Staatsgreep in Turkije #55

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Turkey at a historic tipping point

If you look at Turkey today, in the aftermath of the failed coup plot of July 15, you can see both negative and positive signs for the future.

On the negative side, there is an enraged nation, and state, against the enemy within. The putschists and their network, the Gülen community, is now the target of major wrath. This includes the arrest of more than 10,000 people and the firing of tens of thousands of public servants. Some aspects of this great purge are certainly excessive and worrying — such as the confiscation of the financial assets of suspected Gülenist prosecutors, or the arrests of journalist who merely wrote in Gülenist media. Some statements from officials, such as Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekçi’s vow that the putschists “will beg to be killed in their prison,” is outright scary. All in all, they are very clear grounds to worry about human rights violations in the months and years to come.

On the positive side, which seems to be missed by most Western observers, there are really bright spots. First of all, putting an end to this whole story of Gülenists infiltration of the state, which was underestimated by many people including myself, will be good for Turkish democracy. While the world’s attention has been only focused on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s latter-day (and overt) authoritarianism, the Gülenists have been covertly responsible for many traumas, such as the imprisonment of secular journalists or Kurdish activists from 2007 to 2013. The coup attempt itself proved the scope of their threat, the elimination of which should be welcome.

Moreover, there are also signs of a rare national consensus between the government and the opposition. President Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım have come together with the main opposition for the first time in years (I wish they came together with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party too, an act which could even help restore the “peace process” with the Kurdish separatists). There is now a chance that a truly “New Turkey” can be built by broad national consensus, rather than a narrow Erdoğanist agenda.

I really can’t foresee how these dynamics will work in the period ahead us. Probably nobody can. Yet we can all work together to drag Turkey towards the brighter side, not the dark side.

There is a major problem at hand, though. The Western world, in other words the United States and European Union, are very unhelpful to Turkey as this critical junction. Why? Well, their reaction to the coup has been very feeble. Yes, statements came from Western capitals that they stand with Turkish democracy.

But no Western statesmen (with the exception of a U.K. minister) have visited Turkey for solidarity, no icon in Western capitals were lit with the colors of the Turkish flag, and almost no major Western newspaper gave wholehearted praise for the brave Turkish citizens who stopped putschist tanks at the expense of their lives.

For me, this Western feebleness comes from the fact that, first, they don’t “get it,” or understand the severity of the coup plot and its culprits. Secondly, they are so focused on Erdoğan’s authoritarianism or Islamism that they are unable see anything else. For most Turks, however, the simpler explanation lies in a Western conspiracy. And unless Western behavior changes significantly, this conspiratorial perception may take Turkey further away from the West, and the tipping point may prove to be a disastrous one.

August/03/2016

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 11:12 schreef Faeroer het volgende:
zit wel wat in, probleem is dat de 'gewone burgers' van Turkije en Westen elkaar nu gaan uitmaken voor van alles en nog wat, terwijl het vooral leiders zijn die politieke spelletjes spelen. het volk is altijd de dupe

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 11:32 schreef speknek het volgende:

Ik denk dat dat redelijk accuraat is, maar het heeft er ook mee te maken dat Erdogan door zijn acties de laatste jaren sowieso al op -100% krediet stond bij de Westerse leiders, en de manier waarop hij ze gegijzeld hield over de rug van twee miljoen vluchtelingen. Dat is niet zozeer dat ze de Turken een coup gunnen, als wel dat ze hem liever zien gaan op welke manier dan ook.

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 12:12 schreef ChrisCarter het volgende:

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Dit moet een variant van De Speld zijn toch? De Kebabspies? Dat kan je niet menen dit?? !!!

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 12:14 schreef ToT het volgende:

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WAT???????????

Is dit geen photoshop of zo? Is de uitzending nog ergens terug te vinden?

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 12:22 schreef ChrisCarter het volgende:

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Die denken dan dat GTA staat voor Gulen Takes Ankara?

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 12:24 schreef Loekie1 het volgende:

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Het is Erdogan die de democratie om zeep helpt. Is dat nu echt zo moeilijk om te zien? Wat voor opleiding heb je gehad?

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 12:25 schreef ChrisCarter het volgende:

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Ja, ik bedoel het ook niet echt lullig. Maar wat denk de gemiddelde Turk hier dan van denk ik dan. Die geloven dit ook?

