What's Happening In Turkey, And Why It Should Concern You

[Belatti]

The same started to happen arround here, we have a government that takes ideas from venezuela.

People went to the streets last year, pacifically, using internet to organize protests.

The government backed off with some if its sh*t but still there are unresolved million dollar corruption scandals, investigated by "replaced" prosecutors and many many other stuff alike.

[Moxie]

I usually consider myself up-to-date on current events, and am embarrassed that I was not aware of the turmoil in your nation. I will certainly spread word or you plight.

[Andres125sx]

Signed

Internet is awesome, I´m happy to see those who try to silence people can´t do it as easily today. Only some decades back they would have do it easily, but today it´s a lot more difficult to silence anything thanks to the net =D>

[Shrieker]

Thanks for your support everyone.

The President unfortunately has signed it...

[Shrieker]

Slowly but surely, it's surfacing why the current administration wants to control the internet:

http://erdogansdollars.blogspot.se/

[MOWOG]

Is it safe for you to post such information from within Turkey? I just flew home last weekend and when the immigration officer placed my passport in his scanner, I wondered just what it was his monitor was showing him about me. I have been known to say some rude things about my government online. Of course, I am not permitted to know what it is that he and his computer know about me. It is for my own protection.

I found this story on Al Jazeera this morning, via Reuters. I had to chuckle about a couple of things:

1. Your government says this is all a plot by a US based cleric. How odd that all the brouhaha about the WTC and 9/11 has been ascribed to a US based cleric as well. There seem to be a whole slew of foaming at the mouth US based clerics living within our borders!

2. The story references some 2,300 wiretaps by the Turkish government recently. Heck, in the US there have been BILLIONS of wiretap activities. When it comes to wiretaps, the US is way out ahead of whoever is in second place.......

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office said voice recordings on YouTube, purportedly of Erdogan telling his son to dispose of large sums of money on the day news broke of a graft inquiry into his government, were fake and "completely untrue."

Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the audio recordings, which were posted on the video sharing site late on Monday.

In the recordings, the voice, supposedly of Erdogan, can be heard asking his son to remove the money from his home.

At one point, the voice at the other end of the line says some 30 million euros ($40 million) remain to be disposed of.

The recordings, which appeared two days after Erdogan's AK Party officially began campaigning for local elections at the end of March, may be the latest purported revelation in a graft scandal Erdogan says is orchestrated to unseat him.

"The recordings, which were released via the Internet this evening, accompanied with the allegation that they were a telephone conversation between our Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son, are completely untrue and the product of an immoral montage," Erdogan's office said in a statement.

"Those who created this dirty conspiracy targeting the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey will be brought to account within the law," it said.

The corruption scandal, which erupted on Dec. 17 with the detention of businessmen close to Erdogan and the sons of three ministers, has spiraled into one of the biggest challenges of his 11-year rule.

Social media and video-sharing sites have been awash with leaked recordings presented as evidence of wrongdoing. As with the latest recordings, Reuters has been unable to verify their authenticity.

Erdogan's supporters say the graft investigation was contrived by a U.S.-based cleric with influence in the police and judiciary in a bid to unseat him ahead of elections this year. The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has denied involvement.

Also on Monday, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily reported police had wiretapped 2,280 people — not just politicians but also writers, artists and others — since 2011.

The government has responded to alleged attempts to depose Erdogan by dismissing or reassigning thousands of police officers, tightening its control over the appointment of judges and prosecutors and pushing through a new law that allows the authorities to block access to websites within hours without a prior court order.

Al Jazeera and Reuters

[mx_tifoso]

I have a friend from Turkey and we were just talking about this issue last weekend. The extreme Muslim influence is going to affect millions like her who are not extreme and do not want to be constrained by those views, even to the point of not being able to get a job based on her faith. And she is more than likely going to have to face that fate later this year when her visa expires.

We have a horrible government in my country as well and it's a partial explanation as to why I'm always doubting whether I will ever live there again. I love it to death but I'm not sure if I can call it home again, especially now with children in the picture.
It will be about choosing the lesser of evil governments to live with?

[Shrieker]

@Mowog,

I see no reason to be scared. Neither should you. There are millions of people like you and me all around the world, hard working people who churn the gears of the system, keeping it going. Maybe they'll want to take a few to make an example of; scare tactics. If the lottery hits me then so be it. A heavy cost, which i'd gladly pay.

