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Turkey’s democracy is at stake

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way
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Erdogan faces a choice — and Turkey’s democracy is at stake

AKR20190620189300079_02_i.jpg


6/20/19
On Sunday, the people of Istanbul will head to the polls to elect a mayor — and it feels like anything but a local election. The opposition candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, won the municipal elections by a small margin in March. But Turkey’s strongman ruler, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, managed to get Turkey’s election council to annul the results. The annulment decision was a rare and shameful moment, even by the standards of our damaged democracy. And if the polls are to be believed, the people of Istanbul will not let this go by. But no matter what happens on Sunday night, Erdogan should resist the temptation to intercede and recognize the election results. Turkey’s present state is bleak, but its future would be far worse if the electoral process is interrupted. Local elections are not Erdogan’s only dilemma. There is another monumental decision coming to a head this month: whether Ankara will push ahead with a plan to purchase Russian-made S-400 missile systems at the cost of U.S. sanctions and Turkey’s estrangement within NATO.

These two decisions are interlinked. The S-400s come with Russia’s patronage and its brand of authoritarianism. If Ankara goes ahead with the July deployment of Russian missiles, it will not only face sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act from Washington, but might also end up resorting to even more authoritarian measures to deal with growing dissent. Centuries of Ottoman-Russian wars tell us that Turkey should neither be too close or too antagonistic to Russia — and the only way to do that is by aligning ourselves with our European partners. Inside that club, we have a chance to rebuild our country based on democratic values and economic prosperity. Outside, it is chaos and poverty. So I urge Erdogan to accept the election results on Sunday and not tear Turkey away from the democratic world. It’s Erdogan’s choice and his alone. The damage to Turkey’s democracy over the past few years is done. But we can save Turkey’s future. We are on a precipice. He should not push us over.

Erdogan decisions in the very near-term may profoundly affect his relationships with his own people, democracy, the European Union, the United States, and NATO.

I myself have little faith in Erdogan. He is what he is ... an opportunistic authoritarian who will do what he must to ensure his survival and vise-like grip on Turkey.
 
Imagoglu (the winner of the last election in Istanbul, then cancelled and now repeated) won again today.

According to Anadolu (Turkish state press agency) he achieved 54 pct, AKP's Yildirim achieving 46 pct. That's a win by an even bigger margin than the one achieved in the election that was nullified.
 
Imagoglu (the winner of the last election in Istanbul, then cancelled and now repeated) won again today.

According to Anadolu (Turkish state press agency) he achieved 54 pct, AKP's Yildirim achieving 46 pct. That's a win by an even bigger margin than the one achieved in the election that was nullified.

Now to see if Erdogan honors this latest result.
 
Erdogan faces a choice — and Turkey’s democracy is at stake

AKR20190620189300079_02_i.jpg




Erdogan decisions in the very near-term may profoundly affect his relationships with his own people, democracy, the European Union, the United States, and NATO.

I myself have little faith in Erdogan. He is what he is ... an opportunistic authoritarian who will do what he must to ensure his survival and vise-like grip on Turkey.

You don't even have a supporting citation. You don't have any sources at all. Zero, zippo, zilch, bubkis. Can't be much of a position if you can't support it with anything other than flapping lips.
 
Where have I lied?

You include no proper citation and no evidence. You are a prepaid propagandist from Eastern European origin. You post opinion polls or couple of lines with social media link such as Twitter. You don't have guts to write actual threads expressing solid views. You are a loser.
 
You include no proper citation and no evidence. You are a prepaid propagandist from Eastern European origin. You post opinion polls or couple of lines with social media link such as Twitter. You don't have guts to write actual threads expressing solid views. You are a loser.

Your post contains nothing but lies, insults and accusations.

Please lie again.
 
Your post contains nothing but lies, insults and accusations.

Please lie again.

Your post contains nothing but lies, insults and accusations.

Please lie again.
 
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