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 12:40 schreef Loekie1 het volgende:

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Jij bent toch gewoon Nederlander?

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 12:44 schreef Loekie1 het volgende:

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Aan jou.

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 12:59 schreef Loekie1 het volgende:

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Je bent toch in Nederland opgegroeid? Weet je dan niet wat democratie zoal inhoudt?

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 12:30 schreef Slayage het volgende:

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"het verlichte westen leest de barbaarse turk de les"

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 13:02 schreef DustPuppy het volgende:

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Maar jij bent geen Turk. Dus waar hebben we het over?

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The Western response to the coup attempt is scary

I hate conspiracy theories; they are not only an expression of narrow-mindedness, but also block common sense and chart a path toward the dangerous waters of xenophobia, anti-Semitism and paranoia.

Unfortunately, they are very popular nowadays, especially in Muslim countries, and it fans the flames of anti-Westernism while fostering nationalist authoritarian politics. That is why I have been a long-time critic of the conspiratorial mind in Turkey and have written extensively on that false mindedness.

Nevertheless, I must admit that even I have started to view the recent suspicions about “U.S. or Western backing for the coup attempt” as not entirely groundless. It is not to say that I am one among those who directly accuse the U.S. of plotting against Turkey, but I find the U.S. and Western reaction toward the coup attempt in Turkey as utterly problematic.

First of all, Western governments and media outlets, from the very beginning, did not decisively denounce the coup attempt. On the contrary, international channels broke the news in an almost apologetic way on behalf of the coup plotters. Moreover, some almost legitimized the move as they claimed that the army could have been reacting against “the inefficiency of the government in the fight against ISIL.” Then, some started to imply that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan might have staged the whole thing in order to use the pretext to extend his power. Finally, some started to express their skepticism concerning the role of Gülenists in the coup. Even if there are still dark aspects of the whole affair that deserve skepticism and the possibility that the coup will be abused to attempt a severe purge, it is not sensible to focus more on the unconvincing story that Erdoğan himself staged the whole thing, than the more convincing story that it was an attempt against him and that the coup plotters were most probably Gülenists, since the struggle between them and Erdoğan has been getting very nasty.

After all, the U.S. may not approve the government’s request for Gülen’s extradition to Turkey without any legal process to prove his role in the coup, but it’s another to portray Gülen as a pious individual who lives peacefully in the U.S., or as a Sufi who has nothing to do with Turkish politics.

Finally, we know the U.S./Western obsession of acting against authoritarian nationalist leaders in other countries, either by direct intervention or by informal and murky meddling. I hope no such circle in a Western government, and especially in intelligence agencies, found an opportunity to try to do something similar for Erdoğan by meddling in the Erdoğan-Gülen rift. I am an arch critic of Erdoğan, his party and their politics, and I was the lonely first person among democrats to express concern about the authoritarian swing in Turkey as early as the end of 2009. I am someone who paid a price for being an opponent of authoritarian politics and of Kurdish politics, but it never occurred to me to change my ways when I encountered all sorts of intimidation. That is why I have no concerns about being labelled as an Erdoğan apologist, as I not only support his civilian government against any coup or plot, but also feel revolted by the Western media, which is more focused on portraying him as a mere monster behind all manner of evil than anything else. Moreover, the recent coverage of Turkish affairs does injustice to the civil society and the opposition in Turkey and tends to underestimate the democratic dynamism in the country. I think it is worthy of praise that the majority of the people and all the opposition united to react against the undemocratic attempt despite the country’s political polarization.

If our Western allies and friends want to support democracy in Turkey, they should have been supporting the general anti-coup mood and the recent reconciliatory attitude of Erdoğan and his party rather than spoiling the opportunity by pushing Turkey into an anti-Western, nationalistic and authoritarian mood.

Of course I am very concerned by the possibility of a further authoritarian swing. Of course I know that the future is still uncertain and gloomy. Of course I am not convinced that Erdoğan and his party did not and will not respond in the most democratic way. And of course I am very disturbed by the witch hunt, as I have friends and acquaintances among the arrested journalists; in short, I am not very optimistic at all. Still, I am more scared by the possibility of Western policy being shaped by the obsession with Erdoğan than anything else.

We know what happens if Western policy is shaped by the determination to get rid of nationalist/authoritarian leaders in other countries. They are all war-trodden people who are at each other’s throat, God forbid!

http://www.hurriyetdailyn(...)102311&NewsCatID=406
August/01/2016

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 13:11 schreef Loekie1 het volgende:

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Mag ik je een vraag stellen? Ben je in Nederland opgegroeid?

