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Author Topic: turkey  (Read 2747 times)

Offline space otter

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turkey
« on: April 13, 2017, 09:03:15 pm »


this scenario seems frighteningly familiar to me
seems to be something in the air that this is attempting to happening in so many places


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in-historic-referendum-turkeys-erdogan-faces-his-biggest-test/ar-BBzOLlx

In historic referendum, Turkey's Erdogan faces his biggest test
 Reuters Reuters
By Nick Tattersall and Humeyra Pamuk
4 hrs ago
Much like the vast mosque he has commissioned atop one of Istanbul's highest hills, President Tayyip Erdogan's supporters hope a referendum on Sunday will be a crowning achievement in his drive to reshape Turkey.

The vote, in which millions of Turks will decide whether to replace their parliamentary democracy with an all-powerful presidency, may bring the biggest change in their system of governance since the modern Turkish republic was founded on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire almost a century ago.

The outcome will have repercussions beyond Turkish shores.

Never in recent times has Turkey, one of only two Muslim members of the NATO military alliance, been so central to world affairs, from the fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, to Europe's migrant crisis and Ankara's shifting allegiances with Moscow and Washington.

The campaign has split the country of 80 million down the middle, its divisions spilling over to the large Turkish diaspora in Europe. Erdogan has accused European leaders of acting like Nazis for banning rallies on security grounds, while his opponents overseas say they have been spied on.

Erdogan's fervent supporters see his drive for greater powers as the just reward for a leader who has put Islamist values back at the core of public life, championed the pious working classes and delivered airports, hospitals and schools.

Opponents fear a lurch towards authoritarianism under a president they see as addicted to power and intolerant of dissent, chipping away at the secular foundations laid by modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and taking it ever further from Western values on democracy and free speech.

"Within the past 15 years he has achieved everything once considered impossible, unthinkable for Turks, be it bridges, undersea tunnels, roads, airports," said Ergin Kulunk, 65, a civil engineer who heads an Istanbul mosque association that is financing the new mosque on the city's Camlica Hill.

"The biggest quality of the Chief is that he touches people. I saw him at a recent gathering literally shaking almost 1,000 hands. He's not doing that for politics. It comes from the heart," he said, as Erdogan's voice boomed from a television in the corner, broadcasting one of his daily campaign rallies.

In Kulunk's office on Camlica Hill, once a hunting ground for the Ottoman well-to-do and now a popular viewing point, a signed picture of Erdogan hung on the wall next to portraits of Ataturk and Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid.

But for Erdogan's opponents - including secularist liberals, left-leaning Kurds and even some nationalists - his tightening grip poses an almost existential threat.

"He's trying to destroy the republic and the legacy of Ataturk," said Nurten Kayacan, 61, a housewife from the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, attending a small "No" rally at an Istanbul ferry port.

"If the 'Yes' vote wins, we're headed to chaos. He will be the president of only half of the country," she said.

"ONE-MAN SYSTEM"

Erdogan assumed the presidency, then a largely ceremonial position, in 2014 after more than a decade as prime minister, and has since continued to dominate politics by force of personality, making no secret of his ambition for greater powers.

He has ridden a wave of patriotism since an abortive coup in July, casting Turkey as at peril from a cocktail of outside forces and in need of strong leadership to see off threats from Islamic State, Kurdish militants, the enemies within who tried to oust him and their foreign backers.

A poll two weeks after the attempted putsch showed him with two-thirds approval, his highest ever, but more recent surveys suggest a much closer race. A narrow majority of Turks will vote "Yes", two opinion polls suggested on Thursday, putting his support at only a little over 51 percent.

Pollsters acknowledge there may be a hidden "No" vote, whose numbers are hard to assess, among traditional supporters of the ruling AK Party concerned about Erdogan's authoritarian instincts, particularly after more than 120,000 civil servants were sacked or suspended since the failed coup.

Etyen Mahcupyan, a one-time chief adviser to former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, a key figure in the AKP, wrote in the Karar newspaper on Thursday that he would be voting "No".

