is obviously undesirable in Turkey , regardless of whether it comes from grieving miners , journalists or from the German Federal President. Joachim Gauck got the feeling when he warned during his visit to Turkey of the dangers for democracy. And as the President of the Bar Association Erdogan criticized at a public event , the premier lost his composure and stormed angrily out of the room .

Erdogan and his fans come from the fact that the country is beginning to change since Gezi protests . So far there had been accustomed the people, not to question hierarchies and authorities recognize , on some downright submissive manner . Authoritarian rule was accepted . This has always been so , but hardly anyone stayed abroad on blinded by the economic success of Turkey in recent years .

One can call Gezi Protest as a failure , at least he did not bring any lasting change . Erdogan sitting since the successful local elections back in the saddle , despite corruption scandal , despite YouTube and Twitter lock. But one has made it clear Gezi : that there is a – there group of people in Turkey who no longer want to accept the lack of criticism – albeit comparatively small .