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The arrest and torture of an exorbitant number of 'enemies of the state', including judges, police officers, and teachers, indicates more important problems in

The arrest and torture of an exorbitant number of 'enemies of the state', including judges, police officers, and teachers, indicates more important problems in Turkey. For some reason, a lot of Turks still seem to support Erdogan. The West doesn't really care what he does, as long as Turkey takes care of most of the refugees. A disgusting European policy.

tyingq 10y ago
>For some reason, a lot of Turks still seem to support Erdogan You hear 3 reasons, typically... - Viewed as a champion for lower class citizens, who weren't well represented in past administrations - Supportive of religious conservatives, also not represented well in the past - The economy has improved under his tenure. Inflation slowed, infrastructure improved, etc. Not disputing your view of him, but he is popular for palpable reasons.
- agumonkey 10y ago
  I still remember the people kicking tanks away the night of the failed coup. That dude has fans.
- grenoire 10y ago
  Internal economy seems like it has improved by the numbers, but the greatest problem is the longevity of these improvements. If Turkey is not able to keep its economy together, whereas it will likely not be able to due to the aforementioned improvements being a result of the construction industry supplying for no demand, it is going to crash very badly. Additionally, with its foreign policies and own political and socioeconomic problems, foreign investment has gone down significantly, leading to a great exchange rate declines (1.2 USD/TRY prior to the 2008 crisis, to 3.5 USD/TRY close today).
agumonkey 10y ago
Sorry for the digression, in democracy, if 49% of the voters are non violent enemies is it a problem ?
icebraining 10y ago
What do you think Europe should do?
- kutkloon7 10y ago
  Cancel (instead of 'freezing') the negotiations about Turkey entering the EU, cancel the refugee agreement , and set repercussions for the torture, control of media, use of intimidation for votes for Erdogan, the blackmail of the EU (and countless other things, but you get the picture).
coldtea 10y ago
>For some reason, a lot of Turks still seem to support Erdogan. The West doesn't really care what he does, as long as Turkey takes care of most of the refugees. A disgusting European policy. That's probably for the best. In the areas that there were leaders that West did care about (or pretended to, for control and resources) and actively intervened, they created hell holes of civil war, chaos and fundamentalism.
myf01d 10y ago
Because there is now a sufficient majority of Turks who want to destroy the secular Turkey, apply gradually more and more islamic country and get rid of Turkey's within enemies: Secular people and Kurds. Erdogan is just listening to the people like he says, he only additionally wants to destroy and humiliate his personal and political enemies because he is a psycho. Furthermore, he adores money, his family built an multi-billion empire during his reign.
- deleted 10y ago
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- deleted 10y ago
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- shsyqbaw 10y ago
  That's a good question: if there's a majority of Turks who support the regime, what's the problem? Can't we like, leave them in peace? Do we have to impose western politics everywhere in the world??
  - myf01d 10y ago
    The real question should be: Why does the US want to apply "democracy" and "human rights" using all means including interventions and civil wars like in Iraq, Syria and Libya but it acts as if there nothing happens for more criminal regimes like in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar?
    - Zenst 10y ago
      Indeed and does highlight a level of corruption in which money allows you to get away with murder, most literally in some Middle Eastern countries you mention. This and the EU's pokemon attitude to the European tectonic pklate of got too collect them all, seems to allow some serious issues to get dismissed and overlooked in Turkey alone. As for Qatar and Saudi Arabia, again, if they were not rich countries would they be allowed as much slack as they do. Still, maybe people had enough of this level of corruption and double-standards being allowed; Which may in part explain how people vote in today's times.
petre 10y ago
Erdogan has reignited PKK terrorism.
diego_moita 10y ago
> A disgusting European policy. I suggest you understand it before you criticize it. It is called Westphalian Sovereignity[0] and Europeans have very solid and good reasons for it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westphalian_sovereignty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westphalian_sovereignty
- kutkloon7 10y ago
  I meant the EU (initially) wanting to accept them on the sole premise of 'taking care' of refugees. Anybody in it's right mind wouldn't want to have anything to do with Turkey in it's current state.
sctb 10y ago
Please resist the temptation to scoot right back up to generic politics in a thread like this. We've had that discussion before on Hacker News, let's try to have a new one.
- kutkloon7 10y ago
  Even though there is some technical information in it, the message of the article is purely political and I don't see how one can discuss this article without going into politics.
  - chris_wot 10y ago
    I have to agree. This entire article is about the action of the Erogan government when they decided to block Tor, so it's a bit rich for someone to scold you over making an on-point, if perhaps controversial, comment. How's that week of no politics working out for HN?