"The (proposed) model will cause great harm in the medium term to conservatives and Turkey," he wrote, saying the changes would usher in a "one-man system" open to abuse. "Every AKP member must vigorously stand up for the protection of the party and for its capacity and potential to govern."

Erdogan's supporters reject such charges, saying the 18 constitutional amendments being put to a simple "Yes/No" vote contain sufficient checks and balances, such as the provision that a new presidential election would be triggered should the president dissolve parliament.

Erdogan has focused in recent campaign events on trying to ridicule the leader of the main secularist CHP opposition, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, playing videos of his gaffes in the apparent hope that voter patterns will reflect the last national election in November 2015, when AKP dominated the electoral map.

Such populist tactics have won him boisterous applause from those who revere him. But he has spent less time on the details of the proposed constitutional reforms.

"Eighty percent of voters in Turkey vote according to ideology. That is, they will cast their votes in this referendum without knowing its content," said Murat Gezici, head of the Gezici polling company.

"If 'Yes' emerges victorious, they'll only find out what they said yes to by experience. Only then will they face the problems," he said in his Istanbul office.

(Additional reporting by Umit Bektas, Melih Aslan and Daren Butler; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Andrew Heavens)





.............................

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21720590-recep-tayyip-erdogan-carrying-out-harshest-crackdown-decades-west-must-not-abandon

Turkey’s referendum
Turkey is sliding into dictatorship

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is carrying out the harshest crackdown in decades. The West must not abandon Turkey

TURKEY matters not just for its size, but also as a bellwether of the political forces shaping the world. For centuries it was the seat of a great empire. Today, as a frontier state, it must cope with the violence spewing out of war-ravaged Syria; it is a test case of whether democracy can be reconciled with political Islam; and it must navigate between Western liberalism and the authoritarian nationalism epitomised by Russia. In recent years under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has gone backwards. This weekend it can begin to put that right.

On April 16th Turks will vote in a referendum over whether to abandon their parliamentary system for an executive presidency. A Yes is likely, but far from certain. There is nothing wrong with a strong president, but Turkey’s new constitution goes too far. The country would end up with a 21st-century sultan minimally curbed by parliament (see Briefing). A Yes would condemn Turkey to the elected dictatorship of President Erdogan. A No might just let Turks constrain him.



..........................................

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/Erdogans_Turkey

Turkey is about to decide what sort of country it wants to be.

A referendum could increase the president’s power.

But how much has Turkey already changed, moulded by the vision of one man?


in part..long article with background and other info

he decision has become, in effect, a referendum on Erdogan and the Turkey he has moulded in his image - fiercely nationalist, conservative and beset by problems.

This previously stable corner of the region has become consumed by terror attacks - once-rapid economic growth has stalled.

Dozens of journalists are in jail. Three million, mostly Syrian, refugees have poured into the country.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested or dismissed following the failed coup. The country's hope of EU membership is evaporating. And Turkey is arguably more politically polarised than ever.

But at the same time, Turkey has gone from a financial basket-case at the turn of the century into one of the world's top 20 economies.

The middle-class has hugely expanded. Millions of impoverished Turks have been economically emboldened under Erdogan's leadership.

Schools, hospitals, roads and giant infrastructure projects have transformed daily life. Pious Turks, who long felt excluded by an old secular elite, have been empowered. And Turkey has freed itself from the grip of a once omnipotent military.

And now, the country will vote on its future.
and you have to wonder if it will be fixed or fair

Offline zorgon

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Re: turkey
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2017, 12:37:38 am »
And now, the country will vote on its future.
and you have to wonder if it will be fixed or fair

Why are we concerned about Turkey?  Europe is pissed off at Turkey because they flood the EU with migrants that stress the job situation and Britain left the EU because they were forced to take hordes of migrants...

