Tayyip Erdogan

[DRSB]

Not that I had hope for a different result, but wonders do happen!

RIP Turkey, 1921 – 2017

Recep Tayyip Erdogan didn’t just win his constitutional referendum — he permanently closed a chapter of his country’s modern history.

Erdogan is an authoritarian, like those found throughout the world. But he is also inspired by Ottoman history, and there are aspects of his rule that echo that era. As the Turkish president has come to rely on a smaller and smaller group of advisors, including members of his family, his “White Palace” — the presidential palace in Ankara he built on land once owned by Ataturk — has come to resemble, not merely in grandeur, the palaces of the Ottoman sultans. Yet his effort to secure the executive presidency goes much deeper than that. Erdogan wants to tear down the republic because both he and the people he represents have suffered at the hands of those who have led and defended it. It would be impractical and impossible to re-create the governing structures of the Ottoman state, but in the Turkish-Islamist imagination, the age of the Ottomans was not only the apotheosis of Turkish culture and power, but a tolerant and progressive era. For Erdogan’s core constituency, in particular, the AKP era has been a golden era, a modern day analogue to this manufactured past. These predominantly pious and middle class Turks enjoy personal and political freedoms that they were once denied. They have also enjoyed upward economic and social mobility. By granting Erdogan the executive presidency he has so coveted, they are looking forward to even greater achievements. Of course, there are the millions of Turks who voted No and fear the consolidation of authoritarianism and who regard the state and the Kemalist ideas it represents as sacrosanct.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/04/16/ri ... ign=buffer

[rainbow]

Started with the fake coup, locking up his opponents, now a fixed referendum.

Sads for my Turkish friends.

[pErvinalia]

This is sad. Is it official? I haven't been able to watch the news long enough lately to find out.

[mistermack]

I don't think it's sad.
It's the last nail in the coffin for the idea of Turkey some day joining the EU. And that is a brilliant result.
Even with Britain out of the EU, it's still better to have a Europe with no Islamic state.
Although Germany could eventually end up as one.

[pErvinalia]

We are talking about it being sad for the Turkish people, not a bunch of privileged wankers thousands of kilometres away..

[Scot Dutchy]

I don't think it's sad.
It's the last nail in the coffin for the idea of Turkey some day joining the EU. And that is a brilliant result.
Even with Britain out of the EU, it's still better to have a Europe with no Islamic state.
Although Germany could eventually end up as one.

Just how? Do you bother to check before you write? The percentage of muslims is higher both here and in Belgium and neither has the chance of turning into an islamitic state.

[NineBerry]

Also both Bosnia and Albania are Muslim majority countries with good chance to join the EU.

[Brian Peacock]

Using fear and security threata to encourage a democratic undermining civil liberties while securing authoritarian control - every rabid populist's wet dream. Erdogan: a dictator for the social media age.

[laklak]

"Tayyip" Impossible to take anyone seriously with a stupid name like that.

[Scot Dutchy]

Also both Bosnia and Albania are Muslim majority countries with good chance to join the EU.

I dont think the Eu will enlarge any more. There maybe a second outer tier incorporating the EFTA countries.

[Brian Peacock]

...President Erdoğan has already played a de facto executive role since he was elected by a popular vote in 2014. With the referendum result, this de facto executive authority becomes de jure. His expanded powers will include the ability to issue executive orders, control the budget and appoint vice presidents, ministers, and high-level state officials. Erdoğan will now be able to rule until 2029 if he can win the next two presidential elections.

Despite the fact that Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP), along with their major ally Nationalist Action party (MHP), declared victory, the percentage of yes voters (51.3%) was much lower than the two parties’ combined share of the vote (62%) in the last general election in November 2015. This suggests that the slim margin of victory for the yes camp is far from being a decisive win. Crucially, the major industrial, cosmopolitan cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Antalya voted no. In southeast Turkey, most Kurdish voters voted no too, likely in response to resurgent violence between the Kurdistan Workers’ party and the Turkish military since the summer of 2015, when the peace process ended.

In contrast, conservative and nationalist Anatolian voters supported yes. Many of them remain fiercely loyal to the personality cult Erdoğan has constructed around his macho leadership. These voters tend to be highly sceptical of the western nations and are nostalgic for the Ottoman imperial past...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ly-erdogan

I wonder what Mr Dodo will have to say about this. I seem to recall him having some Turkish ties.

[DRSB]

These people hate him.

[mistermack]

Also both Bosnia and Albania are Muslim majority countries with good chance to join the EU.

Lots more Muslims in Germany at a stroke then.
And they breed like rabbits.

[rainbow]

I wonder what Mr Dodo will have to say about this. I seem to recall him having some Turkish ties.

[NineBerry]

Also both Bosnia and Albania are Muslim majority countries with good chance to join the EU.

Lots more Muslims in Germany at a stroke then.
And they breed like rabbits.

Bosnia 1.3 children per woman
Germany 1.5 children per woman
Albania 1.7 children per woman
USA 1.8 children per woman
Great Britain 1.8 children per woman
Turkey 2.1 children per woman