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Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper staff

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Re: Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper st

Postby Jerry » Tue Nov 08, 2016 1:51 pm

Tim Drayton wrote:I think something is stirring. The West’s beloved so-called moderate, democratic Islamist Erdoğan is finally starting to attract some serious flack from his fans, now that the human rights situation in his country is rapidly deteriorating into something that rivals Assad’s Syria.

The following declaration has recently been issued by the EU:

EU calls on Turkey to save democracy, increasing criticism

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-turkey ... KKBN133119


It's interesting to read your posts on Turkey, Tim. I always believed that Erdogan purge was anti Gulen but it seems that is not so. Do you think that Turkey will go too far and tip the EU over the edge? What could be the catalyst that leads to a crisis in EU/Turkey relationships, introduction of the death penalty, a return to the refugee influx or even annexation of Cyprus? Surely at some stage the EU has to say "enough".

Incidentally I see that Turkish Airlines is suffering from lost trade resulting from the problems in Turkey, 10% of its fleet is laid up and 17 international routes have been dropped. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkis ... sCatID=345
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Re: Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper st

Postby Tim Drayton » Tue Nov 08, 2016 3:14 pm

Jerry wrote:I always believed that Erdogan purge was anti Gulen but it seems that is not so.


That's how it appeared to start out - but certain organisations representing the judiciary were saying from the beginning that many of the judges and prosecutors being dismissed had nothing to do with the Gulen organisation. Now it is a case of the sorcerer's apprentice and it it just a mad witch-hunt of everyone who is opposed to Erdoğan becoming dictator. I mean - the HDP party and Cumhuriyet newspaper being connected with Gulen? Give me a break.

There's a lengthy interview with one of the HDP's sharpest people, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, about what has been happening in Turkey since the coup attempt here:

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/engl ... empt_.html

I mean, a kid arrested at a demo against the detention of the HDP MPs has his spine broken while in detention at a police station. That's the sort of thing you find in Amnesty International reports into countries like Syria. How much lower are things going to sink in Turkey?
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Re: Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper st

Postby Lordo » Tue Nov 08, 2016 3:37 pm

the silence of western governments on the matter is deafening. especially uk, usa and germany.
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Re: Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper st

Postby Tim Drayton » Tue Nov 08, 2016 3:46 pm

Lordo wrote:the silence of western governments on the matter is deafening. especially uk, usa and germany.


Indeed. This has been the case for a long time. I have received many replies from the UK Foreign Office to emails I have sent pointing to the clear danger signs over the past five years or so telling me how everything is hunky dory in Turkey. A case of our dictator is a good dictator, Russia's dictator is bad.

Even so, there are signs of a change coming. The press in Germany has been comparing recent events in Turkey to Nazi Germany in the past couple of days. There was even a banner headline in Bild - Germany's equivalent of the Sun - reading 'Dictator Erdogan'.
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Re: Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper st

Postby Tim Drayton » Tue Nov 08, 2016 3:51 pm

Bild actually did an interview with leader of the opposition Kılıçdaroğlu on Saturday and headlined it “Erdogan is a dictator”. Amazing, if you know the kind of gutter newspaper Bild is.

http://www.bild.de/bild-plus/politik/au ... .bild.html
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Re: Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper st

Postby Tim Drayton » Tue Nov 08, 2016 4:02 pm

Another recent development: Germany's Foreign Minister Michael Roth has announced that Germany is contemplating granting assylum to oppressed oponents of the government in Turkey (there were some who said this would be the consequence of the migrant agreement with Erdoğan's criminal regime - it would stop the flow of refugees from Syria and Iraq, but then lead to a huge flow of refugees from Erdoğan's oppression).

(Report in Turkish:)
http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/duny ... klama.html
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Re: Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper st

Postby Tim Drayton » Tue Nov 08, 2016 4:04 pm

Here it is in English:

Minister: Germany may grant Turks political asylum

http://www.politico.eu/article/minister ... al-asylum/
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Re: Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper st

Postby Tim Drayton » Tue Nov 08, 2016 6:20 pm

Just a truly bizarre conspiracy theory for which I have no evidence at all.

Perhaps Erdoğan really is changing sides and making an alliance with Putin (and I somehow doubt that). Then the West would have an urgent need to get rid of him. So, they stage/instigate a feeble coup attempt that is doomed to fail, knowing that it will spur Erdoğan to do what he is now doing. After all, Erdoğan is on record as describing the coup attempt as a gift from God. The West can then march in as the heros and depose him in one way or another cloaked as the defenders of democracy and human rights.
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Re: Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper st

Postby Paphitis » Wed Nov 09, 2016 2:06 am

Tim Drayton wrote:
Lordo wrote:the silence of western governments on the matter is deafening. especially uk, usa and germany.


Indeed. This has been the case for a long time. I have received many replies from the UK Foreign Office to emails I have sent pointing to the clear danger signs over the past five years or so telling me how everything is hunky dory in Turkey. A case of our dictator is a good dictator, Russia's dictator is bad.

Even so, there are signs of a change coming. The press in Germany has been comparing recent events in Turkey to Nazi Germany in the past couple of days. There was even a banner headline in Bild - Germany's equivalent of the Sun - reading 'Dictator Erdogan'.


As I was saying, these acts will not go unnoticed.

I am not sure what you would expect. Do you expect them to make noisy announcements which will only exacerbate the issues? What happens initially is discreet bargaining. The USA have avenues to really bend Turkey's elbow, and if they continue with the purge and start executing people, it will force their hand somewhat.

In addition, Turkey isn't on good terms with the Coalition in Syria or Iraq at the moment.
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Re: Turkey orders formal arrest of 9 Cumhuriyet newspaper st

Postby Tim Drayton » Wed Nov 09, 2016 6:35 am

Paphitis wrote:

I am not sure what you would expect.


I would expect nothing else, no. Erdoğan is a new world order sanctioned leader who has been put there to look after the interests of global capital in Turkey, which has made massive investments in manufacturing plant there over the past couple of decades. When the West opposes the brutal Assad dictatorship in Syria, it does so out of self interest. There are no lofty principles involved. If it suits their interests to have a dictatorship installed somewhere else,that's what they'll do.
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