Turkey has Bellydancers :P and that is about where my interest ends.  It really is about time the US and Europe stay out of those countries IMO...  we have enough problems to deal with in our own back yards
« Last Edit: April 14, 2017, 05:44:21 am by the seeker »

Offline space otter

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Re: turkey
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2017, 07:15:23 am »


Quote
Turkey has Bellydancers :P and that is about where my interest ends.

maybe this would make you consider why turkey maybe important to watch.. if for no other reason that we have two military bases there and nuclear bombs at them


just a tidbit of info

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/03/timeline_of_what_trump_knew_about_michael_flynn_s_turkey_connection.html

The Turkish Connection
A timeline of what we know, and what Trump knew, about Michael Flynn’s relationship with Turkey.



https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2017/02/14/flynn-fired-once-by-a-president-now-resigns-to-another

Shortly before Trump’s election, Flynn wrote an op-ed saying Turkey needed U.S. support and echoing Erdogan’s warnings that a “shady” Turkish Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania should not be protected by the United States. Erdogan accuses the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, of orchestrating the coup attempt and has requested extradition.
....Kelley said Flynn’s consulting firm could help “do something about improving the relations between Turkey and the United States,” Alptekin told the AP. He said he didn’t consider any need for his firm or Kelley to register with the Justice Department as a “foreign agent in this context” because his firm was “not a government entity.”





US Nuclear Airbase in Turkey at Risk - Newsmax.com
www.newsmax.com/PeterPry/turkey-erdogan-coup-incirlik/2016/08/02/.../741772/ Aug 2, 2016 - On Sunday, July 31, thousands of Turks mobbed the gates of the NATO airbase at Incirlik, threatening to seize the facility from the U.S. for allegedly supporting a failed military coup attempt againstTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. ... The U.S. should immediately remove all ...

Offline Irene

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Re: turkey
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2017, 09:14:51 am »
Why are we concerned about Turkey?  Europe is pissed off at Turkey because they flood the EU with migrants that stress the job situation and Britain left the EU because they were forced to take hordes of migrants...

Turkey has Bellydancers :P and that is about where my interest ends.  It really is about time the US and Europe stay out of those countries IMO...  we have enough problems to deal with in our own back yards

I don't smoke anymore, but when I did I learned how wonderful their tobacco is. There are days I miss it.  :P They also produce wonderful Meerschaum sculptures and pipes.

Anyway, we should be mourning the loss of the Near and Middle East. Along with their radicalism they've crushed archaeological and anthropological research in those areas of the world.

Fortunately, will the removal of Zahi Hawass, Egypt is back on the proper research path.
Shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.....

Offline space otter

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Re: turkey
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2017, 06:12:13 pm »



http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/turkish-court-formally-blocks-access-to-wikipedia/ar-BBAvFki

Turkish court formally blocks access to Wikipedia
 Associated Press Associated Press
By ZEYNEP BILGINSOY, Associated Press
7 hrs ago

ISTANBUL — In a move that social media users called censorship, a Turkish court on Saturday blocked access to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, enforcing an earlier restriction by Turkey's telecommunications watchdog.

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) said an Ankara court ordered Saturday that a "protection measure" related to suspected internet crimes be applied to Wikipedia. Such measures are used to block access to pages or entire websites to protect "national security and public order."

In response, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales tweeted his support for those who labeled the decision censorship: "Access to information is a fundamental human right. Turkish people I will always stand with you to fight for this right."

Turkey Blocks, an internet censorship monitor, said users in Turkey have been unable to access all language editions of Wikipedia since 8 a.m. Saturday.

"The loss of availability is consistent with internet filters used to censor content in the country," the monitor said.

The site had initially been blocked by BTK under a provisional administration measure.

The exact reason for the ban remains unclear. But Turkey's official news agency, quoting the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications, said Saturday the site was blocked for "becoming an information source acting with groups conducting a smear campaign against Turkey in the international arena."

The state-run Anadolu Agency said officials had warned Wikipedia to remove content likening Turkey to terror groups but the site "persistently" did not.

Turkey had demanded that Wikipedia open an office in the country, act in line with international law and abide by court decisions and not be part of "blackout operation against Turkey," according to the agency.

Anadolu said if these demands are met and the content removed, the site would be reopened.

Opposition lawmakers also criticized the court order. Republican People's Party parliamentarians Eren Erdem tweeted the ban puts "Turkey in line with North Korea" while Baris Yarkadas called it "censorship and a violation of the right to access information."

