oh and what happened to the stories of his son trading oil with ISIS, and his daughter building hospitals to treat wounded ISIS mercenaries?
3 years ago I visited turkey, it seemed like nice country with nice people, but these days I only wish it would be further away from Europe. and to think such a place wanted to join EU...
Erdogan even sues comedians abroad for telling a joke.. I really hope he never enters as eu member, it shouldn't be on the table in the first place.
Turkey isn't the same any more.
On the other hand joking, criticizing and insulting different things and Germany actually prosecuted the comedian for that event. So in that sense German legal system thinks Erdogan is right, and he only used his legal rights?
I enjoy watching US political debates and as far as I can see they are free to insult everyone. Sometimes that brings color to conversation and I wish we had more freedom to insult in Turkey.
For the EU membership, I have complicated feelings. When I look from the perspective of EU. I don't know what will Turkey bring to EU? Opportunities or risks? Probably both. They may not want to deal with minor or major problems Turkey brings and that is OK. As a Turkish citizen and a curious person for different cultures, I would love to experience and learn from what EU brings.
Maybe I just can't sense the boiling, maybe we got used to getting shocked... But Turkey feels the same at everyday life.
Bargain, sure... No beating, no electro-shocks, no sleep deprivation. They just ask politely and show a little friendliness. Right.
If they have material evidence, what's the use of a "confession"? If they don't, there's something fishy already.
BTW, there obviously WAS some sort of coup or "coup". But who pulled the strings, what were the intentions, and, most importantly, were all those tens and hundreds of thousands people involved is completely fishy, judging by the news, and especially official news from Turkey.
If "Gulen's people" existed in government then they would have a police run coup with a thin veneer of military. They would also keep as much from the military as possible since they are the type of trash the military takes out whenever it is in cleanup mode.
Gulen is pretty obviously Erodogan's version of a US vice president. A stupider version of himself that no one wants and stays a threat if the president is removed by force.
Ok, so then the people Erdogan moved into the military between 2010 and 2013 they were these remaining Gulen supporters in government that are intent on destroying the republic? Or he decided not to out existing Gulen supporters he helped sneak in to the military before 2010 to either his new or its past republican leadership, (which would happily contain or remove such elements.)
None of this makes any sense unless he is admitting that he was an element of a religious group's conspiracy to corrupt the republic until 2013 and now also thinks his own continuation of power is more important than whatever religious beliefs he feels trump the republic. (A republic can't matter to a conspirator against it, right?)
That sounds like it would be slight if someone other than Erdogan said it about him and a terrible official position for a president of a republic. So what is his official position on the past that makes sense with all of this data about a Gulen lead conspiracy to destroy the Turkish Republic that began "decades before" their 2013 split?
"Rabbimden af milletimden özür diliyorum dedim. Çünkü burada hata yapmışız."
"I said that I apologize to my nation, ask for forgiveness from my god. Because we made a mistake here."
Gulen's organisation is older, they started to recruit people to state positions starting from 1970's. Erdogan and Gulen supported each other after 2002 election. Both benefited from this partnership at that time. Especially after Ergenekon trials, the army lost the ability to clean Gulen supporters. The organisation spread like a virus, capturing key positions faster.
As the remaining uneaten pie got smaller, they realized the country is not big enough for two of them(2011-2013). I think that too much centralized power is a bad thing. Something like checks and balances is needed in Turkey. However at this point it is better for a selected goverment to be in power than a secretive ponzi-scheme-like organisation(lesser evil mindset). Ironically Erdogan says now: "we were deceived". Other political parties say: "what if you get deceived again?".
If you are interested there are more info on the background of events in some wiki pages:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sledgehammer_(coup_plan)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergenekon_trials
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_corruption_scandal_in_Tur...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imam%27s_Army
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_government_%E2%80%93_G...
However this Doesn't mean that particular groups was not involved or took the initiative, I hope more will be revealed in time.
The problem is about prosecuting 99000 teachers, academics, and other "inconvenient" people, without much more than a hint that they do not like you or that they make fun of your similarity with Golum.
However somewhat foreign press is trying hard to see it other way. Many foreign journalists even supported the coup instead of condemning until failure is imminent. Some reasons can be that they just dislike the current president and often their information sources are people who are affiliated with the cleric's movement.
Clearly this coup attempt gave a golden opportunity to the president to purge Gulen followers from the state and nobody is denying this. But that is the expected behavior, whether or not it is justified. To me, Gulen and his upper hierarchy just blindly pushed all their low rank followers to the fire (most probably did not have a clue about the coup).