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 13:20 schreef zarGon het volgende:
stay stronk slayage bruur

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 13:37 schreef Wespensteek het volgende:

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Toch leuk dat ze Erdogan zo omschrijven.

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 13:39 schreef Loekie1 het volgende:

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Alleen omdat ik vraag of je in Nederland bent opgegroeid?

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 13:35 schreef speknek het volgende:

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Ik geloof absoluut dat er een zekere orientalistische, half-racistische mindset meespeelt, "die mensen in het midden-oosten kunnen toch niet goed voor zichzelf zorgen, dus zo nu en dan een coup is gewoon par for the course, en laten we er maar gewoon realpolitisch er mee omgaan". Maar dit vind ik dan ook weer iets te kort door de bocht. En de schrijver van het andere artikel, in zover als hurriyet uberhaupt nog betrouwbaar is, lijkt ook ten dele appeasement te plegen ingegeven door angst dat Erdogan nog meer macht krijgt.

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1. De westerse leiders hebben zich grotendeels uitgesproken tegen de coup terwijl deze nog bezig was (wellicht laat, natuurlijk ietwat opportunistisch, maar daar heeft Turkije het met zijn vluchtelingendeal ook naar gemaakt; als je gegijzeld wordt ga je geen stennis schoppen tegen wie je op dat moment dan ook gegijzeld houdt). Ze stonden in ieder geval niet de coupplegers aan te moedigen (voor zover we weten).

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2. De belangrijkste peilers in de Westerse democratie zij: de rechtsstaat en de vrije pers. Die laatste had Erdogan al goeddeels ontmanteld lang voor de couppoging, de eerste was hij ook al een jaar mee bezig. In de ogen van menig Westerling was er geen goed functionerende Turkse democratie meer. Tuurlijk, een couppoging is nog erger, maar verder is het lood om oud ijzer. Ongetwijfeld zal dit enigszins gechargeerd zijn geweest en ingegeven door het eerder genoemde orientalisme, maar je kunt moeilijk anders zeggen dan dat wat Erdogan nu doorvoert, toch duidelijk de tekenen van een op zijn minst Totalitaire Cronyist zijn. Dus het sentiment wat heerste is alleen maar bevestigd. Een ambivalentie is dan wellicht niet correct, maar valt ook te verwachten.

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 13:41 schreef Kyran het volgende:

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Ja, tuurlijk is het Erdogan die de democratie op zeep helpt. Echter snap ik de reactie vanuit Turkije ook wel. Iedereen in de westerse wereld zit te gillen om democratie, maar uiteindelijk willen ze Erdogan wel weg hebben, desnoods met een coup of met een kogel door de kop. Enigszins hypocriet is het dus wel.

... niet dat ik hem niet weg wil hebben

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 13:51 schreef speknek het volgende:

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A few years later

[ afbeelding ]

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Turkey should tone down against the West

Yes, it’s a fact that Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary-general of the Council of Europe, will be the first European official to pay a visit to Ankara since the July 15 coup attempt when he comes on Aug. 3, nearly three weeks after Turkish democracy faced one of its severest attacks. (Except for the United Kingdom’s EU minister, Alan Duncan, who was in Ankara on July 20 and 21.)

It’s also true that statements coming from European capitals during and after the coup attempt failed to focus on the very core of the issue, namely, that a group of plotters with links to the Gülenist organization within the army tried to overthrow the government by terrorizing the country, bombing parliament and killing civilians.

There were some foreign ministers who warned Turkey that the coup attempt would not provide a “blank check” to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, issuing their statements just 24 hours after the incident and before the dust had even settled. There were others who condemned the incident but without showing any empathy, as if such coup attempts happened every day in this part of the world. It’s also true that Germany’s refusal to allow President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to join a rally in Cologne via videoconference was absurd.
It’s also a fact that the Western media’s coverage was not objective at all and, worse, was not helpful in transmitting what has been happening in the country to their audience in the right way. It was this column in the very first week after the coup attempt that reflected this disappointment with calls to obtain a better outlook on the developments here.

However, all these will not justify increasingly hostile statements from the Turkish leadership against Turkey’s Western allies. Criticizing the lack of support or insufficient solidarity lent by European countries is one thing; identifying them as supporters of terrorism and coups is something else.

