We have followed the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has single-handedly destroyed Turkey’s secular traditions and rolled back on civil liberties. With the support of Islamic parties, Erdogan used the recent failed coup to complete his work in arresting his critics, forcing the resignation of thousands of secular academics, and suspending all civil liberties in a proclaimed state of emergency. The United States helped create the tyranny rising in Turkey in its support of Erdogan as he systemically dismantled the only secular, free country in the Arab world. Now, Erdogan is threatening the United States that he wants his greatest critic, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, delivered to him and that a failure to yield to his demands would be a “big mistake.” Now, one could easily dismiss this threat as the ravings of an egomaniacal, delusional dictator with a persecution complex. However, Erdogan already forced German Chancellor Angela Merkel to reject basic free speech rights to appease him.
In addition to arresting thousands and “cleansing” the country of critics, Erdogan has focused on Gulen — his long standing nemesis. He blamed Gulen of involvement or support of the coup. There is little question what would await Gulen if he were to be turned over to Erdogan who has suspended all due process and civil liberties in the country. The 75-year-old Islamic preacher still holds enormous influence in Turkey and Erdogan is obsessed with stomping out any political threats to his authoritarian rule.
Even if the Obama Administration does not simply yield to the demands of this dictator, it is clear that it intends to continue to support him and his Islamic takeover of Turkey . . . in the cause of fighting Islamic extremism.
Erdowo, Erdowie, Erdogan….
Yeah, Erdogan, that’s fine by me, crazy old kook. Just give up the US base, turn Turkei into a polished crap.
I hope Poland, Hungary, and other countries opt out of the EU to force Erdogan to stop his power grabs. Poland seems very intellectually aware of what’s going on; I hope they have a Jan IV Sobieski on hand to save Europe in her finest hour if needed be.
Autumn, yes he was. He knew that you needed to set your rivals-enemies against each other and stay out of the way. Don’t happen here. Not much money for the defense industry in that.
@ slohrss29
Bismarck was quite savvy wasn’t he? Understood the proles domestically needed at least some form of a social net aside from Realpolitik in IR.
@Dieter
Not do what?
Will his government reintroduce the death penalty and then apply it retroactively? Civilized countries are not supposed to do that.
And I also remember now that he recently apologized to Putin over the downed fighter. Then this “show” to remove rivals. Maybe he is indeed shifting alliances. If so, that is pretty much a bridge too far for us. That may well be why we haven’t seen the spin on the situation yet, our gov does not know what to do right now. Maybe our next leader can channel Bismarck or something and straighten this out.????
Autumn–Yes, that is probably the main reason why Obama won’t even talk to Putin. That whole asian economic zone is a major threat, and when Germany tries to make overtures that way, well…. look at VW. It’s a shame that the media won’t go over the 9-11 document which pretty much demonstrates how much control the saudis have here. We know Russia has made many overtures to talk to the US, and his op-ed pieces are not published in this country. SO… I don’t know where all this leaves Turkey. I still think Erdogan sees his regime and Israel being the sole regional powers when the dust clears. Could be way off base though, it’s all very fluid right now. Have to look for Incirlik news. That is a little scary.
Erdogan has been a strong supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and he is antagonistic and hostile toward Israel. Of course Obama would support both Mohammed Morsi and him. We should call this 2 bit Anti-Semitic’s bluff and see what happens. I doubt we can expect that from Obama.
@slohrss29
Do people realize that both Saddam and Ghaddfi were removed because they wanted to go off trading with the dollar? We didn’t care how they ran their regimes – hell, we even provided Saddam with biological weapons to use against Iran. I tend to follow the money when looking at our international relations policies.
Shafarn…. whatever… I know we have nukes there, and I am slightly troubled why the lack of discussion about what is actually happening at Incirlik. Tells me our gov doesn’t know what the situation is, and cannot apply a spin to it yet. It is pretty alarming to think Erdogan could possibly seize the base. I do not know any details about it or how it is defended. After all… they are-were our allies. People may have a very harsh awakening in the coming weeks. And yes, Autumn well points out what happens to our allies. Oh yeah… add Mubarak as well.
Based on the fatuity and vacuity of what passes for sparkling repartee and erudition here with regard to this subject, it ‘s patently obvious that the “obliviants” commenting have no idea that at the Incirlik USAF base located in Turkey there are 50 (give or take a couple) H-61 Hydrogen bombs. The base has just gotten back power after having to operate on generators since July 16. To get an idea of the destructive power of the fusion H-bomb compared to a fission Uranium bomb (Hiroshima) or Plutonium bomb (Nagasaki) check out https://www.google.com/search?q=H+bomb+vs+A+bomb&num=20&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQ0t781IfOAhUEcT4KHYoTCQYQ_AUICCgB&biw=1120&bih=512#imgrc=JSNZky9dqNL6PM%3A.
There is African adage to which it would be wise for the U.S. to heed…
Do not insult the crocodile while your leg is still in the water.
Erdogan might be crazy… but he is not stupid. Having seen what has happened to dick-taters with whom we were once cozy, Hussein, Gadaffyi, Noriega, Trujillo, the Shah just to name a few… Erdogan appears to have decided Putin is more trustworthy than anyone in the psychopathic talmudist-influenced Zionistas of the U.S.
What Jill said.
As Greenwald and others pointed out, if he follows the Bush and Obama doctrine, he would be justified in sending a drone to kill his self-proclaimed “enemy of the state”. And, if there is collateral damage (aka civilian deaths), well who really cares about those people anyway?
Good call TJ, I knew I left a pile out. Geeeeeeez. Yeah, got to love those moderate rebels… add to that the pilot they shot on the spot. So much for rules of engagement.
Regardless of what we say, business couldn’t be any better!
When was the last time that anyone “warned” us?
We need to pull out all support and money and punish this thug.
He is truly a pathogen to democracy world wide and he needs to be isolated, ridiculed and excoriated so his shameful ass behavior is no longer tolerated.