International Turkey's Lonely Road to Isolation: The World Looks on as Erdogan Jockeys for a Third Decade in Power

Everyone in here saying fuck Erdogen, while Trump runs a strategic US ally into Russia and China's arms, with the reason given that Gulen was involved in the coup attempt. The problem is that Erdogen is right, and Gulen works for the CIA.

Kurdistan will be the new strategic ally :)
If the US push the button here, Turkey will be destabilized for years. So they better stfu and give Trump his Pastor back.

Turkey is mainly interesting because of their geographical position and that's it. They are only save, because they are in the NATO. They are nothing without the West.

And you definitely don't need to worry about Russia, because these two countries have totally different interests. They fight against each other in Syria. The upcoming Idlib war is going to be ugly.
 
Kurdistan will be the new strategic ally :)
If the US push the button here, Turkey will be destabilized for years. So they better stfu and give Trump his Pastor back.

Turkey is mainly interesting because of their geographical position and that's it. They are only save, because they are in the NATO. They are nothing without the West.

And you definitely don't need to worry about Russia, because these two countries have totally different interests. They fight against each other in Syria. The upcoming Idlib war is going to be ugly.

How about into Iran's arms?

Then we would have 2 power house countries in the most strategically located parts of the ME, allied against us.

Also, necessity makes for strange bedfellows.

China is in Pakistan's pocket. Iraq is in Iran's pocket. We lose Turkey, and all of a sudden the ME isn't our sandbox anymore.
 
Everyone in here saying fuck Erdogen, while Trump runs a strategic US ally into Russia and China's arms, with the reason given that Gulen was involved in the coup attempt. The problem is that Erdogen is right, and Gulen works for the CIA.

How do you know Gulen works for the CIA?
 
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Everyone in here saying fuck Erdogen, while Trump runs a strategic US ally into Russia and China's arms, with the reason given that Gulen was involved in the coup attempt. The problem is that Erdogen is right, and Gulen works for the CIA.

Good, maybe that way the US will GTFO out of the middle east.

It will only benefit all parties involved including the USA, China would be dumb as bricks if they enter the quagmire that is the middle east and Russia is bogged down forever in Syria.
 
The West Hoped for Democracy in Turkey. Erdogan Had Other Ideas.
Turkey’s descent into authoritarianism and crisis has destroyed whatever hopes remained that the country’s president might serve as a force for moderation.
By Peter S. Goodman | Aug. 18, 2018

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In Western capitals a decade ago, Turkey’s now-paramount leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held promise as a potential beacon of democracy for a region rife with religious conflict.

Turkey was a stalwart NATO ally bridging Europe and the volatile Middle East. As Mr. Erdogan sought to secure a place for his country in the ranks of the European Union, he presented himself as a moderate and modernizing Muslim leader for the post-9/11 age. He catered to perceptions that Turkey was becoming a liberal society governed by tolerance and the rule of law.

But that was before Mr. Erdogan began amassing supreme powers, and before his brutal crackdown on dissent following an attempted coup two years ago. It was before Turkey descended into a financial crisis delivered in no small measure by his authoritarian proclivities and unorthodox stewardship of the economy. Whatever was left of the notion that Mr. Erdogan was a liberalizing force has been wholly extinguished.

For the West, Mr. Erdogan has devolved from a righteous hope — would-be proof that Islam and democracy can peacefully coexist — into another autocrat whose populism, bombast and contempt for the ledger books have yielded calamity.

Regional experts contend that visions of Turkey’s leader as an agent of liberal progress were always fantastical. Mr. Erdogan — who served as Turkey’s prime minister for 11 years before becoming its president in 2014 — forged his political career as an Islamist intent on challenging the strictures of Turkey’s state-imposed secularism. His early democratic reforms and assertion of civilian control over the military were largely about winning the welcome of the European bloc while enabling Turkey’s Muslim populace to practice its religion free of state interference.

“For us, democracy is a means to an end,” Mr. Erdogan once declared.

History is full of examples of Western nations — especially the United States — projecting their aspirations and values onto foreign leaders with their own objectives.

In its effort to prevent China from falling under the control of Communists, Washington backed the Chinese Nationalist general Chiang Kai-shek, celebrating him as a courageous hero even as he brutalized opponents and profited on the spoils of American support. In Vietnam, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the United States cast flawed figures as veritable George Washingtons before writing them off as corrupt tyrants.