In a statement to international investors, Erdoğan accused the West of supporting terrorists and standing by the coup plotters, naming Germany, Belgium and France, three main countries of the European Union. Echoing Erdoğan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and other senior Turkish leaders are also very outspoken when it comes to slam European countries on the similar points.

This harsh rhetoric against all of the West should not be thought of separately from Erdoğan’s upcoming visit to Russia next week. Again in his statement to investors, Erdoğan said Turkey and Russia were planning to announce a very substantial action plan to strengthen their bilateral economic and trade relationship to make them even better than before Nov. 24, 2015, the day Turkey shot down a Russian warplane. Although Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had said Turkey’s normalization with Russia does not represent an alternative to its ties with NATO and the EU, there are those in Ankara that consider it otherwise.

If Turkey is planning to use this strong-worded rhetoric to urge its Western partners that they might lose their strongest ally in this region, that would first hurt Turkish interests before those of its allies. It’s vital for Turkey to tone down its rhetoric against the West, find a balanced language and recall that its future is still in Europe.

August/03/2016

http://www.hurriyetdailyn(...)102418&NewsCatID=429

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 14:54 schreef edraket31 het volgende:
zo, nog lekker een last minute geboekt....effe de economie helpen

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 16:11 schreef zarGon het volgende:
Die commercial van Zaman, met die lachende baby, kwam uit op 5 oktober 2015.

In het filmpje hoorde je sirenes, en vervolgens zag je een lachende baby.

Aantal dagen tussen 5 oktober 2015 en 15 juli 2016 = 9 maanden en 10 dagen; de duur van een zwangerschap in het Turks.

Subliminal message confirmed.

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Op woensdag 3 augustus 2016 16:29 schreef ClapClapYourHands het volgende:

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Je vergeet het belangrijkste

Lachende baby = Gülen bebek. Geboorte van een Gülen tijdperk.

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Op donderdag 4 augustus 2016 13:22 schreef ChrisCarter het volgende:

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Ja dat zijn nu allemaal "terroristen" in je familie he. Bizar idee of niet?

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Op donderdag 4 augustus 2016 13:34 schreef ChrisCarter het volgende:

Welk bewijs is er dan dat deze coup door gulen is gepleegd? Want jij lijkt daar nu ook al vanuit te gaan.

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Gülen’s parallel hierarchy exposed as probe into failed coup attempt deepens

As the probe deepens into U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s supporters, the suspected organizers of the July 15 failed coup attempt, more of the hierarchy inside the Gülenist group has come to light, as reports have revealed Gülenist leaders known as “imams” commanded their superiors in the military and state organization.

The “imam” of the General Staff was Muhammet Uslu, a former cleaning worker who built up an “irrepressible career” due to his Gülenist links, daily Hürriyet columnist Abdülkadir Selvi wrote on Aug. 3.
Uslu was employed as a cleaning worker between July 7 and Aug. 15, 2000, and then graduated from Anadolu University in Ankara. He started living in Gülen movement houses while studying there, according to Selvi.

The movement then reportedly found him a job in the Gülhane Military Hospital’s (GATA) Health Foundation as soon as he graduated and he did his military service in GATA’s Support Command.

“When his military service ended, he was assigned to work in [the eastern province of] Kars as a teacher. He worked there for two or three years and then was assigned to Ankara as an assistant manager in a short while. His rise in the bureaucracy continued as his position in the Gülen movement increased,” Selvi wrote, adding that opponents in the exams Uslu took either didn’t show up or retracted their applications to take the exams.

His career in the Gülen movement ended up with him becoming the “imam” of the General Staff.
Imam, which traditionally refers to a religious public worker, is a term used by the Gülenist organization to mark local leadership.

Uslu was mentioned as a “brother” in the testimony of Infantry Lt. Col. Levent Türkkan, Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar’s aide, who previously confessed his allegiance to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

Türkkan also said they had bugged the rooms of Akar and the former army chief Necdet Özel, which was also mentioned in Uslu’s testimony.

“Türkkan, who used the code name ‘Ahmet,’ and ‘Salih’ code-named Gökhan Eski, who was working in the general staff, bugged the room of the chief of general staff and brought the device that we called ‘a radio’ to me after it was full. I was giving them an empty one afterwards. We listened to the army chief for a long time for the Gülen movement,” Uslu said in his testimony.

