Turkish democracy detailed

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Oct 23, 2015 at 02:56

Hi, Isaac. You said,

"There is still a lot to celebrate in that Nation. In fact I think they are not even half worse than 60% of the arab world."

You are correct, Isaac, if not generous in your appraisal of Arab democracy. Turkey has a legacy of democracy, under the old secular regime (which was often kept from straying too far by a secular military). With the emergence of Erdogan and his Islamist party, however, democracy has been steadily dismantled: political enemies have been imprisoned on trumped-up charges, the military has been purged of the same, and the President has increasingly become an autocrat. An election is scheduled in a few weeks, accompanied by more repressive moves against newsmen and activists (most notably the killing of over 120 of them in the Ankara rally). At the same time, Erdogan has scrapped peace talks with the Kurds and tried to foment a civil war.

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