“As much as we might fantasize about things changing and there being liberal progress, we probably got overly carried away with those sorts of visions for Turkey,” said Philip Robins, a professor of Middle East politics at the University of Oxford.

Yet even inside Turkey, the European Union exerted a powerful pull as a means of elevating society. It aligned commercial interests — access to a vast European marketplace — with the imperative to democratize. To win European favor, Turkey abolished notorious state security courts, elevated human rights and scrapped the death penalty.

“This is a process that is going to change the perception of life in Turkish society,” the then-president of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, Murat Yalcintas, said in 2005. “It’s a mechanism that will integrate us into the freethinking, modern world.”

If that was ever really so, it now looks like a lost opportunity.

In recent years, Mr. Erdogan has broken from the reformist path while forging new alliances, especially with Russia and its strongman leader Vladimir Putin. He has jailed journalists, seized the assets of political opponents and crushed dissent while amassing complete control over the levers of Turkish power. He has run the economy like a patronage network, lavishing credit on companies controlled by cronies, while yielding growth through debt.

Read the rest at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/business/west-democracy-turkey-erdogan-financial-crisis.html
 
Ah, let's see if the Germans gonna take the bait and soften their stance towards this mad dictator.

Erdogan’s search for new allies begins with allowing a German journalist to finally leave Turkey
By By Melissa Eddy | August 20, 2018

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BERLIN — A Turkish court has ruled that a German journalist facing trial on terrorism-related charges is free to leave the country, a move that could help improve relations between two countries with deep ties.

The journalist, Mesale Tolu, a German of Turkish ancestry who was working in Istanbul, was arrested in April 2017 on charges of spreading propaganda for terrorist organizations. She was held in pretrial detention until December, when she was released but ordered to remain in the country.

Ms. Tolu said on Twitter on Monday that her lawyer had won her permission to travel. “The reports about the lifting of my travel ban are true,” she said, thanking those who had worked for her release.

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, welcomed the decision, calling it “a step toward improving our relations with Turkey.” But he insisted that further steps must follow, pointing to at least seven other German citizens who are jailed in Turkey for what Berlin considers political reasons.

Ms. Tolu reminded her supporters on Monday that the court’s decision to allow her to leave the country would have no effect on the trial against her and other journalists, including her husband. The trial is scheduled to continue on Oct. 16.

The announcement about Ms. Tolu comes less than a week after a Turkish activist with Amnesty International, Taner Kilic, was released from prison, months after prosecutors revoked a court’s decision to free him.

His release, long sought by Germany, renewed hopes that Andrew Brunson, an American pastor currently under house arrest on espionage charges, could soon be set free.

Mr. Brunson’s prolonged detention has set off a diplomatic standoff with the United States, during which President Trump ordered a doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Turkey. The dispute, combined with countermeasures imposed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has accelerated a fall of the lira, which has lost one-third of its value this year.

Mr. Brunson and Mr. Kilic were among the 11 rights activists detained in a flurry of arrests after a failed coup against Mr. Erdogan’s government in 2016.

They all faced charges of aiding terrorist groups, in particular the movement led by Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in exile in the United States whom Ankara accuses of initiating the coup attempt. The United States has repeatedly refused Turkey’s requests to extradite Mr. Gulen.

Berlin has pushed for the release of its citizens and shifted its policy toward Ankara, announcing a freeze on steps to help Turkey join the European Union.

Mr. Erdogan is set to visit Berlin next month, and talks between the ministers of finance and transport are scheduled before then, German officials said. The meeting has long been planned and could give the governments an opportunity to discuss current developments in Turkey.

But even as journalists and activists who Germany maintained were being held on politically motivated charges were being released, authorities handed stiff sentences to others. After one Turkish court ordered the release of a German-Turkish journalist, Deniz Yucel, in February, another court sentenced six Turkish journalists to life in prison for undermining the constitutional order.

Separately on Monday, the Turkish government reported that shots were fired from a moving car at the United States Embassy in Ankara. “According to first evaluation of the scene, three bullets hit the iron gate and glass entrance lock,” the government said in a statement, adding that no one was harmed.

Turkey’s official news agency, Anadolu, reported that one person was detained in Ankara. It did not elaborate.