tyingq 10y ago

>For some reason, a lot of Turks still seem to support Erdogan You hear 3 reasons, typically... - Viewed as a champion for lower class citizens, who weren't well represented in past administrations - Supportive of religious conservatives, also not represented well in the past - The economy has improved under his tenure. Inflation slowed, infrastructure improved, etc. Not disputing your view of him, but he is popular for palpable reasons.

agumonkey 10y ago
I still remember the people kicking tanks away the night of the failed coup. That dude has fans.
grenoire 10y ago
Internal economy seems like it has improved by the numbers, but the greatest problem is the longevity of these improvements. If Turkey is not able to keep its economy together, whereas it will likely not be able to due to the aforementioned improvements being a result of the construction industry supplying for no demand, it is going to crash very badly. Additionally, with its foreign policies and own political and socioeconomic problems, foreign investment has gone down significantly, leading to a great exchange rate declines (1.2 USD/TRY prior to the 2008 crisis, to 3.5 USD/TRY close today).

agumonkey 10y ago

Sorry for the digression, in democracy, if 49% of the voters are non violent enemies is it a problem ?

icebraining 10y ago

What do you think Europe should do?

kutkloon7 10y ago
Cancel (instead of 'freezing') the negotiations about Turkey entering the EU, cancel the refugee agreement , and set repercussions for the torture, control of media, use of intimidation for votes for Erdogan, the blackmail of the EU (and countless other things, but you get the picture).

coldtea 10y ago

>For some reason, a lot of Turks still seem to support Erdogan. The West doesn't really care what he does, as long as Turkey takes care of most of the refugees. A disgusting European policy. That's probably for the best. In the areas that there were leaders that West did care about (or pretended to, for control and resources) and actively intervened, they created hell holes of civil war, chaos and fundamentalism.

myf01d 10y ago

Because there is now a sufficient majority of Turks who want to destroy the secular Turkey, apply gradually more and more islamic country and get rid of Turkey's within enemies: Secular people and Kurds. Erdogan is just listening to the people like he says, he only additionally wants to destroy and humiliate his personal and political enemies because he is a psycho. Furthermore, he adores money, his family built an multi-billion empire during his reign.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
shsyqbaw 10y ago
That's a good question: if there's a majority of Turks who support the regime, what's the problem? Can't we like, leave them in peace? Do we have to impose western politics everywhere in the world??
- myf01d 10y ago
  The real question should be: Why does the US want to apply "democracy" and "human rights" using all means including interventions and civil wars like in Iraq, Syria and Libya but it acts as if there nothing happens for more criminal regimes like in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar?
  - Zenst 10y ago
    Indeed and does highlight a level of corruption in which money allows you to get away with murder, most literally in some Middle Eastern countries you mention. This and the EU's pokemon attitude to the European tectonic pklate of got too collect them all, seems to allow some serious issues to get dismissed and overlooked in Turkey alone. As for Qatar and Saudi Arabia, again, if they were not rich countries would they be allowed as much slack as they do. Still, maybe people had enough of this level of corruption and double-standards being allowed; Which may in part explain how people vote in today's times.

petre 10y ago

Erdogan has reignited PKK terrorism.

diego_moita 10y ago

> A disgusting European policy. I suggest you understand it before you criticize it. It is called Westphalian Sovereignity[0] and Europeans have very solid and good reasons for it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westphalian_sovereignty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westphalian_sovereignty

kutkloon7 10y ago
I meant the EU (initially) wanting to accept them on the sole premise of 'taking care' of refugees. Anybody in it's right mind wouldn't want to have anything to do with Turkey in it's current state.

sctb 10y ago

Please resist the temptation to scoot right back up to generic politics in a thread like this. We've had that discussion before on Hacker News, let's try to have a new one.

kutkloon7 10y ago
Even though there is some technical information in it, the message of the article is purely political and I don't see how one can discuss this article without going into politics.
- chris_wot 10y ago
  I have to agree. This entire article is about the action of the Erogan government when they decided to block Tor, so it's a bit rich for someone to scold you over making an on-point, if perhaps controversial, comment. How's that week of no politics working out for HN?