Isolated Opinion- really?? Like Reichstagbrand 27 Feb 1933

Submitted by From Germany (Germany), Jul 20, 2016 at 08:19

Not in Germany, many of us were emailing, posting we hope the coup d'etat succeeds, assuming that means a lay military rule.

Perhaps this is because Erdogan is persecuting people even in Germany - German satiritist and also Turks. The other day a turkish cab driver (before the coup attempt) told me how he had criticised Erdogan in the presence of a Palestinian who was all in favour of Erdogan. Another turkish cab driver came and confronted him "I will bring prosecutions against you (in Turkey) [for insulting Erdogan".

Post coup d'etat the Erdogan adherents are called upon by Turkish govt to denounce any opponents, they are threatened, beaten up etc in Germany,France and elsewehre in Europe. Perhaps its also because we all recall 27 February 1933 - when the Reichstag was attacked and burnt. Hitler used it for enacting emergency laws and cleansing (Gleichschaltung) the govt, institutions etc. just as Erdogan is now doing in his copy cat fashion. The other date which comes to mind is - as it is 20 July- 20 July 1944 the failed assassination attempt against Hitler (the most famous one, there were indeed more than 45 at least). The german constitution today actually even allows coup'etat in order to protect democracy - as a means of last resort. Military rule may not be a rose garden, but certainly better usually than islamist dictatorship. Turkey is becoming a very totalitarian dictatorship - if you wish a history lesson how Hitler came to his dictatorial powers, just view Turkey today.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".