Mr. Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, condemned the attack and insisted that the Turkish government was able to ensure the safety of all foreign missions in the country. “This is a clear attempt to create chaos,” Mr. Kalin said on Twitter. “The incident is being investigated and will be clarified as soon as possible.”

 
Ah, let's see if the Germans gonna take the bait and soften their stance towards this mad dictator.

Erdogan’s search for new allies begins with allowing a German journalist to finally leave Turkey
By By Melissa Eddy | August 20, 2018

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This is just my personal opinion but I think German foreign policy predicted that Turkey will be in financial trouble after Erdogan made those changes which also gave him more power over the central bank drying up investments and trust in Turkey. Because right after that there was not much interference in the next vote or general criticism from the German government.

What Germany is speculating on is bailing out Turkeys economy in return to having Erdogan by the balls for the refugee issue and to bring him in line.
I can exactly tell you how Merkel is going to play this. She will do absolutely nothing until the situation is so bad that there is no other alternative for the EU/Germany than to bail Turkey out.
That's what Merkel is always doing. When the time comes due to her inactivity large business in Germany will be asking for a bailout due to the Customs Union and refer to potential refugees if Turkey collapses.
The number one issue for Merkel is the refugee crisis and she needs to get Erdogan in line for that. Everyone knows it but no one wants to say it but Merkel's refugee policies were a 100% failure and she has to fix it now.
 
This is just my personal opinion but I think German foreign policy predicted that Turkey will be in financial trouble after Erdogan made those changes which also gave him more power over the central bank drying up investments and trust in Turkey. Because right after that there was not much interference in the next vote or general criticism from the German government.

What Germany is speculating on is bailing out Turkeys economy in return to having Erdogan by the balls for the refugee issue and to bring him in line.
I can exactly tell you how Merkel is going to play this. She will do absolutely nothing until the situation is so bad that there is no other alternative for the EU/Germany than to bail Turkey out.
That's what Merkel is always doing. When the time comes due to her inactivity large business in Germany will be asking for a bailout due to the Customs Union and refer to potential refugees if Turkey collapses.
The number one issue for Merkel is the refugee crisis and she needs to get Erdogan in line for that. Everyone knows it but no one wants to say it but Merkel's refugee policies were a 100% failure and she has to fix it now.

Sounds allot like Obama.

For all the faults Trump has, risk adversion isn't one of them.
 
Crisis in Turkey: Should Europe Prop Up Erdogan?



Turkey's economy faces collapse, its currency is in free fall: Should Europe now stand by President Erdogan and help stem the tide? Or should it first force the autocrat to change course? Our guests: Alan Posener (Die Welt), Christoph von Marschall (Der Tagesspiegel), Seda Serdar (DW).
 
Turkey crisis: German government, business leaders dismiss talk of aid
By Nik Martin | 20.08.2018

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Germany is not planning financial aid to help Turkey deal with its currency crisis, the Berlin government says. Opportunities may arise to buy indebted Turkish firms, but for now German business leaders are indifferent.

Berlin and Brussels on Monday played down a suggestion that Germany and the European Union (EU) should offer aid to Turkey, to help offset the effects of the lira crisis.

The idea was mooted by Andrea Nahles, the leader of Germany's center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who told the German Funke media group at the weekend that it was "in everyone's interest that Turkey remains economically stable, and that the current turbulence involving its currency is stemmed."

Nahles said that despite political tensions between Germany and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, "a situation might arise where Germany needs to help."

The SPD leader was responding to worsening economic conditions in Turkey, where many of its deeply-indebted private firms are struggling to repay foreign loans due to a weakening currency. The Turkish lira has plummeted nearly 40 percent against the US dollar since the start of the year.

'Not on the agenda'

Nahles' suggestion was quickly rejected by Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, who said on Monday that financial aid was "not on the government's agenda at the moment."

Also rebuffing the idea, the EU's budget commissioner, Günther Oettinger, insisted "there is a need first and foremost for action in Ankara, not in Berlin, and not in Brussels."

Oettinger said if the Turkish government needed financial assistance, it would have to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Turkey's corporate debt is only partly to blame for a weakening currency. Erdogan's ongoing power grab has also spooked investors after he took aim at the country's central bank, where the president can now appoint those who set interest rate policy.

Among many commenators calling for Erdogan to reverse his decision, Volker Treier, Deputy Chief Executive of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), believes that German companies would be more willing to support the stabilization of the Turkish economy in the event of an about-face.

