Gülen wouldn't venture with a military coup. His way of undermining Erdogan was more subtle, through the media and through various Islamic schools around the world and in Turkey (before the latter were shut down). It's kind of ironic that an Islamic cleric would want to defend secularism in Turkey, but there it is. It's just that Gülen is the last major obstacle to a full Erdogan dominance, and it's the hardest obstacle to be removed, since he's abroad, protected by his money and his huge financial empire, sitting comfortably in Pennsylvania. So that'll be Erdogan's last hurdle, and he'll stop at nothing to remove it.
As for the repressions inside Turkey, we haven't seen anything yet. It'll get much, much worse.
Being next to Syria, and also on Putins bad side - probably gives him a little more wiggle room with most of the rest of the world. He can probably do a lot worse before having to worry about any backfire.
(The name doesn't hurt either - everyone loves turkey - baked, wild... - if his country ended in -stan, he'd be fucked)
Maybe, just maybe, for once in Boris's life, he may have been embarrassing for a cause or case later proven by Erdogan's behaviour. Even a stopped clock, etc.
I think satire, which seems to inflame Erdogan rather, may prove to be his opponent's strongest weapon until we decide something must be done. I fear there has to be a lot of hand wringing first, however.
And it's not as if it's a particularly difficult judgement call. (A bit like the IOC's.) So expect a lot of dithering and fudging and avoidance of the issues.
I suppose we all need get-out clauses. C'est la vie, c'est la guerre, c'est la pomme de terre...
Wow, that's better than a lot of countries do with elections. On the downside, this means y'all are a threat to democracy, and you know what that means.
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As for the repressions inside Turkey, we haven't seen anything yet. It'll get much, much worse.
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(The name doesn't hurt either - everyone loves turkey - baked, wild... - if his country ended in -stan, he'd be fucked)
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Maybe, just maybe, for once in Boris's life, he may have been embarrassing for a cause or case later proven by Erdogan's behaviour. Even a stopped clock, etc.
I think satire, which seems to inflame Erdogan rather, may prove to be his opponent's strongest weapon until we decide something must be done. I fear there has to be a lot of hand wringing first, however.
And it's not as if it's a particularly difficult judgement call. (A bit like the IOC's.) So expect a lot of dithering and fudging and avoidance of the issues.
I suppose we all need get-out clauses. C'est la vie, c'est la guerre, c'est la pomme de terre...
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