The feeling is mutual, kthxbye

[mahnmut]

"The Constitution of Turkey establishes the Republic of Turkey as a secular state and provides for freedom of conscience, religious belief, and conviction, as well as freedom of expression and dissemination of thought".

Does freedom from religion count too, I wonder? Um, guess not:

In a nutshell: "Atheists are animals".

That's nice, you know.

Comments

[htpcl]

There's been a notion around these latitudes that cultures like ours (Balkan, Middle Eastern, East European, even Latin American or any other Second- and Third-Worldean) are incapable, unwilling, and undeserving of a truly open democratic societal model. What they've always known, are accustomed to, and are only responsive to, is the "firm hand" approach. Even when we do have something resembling democracy, it's usually restricted within some boundaries, often imposed forcefully. Like the military in Turkey, which for a long time was considered a "guarant" of secular democracy - but only you dare stray off course, they'd hit you with a 5-ton cartoon Acme anvil on the head.

We've had some pseudo-democracy for some time here too, and we're now mostly disgusted with the results. So we've chosen what seemed at the time like a "strong-hand" macho leader to show us the way and tell us what's best for us. He turned out a pussy with muscles eventually, but the idea was still there. You get the idea. Every society deserves exactly the rulers that it gets.