"Their commitment, however, is very much dependent on Turkey's willingness to provide certain framework conditions, including the Central Bank´s independence, and rule of law," Treier told DW.

Germany is the second biggest foreign investor in Turkey. More than 6,500 companies with German equity are active in the Turkish market, and have built up a capital stock of more than €10 billion ($11.4 billion), DIHK figures suggest.

Michael Hüther, director of the Cologne-based German Economic Institute, said Erdogan's interference had caused "a tremendous loss of confidence in the stability of the investment conditions in Turkey."

Helping who?

He questioned whether financial aid from Germany would have real long-term economic benefits for Turkey.

"It wouldn't help the Turkish economy, it would help the Turkish government," Hüther said, which the Berlin government is loath to do following Erdogan's power grab.

Hüther disagreed with the notion that by not offering support now, Germany could be hurting the fortunes of its own businesses.

"If companies invest in emerging markets like Turkey, they should be aware that they have a higher risk than in Switzerland; they can't then ask for government aid," Hüther told DW.

The argument for financial support would be stronger if the effects of Turkey's crisis spread to other countries, including Germany, he said.

Germany's finance ministry on Monday did warn of the threat of contagion, in its monthly report on the state of the German economy.

"The economic developments in Turkey present a new, external economic risk," it said, adding that the lira crisis could compound other possible threats to Germany's economic health — trade frictions with the United States, and Britain's ongoing Brexit standoff.

New opportunities

While financial support to Ankara appears unlikely for now, German companies could benefit from the huge opportunities created by bankruptcy-threatened Turkish firms, as cynical as it may seem.

Having taken large corporate loans from international banks in foreign currencies, many companies are struggling to service their debt in the weakened lira.

Fewer competitors in the Turkish market could lead to a boost in orders, while widespread insolvency could possibly be avoided by mergers and acquisitions led by German industry.

Even so, the German Economic Institute's Hüther doesn't think German companies are interested in bargain hunting or picking over the remains of once-profitable Turkish firms.

"It's not a question of opportunity, or price, but more about the medium term perspective," he told DW.

Unless German companies see a return to the "sound economic conditions" of recent years, they are unlikely to invest further, Hüther insisted.

DIHK's Treier acknowledges that some companies benefit from times of crisis, and the lira's collapse could mean a massive reduction in operating costs.

Even so, he agreed that for most export-oriented German businesses, the "current instability and unpredictability ... is a major problem that undermines the realization of potentially attractive business opportunities."

 
Erdogan to build more prisons as post-coup purge persists
A purge against thousands of dissidents and alleged terrorists has filled Turkey's prisons. Now President Erdogan wants to build more.
by Alastair Jamieson / Sep.16.2018

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ISTANBUL — It was 4 a.m. in December when Tunca Öğreten heard loud kicks against the door of his apartment.

Twenty anti-terrorist police officers armed with rifles knocked it down and ransacked the home Öğreten shared with his fiancee, before arresting him.

He was kept in a police cell, barely 10 feet square, with four other men for 24 days. With no toilet or shower, he was forced to wash himself by saving up water bottles and to urinate into an empty bottle.

“I begged them, ‘Take me to prison,’” Öğreten said. “Prison would be better than this torture.”

A judge eventually ordered him to jail, where he languished for 10 more months.

Öğreten, a 37-year-old journalist, is accused of crimes against the state for reporting on hacked emails that accused a company run by Turkey’s energy minister of being involved in trading oil from the Islamic State. Almost two years after the raid, he still awaits trial.

Öğretenis far from alone.

Turkey, a key NATO ally, has detained tens of thousands of teachers, lawyers, students, judges and other officials amid a crackdown on dissent by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the failed coup of 2016.

The country’s 384 prisons and detention facilities are already overcrowded, holding 224,974 inmates as of March 20, according to the Ministry of Justice — almost 7 percent over their official capacity.

Turkey now has the third-highest per capita prison population in Europe, behind only Russia and the tiny post-Soviet dictatorship of Belarus. (The U.S. has the highest rate in the world.)

To fix the problem, the ministry announced in December that it will build 228 more prisons over the next five years.

“Prison wings designed for 20 people are being used to keep up to 45,” opposition CHP party spokesman and former lawmaker Baris Yarkadaş told NBC News. “Some of them must sleep on the floor, others develop respiratory sickness. The solution of Erdogan’s government is just to keep building more prisons.”

Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A NATO ally 'isn't acting like one'

Images of civilians climbing on tanks and soldiers being violently beaten with belts dominated news coverage of the aborted coup on July 15, 2016, in which 251 people died.

But Erdogan’s triumphant revenge on dissenters has proved no less brutal.

He immediately blamed the coup on influential cleric Fethullah Gulen, 77, a former Erdogan ally who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania; Gulen denies involvement and the White House has resisted demands for his extradition.

Turkey describes Gulen followers as members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and accuses them of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of state institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

At least 169,000 state workers, soldiers or others have been suspended or dismissed from government jobs in the crackdown, according to the Ministry of Justice. Activist websites such as TurkeyPurge.com, which is blocked inside the country, put the numbers even higher. More than two years after the coup, the roundups continue; 12 accused coup members were detained this month according to the official Anadolu news agency.

“These days you only have to have a bank account or study at a university with Gulen connections and the courts consider that you are a terrorist,” Adnan Seker, a lawyer who has been arrested for alleged FETO links, said. He denies any involvement in the coup. “I do not even find sympathy for those who adopt violence.”

Erdogan has also used a two-year state of emergency, which ended only last month, to detain anyone suspected of being linked to outlawed groups such as the Kurdish separatist PKK, which is recognized by the U.S. and Turkey as a terrorist organization.

Among those is Andrew Brunson, a North Carolina evangelical pastor who was arrested in 2016 on charges of espionage and “committing crimes on behalf of terror groups without being a member.” He has been released from prison but remains under house arrest and is expected to face trial next month.

Brunson, 50, has lived in Turkey for 23 years, running the small Resurrection Church in the western city of Izmir. The Erdogan-linked Daily Sabah newspaper reported last month that a prominent member of Brunson’s congregation had shared PKK links on social media.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has appealed to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in person for the pastor’s release from house arrest, calling him “an innocent man.”

The White House slapped sanctions on Turkey's justice and interior ministers over the case, which has badly strained relations between Washington and Ankara, culminating in President Donald Trump’s sudden decision to raise trade tariffs on Turkish steel.

Also imprisoned is NASA scientist Serkan Golge, a U.S.-Turkish citizen convicted of links to FETO that the State Department says are "without credible evidence."

The crackdown has even reached inside the U.S. mission in Ankara, where three workers are accused of links to the PKK — including Hamza Ulucay, a Turkish national who worked there for more than three decades before his arrest this year.

In January, Erdogan's government created a commission to review decisions made under the state of emergency, but its members are appointed by the same authorities responsible for approving dismissals and the enforced closing of Gulen-linked schools.

“In the meantime, those affected have no right to work in public service, their bank accounts are frozen, and passports confiscated,” according to Human Rights Watch, which said more than 102,000 people had appealed to the commission, though it has yet to begin issuing any decisions.

Status is irrelevant in Erdogan’s purge.

New York Knicks center Enes Kanter, a Turkish national who has long been an outspoken critic of Erdogan, was charged in December with insulting him in a series of tweets. Prosecutors want to try Kanter in absentia and have him sentenced to more than four years in prison, if he is convicted.

Kanter wrote in Time on Tuesday that he could not go home because of his views. “This month, my dad will face trial in Turkey,” Kanter wrote. “He is a university professor, not a terrorist. Because I play in the NBA, I am lucky enough to have a public platform, so I’ve used every opportunity to make sure everyone knows about Erdogan’s cruelty and disdain for human rights.”

Turkey is a crucial U.S. partner in the region — it borders Iraq and Syria, and hosts a U.S. base at Incirlik from which strikes against ISIS have been launched.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees and who visited Brunson in jail, suggested last month that Washington should seek an alternative base in the region. “Turkey is an important NATO ally but isn’t acting like one,” she said.

Game of chess
High above courtroom 29 on the sixth floor of Istanbul’s giant central courthouse is a brass engraving of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the secularist founder of modern Turkey.

Directly facing him on Thursday morning was Tunca Öğreten, attending only the third hearing since his pre-dawn arrest.

Although released from prison on bail last October, Öğreten has yet to be cleared of the allegations against him or be committed for trial. Turkish authorities still have the laptop computers and iPhones seized from his apartment.

“They even took my iPod for God’s sake,” he recalls. “It’s just my music. What do they want with it?”