Uslu’s house was among the places where the July 15 failed coup attempt was discussed, without him being present, according to the testimony.

Meanwhile, Hakan Çiçek, the “second imam” of the Akıncı Air Base in Ankara and the owner of a Gülenist school, Anafartalar College, was at the air base during the failed takeover, Mesut Hasan Benli from Hürriyet reported on Aug. 3.

Çiçek reportedly said he was invited to the air base by Col. Ahmet Özçetin, who told the former that there was a “social event” at around 8 p.m.

“I went to the Akıncı Air Base. Özçetin and a couple of others were there, but I didn’t know them. Military mobility started a few minutes later, so I couldn’t go out. I was there until the morning. When I was escaping the Gendarmerie caught me. I didn’t know what was happening,” Çiçek said, adding that he “wasn’t a FETÖ member and didn’t know Gülen.”

Another “imam” of the Gülen movement is İsmail Büyükçelebi, who has been called Gülen’s successor, daily Milliyet reported on Aug. 3.

Büyükçelebi reportedly has a say in the financial resources and educational institutions of the movement and is a mediator between political figures and Gülen.

Several other reports showed that Gülenist superiors in the military who took part in the July 15 coup attempt obeyed their juniors and sometimes even civilians in several cases, remaining loyal to their illegal order, not their own ranking.

http://www.hurriyetdailyn(...)102471&NewsCatID=341
August/04/2016

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Op donderdag 4 augustus 2016 13:49 schreef KirmiziBeyaz het volgende:
http://www.elsevier.nl/bu(...)er-crimineel-335399/

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Op donderdag 4 augustus 2016 14:23 schreef ChrisCarter het volgende:

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Ik geloof alleen in hard bewijs. Punt. Ook als dat bewijs inderdaad naar gulen zou wijzen, dan is dat de conclusie die uit hard bewijs kan voortkomen.

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Forgive me for exposing real Gülen late: Turkey's Erdoğan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has expressed his regret for helping the Fethullah Gülen organization in the past and not being able to show the group’s real face to the people of Turkey, pledging to account for this on behalf of the nation and God. Fethullah Gülen and his organization are believed to have been behind the July 15 failed coup attempt that left at least 238 dead.

“Late [President Turgut] Özal, late [President Süleyman] Demirel, late [Prime Minister Bülent] Ecevit and even us, we helped this structure with good will, although we were politicians and statesmen with different [world] views. Let me speak frankly. On my behalf, I also helped them on the grounds that we met on common ground, although there were so many issues on which I did not agree with them,” Erdoğan said in an address to the Extraordinary Religion Council on Aug 3.

The reason why the Gülenist organization was able to live within society like a constantly-growing virus was its religious values, Erdoğan said, adding that this characteristic of the group was always supported by the Turkish public opinion throughout this time.

“Despite all our reservations about the leader of this organization, I showed tolerance to them out of respect for their education, aid and solidarity activities in the country and abroad. We showed tolerance as they were saying ‘God.’ We said we had common ground,” Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan admitted that he failed to see the organization’s real intentions and long-term objectives until 2010, after which he started to look at the group in a different way, recalling that he started to voice his reservations against the group in 2012. The president further confessed that he could not even convince some of his friends in his political party about some of the group’s suspicious acts, such as targeting senior military officers and prominent personalities within the state civil service and private sector.

The corruption and fraud probe that was launched in late 2013 was the turning point in starting to see the real face of the Gülenist organization, the president stated. “But I know that there are still those who don’t want to believe in it. I know there are still those who look at [it] but can’t see it. From this moment, the era of suspicion is over and the era of fighting has started.”

‘May God and my nation forgive us’

The president expressed his sorrow over not being able to show the real face of the Gülenist organization to the Turkish people, saying “Despite everything, I deplore not being able to uncover the real face of this organization. I know that we have to account to both God and the nation. May God and my nation forgive us.”

It was time to let these people pay account for what they did and at the same time to self-criticize, he said, expressing his determinacy in fighting Gülenists organization members. “I declare from this hall: After this hour, those who will continue to give an ear to the deliriums of this terrorist leader in Pennsylvania [Gülen] will accept beforehand whatever will happen to him or her,” he added.

