Turkey: Are Erdoan's Days Numbered?

[Sally]

realize that there are posters who would like to make this an exclusive forum to chastise Israel, but it is really interesting to read about other countries in the Middle East and what is happening in them.

Turkey: Are Erdoğan's Days Numbered?
by Harold Rhode
December 26, 2013 at 3:00 am

It appears that the Islamic Gülenists and the secular Atatürkists -- not friends in the past -- have forged an alliance and are now ascendant.

Major political events have rocked the political scene in Turkey the past two weeks. Turkey's once seemingly-invincible prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, seems in a tailspin. A few days ago, he lashed out at U.S. Ambassador Frank Ricciardone and threatened to expel him from Turkey. Erdoğan claimed the Ambassador told other Western diplomats that the "empire [Erdoğan and his associates] is about to fall.[1]"

Clearly, Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's policy of "Zero Problems With Our Neighbors" -- meaning the alliance with Turkey's Sunni-ruled Arab neighbors -- has failed. Turkey now has problems with almost all its neighbors. It appears that the Gülenists and the Atatürkists -- not friends in the past -- are now ascendant. It is unlikely that they, or whoever might take over in Turkey, would want to continue this failed approach.

To continue reading, go to:

Turkey: Are Erdo?an's Days Numbered? :: Gatestone Institute

 

[irosie91]

Sally---long ago-----I commented to a pakistani colleague----"if you have
a death wish---become an elected official in pakistan"------he did not
laugh----he actually got ANGRY. Actually the observation could be
extended to just about any muslim land

 

[American_Jihad]

A NATO Member on the Edge

March 12, 2014 by Ari Lieberman

Reeling from a series of embarrassing public disclosures involving embezzlement, bribery, undue influence and strong-arm tactics, Turkey’s neo-Ottoman, Islamist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, threatened to ban the popular social media sites of Facebook and YouTube, accusing them of encouraging “every kind of immorality and espionage for their own ends.” Erdoğan has recently resorted to a series of desperate measures, including sacking hundreds of police officers, prosecutors and judges, in a frantic effort to keep a growing corruption scandal centered on him and his cronies from spiraling out of control.

Erdoğan’s AKP government, once touted by President Obama as a shining example of Islam’s compatibility with democracy, has turned out to be as, if not more xenophobic than the autocracies currently governing the Arab and Islamic worlds. As for Erdoğan, he has proven himself to be nothing more than a petty, paranoid thug, full of hubris and delusions of grandeur.

Under Erdoğan, Turkey has become the world’s leading incarcerator of journalists followed by those democracy stalwarts of Iran and China. He has successfully usurped control from the once independent Turkish judiciary and has imposed creeping sharia on secular Turks. But it is Erdoğan’s rhetoric concerning Jews and Israel where his penchant for the bizarre truly comes to fore.

...

Considering Turkey’s strategic importance, an unbalanced, erratic and unpredictable Erdoğan should be a source of concern for the free world. Should Erdoğan’s AKP maintain or expand its parliamentary hold on power in the next general elections, NATO should give serious consideration to reassessing Turkey’s role in the alliance.

A NATO Member on the Edge | FrontPage Magazine

 

[waltky]

Miner blames company for deaths...

TURKISH MINER WHO SURVIVED SAYS COMPANY TO BLAME
May 17,`14 -- Miner Erdal Bicak believes he knows why so many of his colleagues died in Turkey's worst mining disaster: company negligence.

And he knows one other thing - he's never going back down any mine again. Bicak, 24, had just ended his shift Tuesday and was making his way to the surface when managers ordered him to retreat because of a problem in the Soma coal mine in western Turkey. Workers gathered in one area to hastily put on gas masks. "The company is guilty," Bicak told The Associated Press, adding that managers had machines that measure methane gas levels. "The new gas levels had gotten too high and they didn't tell us in time."

The miner also said government safety inspectors never visited the lower reaches of the Soma mine and have no idea of how bad conditions get. Government and mining officials have insisted, however, that the disaster that killed 301 workers was not due to negligence and the mine was inspected regularly. Akin Celik, the Soma mine's operations manager, has said thick smoke from the underground fire killed many miners who had no gas masks. High levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been a problem for rescue workers as well.

Bicak, whose leg was badly injured and in a cast, recounted his miraculous escape late Friday while at a candle-lit vigil for Soma victims in the town square of nearby Savastepe. On Saturday, rescue workers retrieved the bodies of the last two miners missing in the disaster, putting the death toll at 301, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said. He said 485 miners escaped or were rescued. "Until today we had focused on search and rescue efforts. Now we will be focusing on investigations, on what will happen about production," Yildiz said. "The true cause of the accident will be assessed ... through different dimensions," he added. "There will be lessons to draw for the mining world."

Public anger has surged in the wake of the Soma coal mine fire. Police used tear gas and water cannon Friday to disperse protesters in Soma who were demanding that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government resign. On Saturday, police increased security in Soma to prevent new protests and detained lawyers who scuffled with police after objecting to identity checks, NTV television reported. The lawyers came to offer legal advice to the victims. In Istanbul, police using their shields and batons pushed back a small group of protesters trying to leave some coal near a monument at the city's main square, Taksim, in a show of solidarity with the Soma victims, the Dogan news agency reported. Police then used tear gas and water cannon on dozens of other protesters at Taksim and against demonstrators in Ankara, the capital.

MORE

 

[Meathead]

Erdogan has been in office since 2003. This longevity never bodes well in democracies nor anywhere else for that matter since stagnation and corruption seem to be inevitable.

His departure is long overdue.

 

[Lipush]

God willing, this Jew-Hating killer will be forced down by his people.

 

[toastman]

There was recently an audio that came out in which Erdogan td his son to dispose of a out $1B dollars.

Today's Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news

 

[Roudy]

God willing, this Jew-Hating killer will be forced down by his people.

I'm not sure he's a Jew hater. He's probably doing and saying the right things to gain popularity in the Muslim world.

 

[Kondor3]

As I understand it, in my own limited fashion...

Turkey has intentionally re-invented itself as a largely secular State in the modern age...

The Army serves as the Ultimate Enforcer of secularism in Turkey, channeling Ataturk and the traditions he left behind...

Whenever the situation in Turkey gets a little too Islamo-Fascist for the liking of the Army, the Army then overthrows the government, presses the reset button on the State, then gradually fades into the background again...

Is this Edrogan fellow at-risk of arousing the Ghost of Ataturk?

 

[Roudy]

As I understand it, in my own limited fashion...

Turkey has intentionally re-invented itself as a largely secular State in the modern age...

The Army serves as the Ultimate Enforcer of secularism in Turkey, channeling Ataturk and the traditions he left behind...

Whenever the situation in Turkey gets a little too Islamo-Fascist for the liking of the Army, the Army then overthrows the government, presses the reset button on the State, then gradually fades into the background again...

Is this Edrogan fellow at-risk of arousing the Ghost of Ataturk?

The army WAS the enforcer of secularism until they amended that clause under Erdogan's watch.