Öğreten believes his case is an act of revenge by the government after he reported the contents of hacked emails from Erdogan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak.

He was not allowed to see a lawyer until five days after his arrest, and the precise charges against him have changed at least twice; he was briefly accused of membership in a proscribed Marxist terrorist organization, DHKP.

Albayrak was energy minister in 2016 when hacked emails, circulated to a number of journalists, revealed his company was allegedly linked to the trade of oil from ISIS-held territories in northern Iraq. He is now the finance minister tasked with managing Turkey’s inflation-crippled economy. Albayrak has denied the accusations, although Öğreten's report was never officially disputed.

“Of course they are doing this to punish me,” Öğreten said. “At my first hearing the judge didn't even ask any questions. It is the risk we take by reporting in Turkey."

He passed his time in jail by playing chess with other inmates, and managed to avoid beatings from officers — even notorious naked searches.

Each day, prisoners are required to strip to their underwear to prove they are not concealing contraband items. In an act of defiance, Öğreten simply lowered his underwear. “After I did that a couple of times they just stopped asking,” he laughed.

Perhaps most cruelly of all, he was prevented from seeing his fiancee, Minez, 31; Turkish law only guarantees prison visits for spouses. Eventually the couple got married in the prison chapel. “Finally, she could visit me,” he said. “I am so proud of her. She has been so strong through everything. She is also a journalist, so she kind of understands, but it has been so difficult for her.”

Since his release, he has been able to return to work as a freelance reporter, including for an online Turkish news site, Dikem, but is banned from traveling.

His lawyers on Thursday asked a judge to lift the travel ban and return Öğreten’s personal items; after a brief recess, the judge refused.

“They still have my music,” Öğreten sighed.

Four decades after Alan Parker’s stomach-churning “Midnight Express” hit American movie theaters, conditions in Turkey’s prisons have improved — but rights groups say beatings and abuse remain commonplace.

The Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) reported in one of its studies, “Suspicious Deaths and Suicides in Turkey,” that there has been an increase in deaths inside Turkey’s jails and detention centers. Among the recent cases is that of Sabri Çolak, a retired professor who was jailed reportedly because he once appeared in a television documentary about Gulen.

The State Department country report for Turkey cites a catalog of prison abuse cases "included alleged torture of detainees in official custody; allegations of forced disappearance; arbitrary arrest and detention under the state of emergency of tens of thousands, including members of parliament."

Although the Ministry of Justice did not respond directly to NBC News, it has described the country report as "one-sided" and "subjective" and said abuse allegations are always investigated. It was "pushing the limits of irony" that the U.S., which had violated rights at Guantanamo, "dares to evaluate Turkey with respect to human rights and freedoms," the ministry said.

According to figures published in an August report by the New York-based Journalists and Writers Foundation, some 44 percent of inmates in Turkey are still awaiting trial or appeal.

"Even though the state of emergency has ended," Öğreten said, "we are still living it every day."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...more-prisons-post-coup-purge-persists-n909486
 
How about into Iran's arms?

Then we would have 2 power house countries in the most strategically located parts of the ME, allied against us.

Also, necessity makes for strange bedfellows.

China is in Pakistan's pocket. Iraq is in Iran's pocket. We lose Turkey, and all of a sudden the ME isn't our sandbox anymore.

That's a good thing.
 
It's a good thing the EU didn't let Turkey in as a full member.
 
Erdogan has gone full autocrat but honestly Gulen is fishy as fuck. If you live on a compound in exile you're probably up to no good. Remember Huma Abeddin, that Moslem woman who was one of Clinton's closest confidantes? She had secretly arranged a meeting between Gulen and Obama sometime during his first term IIRC, honestly if that's not fishy I don't know what is.

Not an excuse of course to crackdown on anyone and everyone who says anything that hurts Erdogan's feelings of course.
 
Turkey Convicts US Pastor but Lets Him Leave
A Turkish court has convicted an American pastor at the center of a Turkish-American diplomatic dispute of terror charges, but has released him from house arrest and allowed him to leave Turkey.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...-pastor-in-turkey-commences?int=undefined-rec

I'm sure the increased pressure against Turkey and the Lira did play a role here, but at the same time, I'm almost as sure that the whole Khashoggi murder thing plays into it as Turkey seems to want backup on that.


Also, the way this turned out, Erdogan can alway say that the courts decided the matter and he did not buckle.

 

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