One of the most important characteristics of the members of this organization was their ability to pretend and hide their faces behind a mask, Erdoğan claimed, adding that was why he still had difficulties accepting the sincerity of former Gülenists who expressed their regrets. “Do they really regret? I do not say this in a revanchist manner but are they really regretful? Or are they hypocritical, a characteristic of this very group. We have difficulty seeing this,” Erdoğan said.

http://www.hurriyetdailyn(...)102430&NewsCatID=338
August/03/2016

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Secular Turks between a rock and a hard place

What we are living through these days harbors several chains of ironies.

Certain European circles have counted on Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule to weaken the Turkish army, which they saw as the main headache in Turkish-European relations. So Europe largely remained silent to the “purge” against the army in 2010 undertaken via legal cases that saw hundreds of army officers end up in jail.

Ironically, the same circles, for a few hours on July 15, placed their bets and counted on the army to weaken President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom they now see as a major troublemaker. Yet the coup attempt did not come from the secular segments of the army but rather a religious sect that had infiltrated key positions in the army. Had the coup been successful, the first thing Gülenists would have done would be to assure that Turkey will be a loyal ally to the West. They would have immediately appointed an ambassador to Israel, given assurances to Europe that neither refugees nor any jihadists would be allowed to go to Europe, etc.

And as they would start annihilating the essential elements of democracy like free speech and secularism with their very subtle ways, Europe would have largely remained silent to democratic backpedalling. Just like it did with the Abdel el-Sisi regime in Egypt. And this is exactly what Erdoğan feared and feels vindicated seeing the initial tepid reaction of the West to the failed coup.

But the ironies don’t end there. At the beginning of the AKP rule, some secular circles in the Turkish society wished for the military to topple Erdoğan. Ironically, the coup attempt came from the Gülenists within the army who would have targeted their secular lifestyles had they been successful.

Erdoğan joined hands with the Gülenists to weaken the secularist within the army, whom he saw as his enemy; ironically it is largely the secular segments within the army that came to rescue Erdoğan by not joining the coup and even combatting the coup plotters, at the expense of their lives.

So where are all these ironies leading Turkey’s democracy? Let me use a Turkish saying and borrow Semih İdiz’s translation.

Those who want Turkey to be a genuine democracy are faced with a situation where there “is a stick that has dirt on both ends (read ‘dirt’ here as a euphemism for what is obvious). In other words it is faced with a situation where it is damned if it does, and damned if it doesn’t.”

On the one hand, there is a real need for a purge against the Gülenists. And we have to rely on the country’s legitimately elected rulers, in other words on Erdoğan and AKP officials, to clamp down on this secretive organization. Yet on the other hand there is a real risk that Erdoğan uses this occasion to consolidate his rule. The purge that is taking place on all walks of life looks disproportionate to the real threat (yet everybody apart from Gülenists confesses to having not realized the huge proportion of the threat). The first decree by the power of law that was issued by the government brings serious restrictions to defense rights, not compatible with fundamental freedoms. The government saw no need to consult the opposition for the decree it issued on the new structure of the army which brought radical changes to the functioning of the armed forces.
All those are alarming signs that fuel the suspicions against Erdoğan.

Meanwhile, feeling weakened by both domestic threats and a lack of external support, Erdoğan and the government are showing signs of reconciliation with the opposition. But here too is another instance of being between a rock and a hard place.

Let’s set aside the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) whose main ideology and constituency is not much different than the AKP. The secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) has been lending support to the government. Yet its supporters are not in the streets, where every night what are called “democracy celebrations” are held in city centers organized by AKP municipalities. Some are even afraid of accidentally coming across them, fearing they might be harassed because they are not “one of them.”

On the one hand, it is important that the government remains open to dialogue with the opposition. On the other hand one is suspicious on whether this image of “unity” will be used to sugarcoat antidemocratic practices. To what degree can we count on the opposition that has proven inefficient until now?

At the end of the day, criticizing the government’s action against Gülenists carries the risk of playing into the hands of this heinous organization, while not raising criticism carries the risk of legitimizing the government’s wrong practices. Finding the middle ground remains the current challenge.

http://www.hurriyetdailyn(...)102451&NewsCatID=412
August/04/2016

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Op donderdag 4 augustus 2016 14:40 schreef KirmiziBeyaz het volgende:
Hurriyet is hét voorbeeld van hoe autocensuur werkt. Mensen die die krant als bron aanhalen om een punt te maken, mogen langs Riagg

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Op donderdag 4 augustus 2016 17:17 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Eén partij of persoon heeft alle macht.