Turkey's status is listed as "not free" on the 2016 Freedom on the Net index by independent rights watchdog Freedom House. It says over 111,000 websites were blocked as of May last year.

Wikipedia, a collaborative online reference work, says it is ranked among the 10 most popular websites.


............................................


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39759050
Turkey sacks 4,000 more officials in coup-bid crackdown
4 hours ago


The Turkish government has sacked almost 4,000 more public officials in what appears to be the latest purge related to a failed coup last July.
They include more than 1,000 justice ministry workers, a similar number of army staff and more than 100 air force pilots, officials said.
In a separate decree, Turkey banned TV dating shows - a move previously mooted by the government.
Earlier on Saturday, Turkey blocked the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.
The latest sackings follow the suspension of more than 9,000 police officers and the arrest of 1,000 more last Wednesday on suspicion of having links to the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Mr Gulen of instigating last year's coup attempt, a charge the cleric denies.
The government said in its Official Gazette that all those sacked were suspected of links to "terrorist organisations and structures presenting a threat to national security".
Mr Erdogan narrowly won a controversial 16 April referendum on increasing his powers.
Opponents fear the vote, which has divided Turkey, brings him closer to authoritarian rule.


The ban on TV dating programmes follows a warning in March by Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus that the shows do not fit in with Turkish traditions and customs.
"There are some strange programmes that would scrap the institution of family, take away its nobility and sanctity," he said at the time.
Critics of Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) say they fear the country is sliding toward conservative Islam under Mr Erdogan.
However, AKP supporters say dating shows receive thousands of complaints and the ban is in the public interest.
Court order due
The block on Wikipedia was detected at about 08:00 (05:00 GMT) on Saturday, the Turkey Blocks monitoring group said.
Turkey's Information and Communication Technologies Authority said an "administrative measure" had been taken but did not give details.
Turkish media said Wikipedia had been asked to remove content by certain writers whom the authorities accuse of "supporting terror" and of linking Turkey to terror groups.
The site had not responded to the demands, the daily newspaper Hurriyet said, and the ban was imposed as a result.
A formal court order backing up the provisional order is expected in the coming days.
Responding to the ban, Wikipedia's founder Jimmy Wales tweeted: "Access to information is a fundamental human right. Turkish people, I will always stand with you to fight for this right."
Turkey has temporarily blocked social media sites including Facebook and Twitter in the past, usually following protests or terror attacks.

« Last Edit: April 29, 2017, 06:22:52 pm by space otter »

Offline space otter

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Re: turkey
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2017, 07:09:49 am »


a good reason to watch this country

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/turkey-threatens-further-strikes-on-us-allied-syrian-kurds/ar-BBAxLpn?li=BBnb7Kz
Turkey threatens further strikes on US-allied Syrian Kurds
 Associated Press Associated Press
3 hrs ago

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country may take further military action against Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria, saying U.S. support for such groups "must come to an end."

He said he would discuss the issue at a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump next month.








......

Turkey Hints at Shuttering Incirlik to US Air Operations | Military.com
www.military.com/daily-news/.../turkey-hints-shuttering-incirlik-us-air-operations.ht...
Jan 4, 2017 - Turkish officials made a veiled threat Tuesday to ground U.S. warplanes at Incirlik Air Base over the U.S. denial of air support for the Turkish ...


......


Ex-CIA Director: Mike Flynn and Turkish Officials Discussed Removal ...
https://www.wsj.com/.../ex-cia-director-mike-flynn-and-turkish-officials-discussed-remo...
Mar 24, 2017 - Mike Flynn met with top Turkish government ministers and discussed removing a Muslim cleric from the U.S. and, according to former CIA .


Document Dump Reveals Flynn's Russian And Turkish Income Sources
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/flynn-russia-trump-turkey
Apr 1, 2017 - WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn has disclosed that he earned more than $1.3 ...


Lessons from the Flynn-Turkey-Trump saga. - Slate
www.slate.com/articles/news_and.../lessons_from_the_flynn_turkey_trump_saga.html
It's a story about what Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and their lawyers knew about Flynn's Turkish connection all along, and what they're ...

 


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