Meanwhile, new recordings continue to surface revealing the extent of the corruption. The so called prime minister has dismissed them as 'montage' and 'fakery'. Two newspapers who are known to be the accomplices of the current administration, in their front pages made news that these recordings were sent to a studio in the U.S. for analysis and that they've returned their report saying that the records are indeed 'montage' and 'fake'. Of course it's a big fat lie, since the studio in question has released a declaration on facebook saying they never received such a recording for analysis and that they aren't proficient with conducting such an analysis. The newspapers in question have since edited their websites omitting the parts containing the name of the studio in question. But the public at large here in Turkey will continue to believe the printed version of the newspaper since it can't be edited, and the majority of the people don't follow what's going on through the internet.

http://www.diken.com.tr/vitrin/bir-yala ... sil-coktu/

http://onedio.com/haber/7-adimda-kayitl ... tu--259335

https://www.facebook.com/john.cheary/po ... 7431618995

https://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Mar ... 9791446041

If i got things correctly, then what's even more hilarious is that JMM is just an audiobook company... There is another recording studio mentioned in the news article called kaleidoscope, but they've been mislead as well. Basically, they were sent the recording in question and were asked to determine whether there's any montage involved at all. The answer of which is of course 'yes', simply because the recording includes five different phone calls between Erdogan and his son lol. Kaleidoscope have come out saying they don't understand a word being said in the recording and that they've been mislead.

I for one think the recordings are genuine. But this leaves behind the question who have conducted these recordings, and why they've decided it's time for Erdogan to go. What's in store next for the Turkish people ? If they decide who goes out the door, then surely they'll have a massive influence as to who walks in as well. Which is all depressing... There is a real possibility that islamofascism will carry on post Erdogan, and even increasing in power. The U.S. needs a destabilized Turkey in the region. In the global sense, the interests of the U.S. and the Turkish Republic in this region contradict with each other massively. Which tells me we will be sailing into another nightmare after Erdogan...

[MOWOG]

The U.S. needs a destabilized Turkey in the region.

I would have thought quite the opposite. With unrest in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine, Venezuela, Afghanistan and lots of other places as well, one would think the US would be delighted to have at least ONE country where things are relatively stable and predictable.

But we citizens are of course not privy to the geopolitical machinations of our government as carried out by the CIA and the various joint task force groups and drone programs throughout the world. If your government has lied to you, take some comfort from knowing that ALL governments lie to their citizens on a regular basis. It's how they keep themselves in power.

[Shrieker]

The difference here in Turkey is that the prime minister is still prime minister. No legislation is prepared without his approval, he runs the entire show and now owns the courts as well. Only a fraction of what was revealed in the past few days would've unseated any official, anywhere in the world. Anywhere but Turkey I suppose.

The last time the U.S. needed a stable Turkish Republic was back when the Soviets were still around. Forward battle station to take the brunt. Ever since the collapse of the eastern block, the U.S. and her allies have slowly but surely been digging the grave of Turkey. They encouraged and funded Erdogan, his ak party and other numerous islamofascists as well. Turkey right now is on the brink of losing it's south eastern provinces which some people nowadays are so eager to call kurdistan. This 'new state' will also acquire land from Iran to the east and Syria to the west (do the chips fall into place now?) and make a perfect pet for the U.S. and Israel in the middle east.

What bugs me is why they'd want to get rid of Erdogan. He has done everything he's been told by them. I guess they didn't like him breaking the embargo on Iran with gold trade, and then there's the thing with buying missile systems from China instead of the U.S.A. But these two seem hardly sufficient reasons for powers that be to get rid of him. If I was running the show (whomever they are) I would keep Erdogan. He has done everything to the detriment of this country and i think it's very doubtful that they'll find anyone better to do this job.

[Shrieker]

@ mx_tifoso ,

I for one think oppression and corruption must be fought everywhere. One does not exist without the other anyway. People should take a lesson from Turkey and never allow things to go so far. I guess we should've taken our lesson from nazi Germany, but were too complacent... History has a bad habit.

[Shrieker]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzLj0YNu ... e=youtu.be

Erdogan says students opposing his administration are "leftist, atheist, terrorists".

It tells you all you need to know to understand what kind of a life form we're having to contend with over here; as prime minister...

[MOWOG]

students opposing his administration are "leftist, atheist, terrorists".

Good Lord, I certainly hope so. That's what students are SUPPOSED to be!

[Shrieker]

Well he means them as insult, but i can understand if it doesn't make much sense in that context over there.

[MOWOG]

Oh no, I understood perfectly. Reminds me of the 60's when I was a student and my government thought of all students as lefties, atheists and terrorists. Well, terrorist wasn't really part of the lexicon back then, so they called us radicals and agitators instead.

It is the job of young people to give their elders a kick in the ass and push them off into the gutter. It's the natural order of things.

One of those pesky radicals wrote these lyrics for a song back then. Still pertinent today, I suspect:

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.