to think that if I was Turkish right now, I would be fucking terrified?

[Bogeyface]

By declaring a State of Emergency, Erdogan has basically written himself a mandate to do pretty much anything, with no comeback. If there is any truth in the rumours that he knew about the coup and allowed it to go ahead in order to get rid of his enemies then this is where it all starts to go bad.

This feels wrong for reasons I cant really articulate but, to quote Star Wars, I have a bad feeling about this.

Your bad feeling is justified. Trust me.

I think it is House.

This is how dictatorships start, or rather, secure their position.

All those people waving flags, kids on their shoulder, party atmosphere, all waiting for him to make his announcement. And they cheered when he told that what he was doing. Do they really not see that he has just told them that within days they will be too scared to voice any negative opinions about their government for fear that they will be next? That their media will be directly controlled by the government?

Its just horrible. We have seen it happen before. :(

1577 university deans told to quit. Can you imagine that happening here?

Academics have always been the first targets for dictators, because they are intelligent people who encourage free thinkers. The cult of personality doesnt allow that, so they are always the first to disappear. If I was one of those Deans I would be trying to flee the country tonight :(

Saw a photo of those soldiers on the bridge after they surrendered and I so wish I hadn't, I can't get it out of my head. They were just young boys, they were being whipped and attacked by the crowd and one was crying, he looked like ds and it was awful.....they didn't have a chance. If they refused to take part in the coup they were doomed, they took part and still doomed.....horrible.

The Turks are fucking terrified. I can't believe the west is sitting back and watching turkey become and Islamic dictatorship. That's the region fucked then.

I'm not Turkish and I'm terrified of what this will get us all into.

It's awful. Desperately sad. I have an old university friend who is an engineering lecturer there - I hope she will be OK because her subject is not political in any way.

(Obviously when I say OK I mean relatively. I can't imagine her under an Islamist dictatorship. Hopefully if she feels the need to leave she will be able to get work elsewhere but she has family...)

I can't quite believe that the West is just sitting and watching either - but then what can they actually do? This guy was elected. But we're basically watching a dictatorship being formed - all I can hope is that the next coup succeeds, and I can't quite believe I'm writing that.

A colleague of mine went there yesterday on holiday. Is it safe? I suppose she wouldn't have been allowed if it wasn't, but still....

This is terrifying stuff.

Holy shit. It's moments like this when you think, fuck, this is one of this times in history that I will look back on, when the years of damage have been done and think 'why?'

This world is so, so awful. Those poor people.

Yanbu. Sad times.

and they want to join the EU

He's obviously been waiting for this - it all seems to have been way too organised a response. Rounding up all those people does not happen in an instant and without forward planning. It's horrible to watch and hear what's going on but "we" can't intervene, it would surely make it worse? It's a terrible situation.

It's so frightening. A mum at school is Turkish and when I spoke to her at a kids party at the weekend she said the coup wasn't real and she wished it was and Erdogan wants to introduce sharia law. I thought at the time that sounded a bit far fetched but now I'm not so sure

You have to wonder whether it was staged, don't you? I've got colleagues there - in fact someone based in my office was visiting them earlier this week. I'll ask him how things are for them.

Will they still be considered to join the EU?

Surely not!

I read yesterday that he wants to reintroduce the death penalty so that would make joining the EU unlikely

Certainly seems to be a dictatorship in the making. Very sad.

and they want to join the EU

I think he has been informed that the likelihood of this ever happening are diminishing daily.

Your right. I expect there will be a lot of Turkish people seeking asylum in the very near future. Must be very frightening for people.