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.

Bloody terrifying. It reminds me of Mao's purges in China. Weed out political opponents, solidifies his own power by making everyone terrified to speak out.

Bloody frightening that he's gone after academics, teachers and so on.

Yanbu, this is very bad.

Re Turkey wanting to be in the EU (that old chestnut) they have done for 40 years and it still wasn't going to happen this decade. Living under an Islamic dictatorship puts their odds at less than zero.

I agree under. How is he justifying that

My ds has lived in Turkey and worked there since 1992. He has a Turkish wife and daughter (dgd has dual nationality). Ds works for a multi national publisher and ddil is a teacher. The terror I am feeling now is beyond any of the parenting fears I have had over the years. He just says "We are all fine" but I wonder for how long :(

Yet a fortnight ago Europe was welcoming him with open arms and trying to speed up the process of Turkey joining the EU. This is a country that borders Iran, Syria and Iraq. Thank God for Brexit!

Awful for the ordinary people who believed they were living in a democracy - which they weren't but he had created a facade of one to get into the EU.

You must be so worried mouse. I'm an avid news watcher in general but I can't watch anything about this at the moment.

The speed of the whole thing is terrifying. Erdogan seems to be taking everyone in Turkey and outside it by surprise, and the whole world is just watching it unfold.

I'm not aware of anyone who was trying to speed up the process of Turkey joining the EU. One more Brexit myth.

Well the state of emergency has been prolonged in France for 6 months after what happened in Nice.
Does it means the French president has given himself the right to do as he pleases? Should we be very worried about it as France is much closer to the UK? Do they have a dictatorship there too?

State of emergency is there to deal with exceptional circumstances such as a coup.
The current president might not be as 'democratic' as we would like but he has been elected. Turkey has a democracy unlike whatever would have happened if the coup had worked.
That's why people in Turkey were so against the insurgents and relieved when it didn't work.

By agreement in returning refugees Mysteries. That wasn't a myth.

.

A Brexit myth, absolutely, but a potentially terrifying situation developing.

Talking to DH last night, I said how I remembered the TV programme 'All our Yesterdays' showing the Nazi rallies of the 1930s, and said how the current situation in Turkey reminded me of them.

Mouse if I was you, I would listen to your ds. He is in a much better position to understand what is going on there and anyone here.
Believe me, I have lived through events that have been described in similar ways than the coup in Turkey. A revolution, everything destroyed, people allegedly hunted down.
It was nothing like it what so ever.

That's true Everything. It's dismissing the academics, and recalling them all those currently abroad which seems a scary step.

lulu

You just can't resist making everything about Brexit, can you? Why not read [[http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/2690274-Turkish-residents-view-long?watched=1&msgid=62451638#62451638 this]] excellent summary on another thread from a Turkish national - might broaden your outlook a bit

under

Thats exactly what i was thinking, i have read a few books about Mao (nothing too clever) and as soon as i heard about him sacking the judges and teachers i thought of Mao

Dreadful stuff

Link fail but it does work

It is extremely worrying. The attack in education is the most scary, and it seems like Turkey is on the way to a much more hard line, much less democratic leadership.

I don't think there's anything to worry about that. Let's stop making assumptions whilst sitting here. Turkish people can do represent their own feelings and talk.

Lulu
Awful for the ordinary people who believed they were living in a democracy - which they weren't but he had created a facade of one to get into the EU.

This is Leave Campaign bullshit. For decades Turkey has failed to meet a fraction of the conditions for joining and Erdogan had no interest in meeting them, saying he had no intention of doing what the EU told him to. Furthermore, all countries in the EU can veto Turkey joining.

...however, the situation in Turkey may now result in large numbers of asylum claims, which should give the Brexiteers something to get agitated about.

timegate

Please read my link to the other thread, with a view from Turkey, if you seriously think there's nothing to worry about.

Turkey under Erdogan got rid of IMF debt. This is huge. Honestly, I think turkey will be fine. Of course there's some instability now (and that's to be expected). But long term it will be fine.

YY Rufus - I read Wild Swans (years ago) and a couple of others - and I've never forgotten it - it opens your eyes to how political purges like this really fuck people over.

Talking to DH about it this morning, and he was saying they're literally rounding them up - they'll be looking at stupid stuff, like social media - and literally purging anyone with any hint of dissenting views.

Hell yes.

I knew a Turkish family some 15 or so years ago. The kids were only toddler/babies when they left, so they had no real recollection of the reasons behind it, but the mum mentioned things a few times - killings, lynchings, amputations in the town square.

I can't believe the coup was real. A small faction of the military must have been mad to think they could have succeeded. Mad, or constructed from above. Maybe they thought they had more allies than they did. More likely the the whole thing was a hoax - a few tanks, slaughter some people, say there was a coup.