And the purges continue

[BernieTeyze]

You were right about wikipedia Jf. Dont usually use it, needed it today too. tut x

[JohnF]

Use a VPN, or try using Opera browser - it's got a built in VPN.

JF

[Colwyn]

Over the last few weeks, with all the Trump/UK General Election/French Presidential Election chatter about politics and the future, I notice that UK political commentators routinely cite Turkey as a troubling example of how countries slide into authoritarianism. This is not usually part of an analysis of Turkey itself but part of a throwaway list of countries which have stable governments bu not of the Western liberal-democratic pattern. Such lists often start with North Korea {at one end of the scale}, mention Russia and a few other places in passing, and finish with Turkey {at the other end of the scale}. I think this is becoming the taken-for-granted or default view on Turkey: "Oh yes, Turkey; one of those authoritarian regimes".

[KKOB]

You were right about wikipedia Jf. Dont usually use it, needed it today too. tut x

Well, why didn't you use Calispedia ?    If we in the UK don't know the answer, we can at least copy and paste the Wikipedia answer for you.

[KKOB]

From the World Socialist Web Site:

In the aftermath of its extremely narrow victory in the April 16 constitutional referendum and amid widespread allegations of voting fraud, the Turkish government is escalating its crackdown on political opposition and the Internet as part of the country’s ongoing state of emergency.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/05/05/turk-m05.html

[JohnF]

That's another 107 judges and prosecutors away at the end of last week.  He's doing a good job of creating his own private judiciary, that's for sure.

JF

[kevin3]

   There's an article in the HDN suggesting  WhatsApp could come under the cosh.

[JohnF]

Excellent piece by Murat Yetkin published in the HDN over the weekend exposing the double standards in the way those accused of terror crimes are being treated.  It's well worth a read.

Amid the Qatar crisis which is straining the entire neighborhood, Turkish politics has become occupied with a son-in-law crisis where the courts are accused of positive discrimination in the case of the relatives of key political figures of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti).

The debate started when Ömer Faruk Kavurmacı, the son-in-law of Istanbul’s powerful mayor, Kadir Topbaş, was released on May 5. Kavurmacı was arrested following the July 15, 2016, coup attempt which has been blamed on U.S.-resident Islamist preacher Fethullah Gülen. Kavurmacı was on the board of TUSKON, a Gülenist business organization which used to be favored by AK Parti governments but later became the target of accusations of funding the “terrorist network of Gülen.”

Full article

JF