Academia, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion

Turkish President Erdogan Calls For Anti-War Students “Terrorists” In Latest Crackdown On Free Speech

Recep_Tayyip_Erdogan_2017Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expanded his destruction of civil liberties and secular government with a new call for the arrest of students opposing war as “terrorists.”  Erdogan was not content with arresting or firing thousands of intellectuals in Turkish schools. He now wants to arrest free-thinking students — leaving Turkish colleges occupied by government-approved faculty stooges and government-controlled students.  He has also barred the teaching of various subjects including evolution.  Erdogan’s ire was directed at students at Bogazici University. I had the pleasure of speaking at Bogazici University years ago and it was considered one of the finest academic institutions in the World.  The university attracted the top students in the country and it is little surprise that Erdogan and his religious parties would view the students as a threat.

We have followed the rapid destruction of the secular government and civil liberties in Turkey under the authoritarian rule of Erdogan. Erdogan used the recent failed coup to push his effort to create a de facto Islamic regime and to complete his work in arresting his critics, including forcing the resignation of thousands of secular academics, and suspending all civil liberties in a proclaimed state of emergency. Previously, Erdogan threatened the United States if it didn’t hand Gulen over to him and that a failure to yield to his demands would be a “big mistake.”  He also ordered the round up of journalists despite the fact that journalists helped him stay in power during the coup by bravely continuing to broadcast during the coup.  Thousands of opponents have been arrested or questioned under those newly acquired powers.  Thousands of teachers have been fired under Erdogan and tens of thousands detained since his rise to power.

Erdogan has also been mocked for both his ridiculous knowledge of history and self-portrayal as a brilliant mind.  This has included the arrest of Mehmet Emin Altunses, 16, who allegedly committed the crime of “insulting” Erdoğan. calling people who use birth control “traitors” and saying Muslims discovered America, you are not allowed to be disrespectful or insulting in discussing Erdoğan. Then there was the prosecution of model and former Miss Turkey Merve Buyuksarac, 26, for criticizing Erdogan for quoting a few lines from a poem called the “Master’s Poem” from weekly Turkish satirical magazine Uykusuz. Erdoğan’s totalitarian measures have earned him the nickname “Buyuk Usta” (the Big Master). Even a joking reference to Gollum and Erdoğan is enough to land you in jail today in Turkey.

Now Erdogan has declared that students who oppose war are  “communist, traitor youth”  and called on  “religious, nationalist, local youth” to fight them.  He further declared that “we won’t give these terrorist youth the right to study at these universities.”

So Erdogan’s program of wiping out secularism and free thought is now expanding to destroy its leading university.  Like other infamous dictators in history, he clearly wants intellectuals out of the country or in jails or dead.  He will then be able to raise a generation of religiously obedient, uneducated citizens who know little beyond the constant adoration for Erdogan on state-controlled media.

 

 

35 thoughts on “Turkish President Erdogan Calls For Anti-War Students “Terrorists” In Latest Crackdown On Free Speech”

  4. Turley’s shorts are in a pinch over Erdogan over God knows what. Americans need to get off their high moral horse and mind their own GD business. Satan, correction, Woodrow Wilson invented this meme that ushers in the end of this nation: it’s America’s job to spread democracy around the globe. Just ignore that such idea was totally foreign to the Founding Fathers. This nation has slums in its major cities that rival Calcutta and the worst S holes on earth, 20% of Kaleefornians live below the poverty line. And what the H does Turley worry about? Some God-forsaken leader in the ME named Erdogan running Turkey.

    How can Turley write about such misfortune for Turkey’s population while the USA military has illegally invaded and occupies Syria, a nation of LESS THAN ZERO NATIONAL INTEREST TO THE USA? Syria’s legal President demands we leave. The UN has not authorized us in Syria. The Congress has not declared war against Syria? Pray tell, WHAT THE H IS THE USA DOING IN SYRIA? How many innocents have we incinerated in Syria? How many formerly benign Muslims have we converted to avowed Islamists intent on killing any and all Americans by us incinerating their innocent loved ones.

    I can not more wish that Woodrow Wilson fries in hell for the death, murder, and destruction his meme has inflicted on the world and US citizens.

    Turley does a lot of good in the world, but I’m also convinced he is a war mongering tool of the deep state MIC of which Rep. President Eisenhower warned us in his awesome Farewell Address.

    1. There is no ‘legal president’ in Syria and there hasn’t been since 1963.

      1. Really? Says who? You?

        Share your war mongering wisdom with the audience. Pray tell the audience exactly and specifically how Syria impacts US security.

        Why do you give a pass for your demigod Geeziz Soetoro Obama who promised (and lied through his teeth) “No boots on the ground in Syria?” And after his lie was exposed, his mouth piece looked straight into the camera and said “Who do you believe? Me or your lying eyes seeing boots on the ground in Syria?”

        If the USA has security interest in Syria, why did Geeziz lie in promising “no boots?” Why did the world’s all time most eloquent speaker and debater not simply convince his subjects of the USA security risk in Syria? Why? BECAUSE SYRIA’S IMPACT ON US SECURITY EQUALS EXACTLY NOTHING.

  5. Squeeky has a point. Turley, and every other academic in this country, confuse the socially salutary with structures and practices which provide for a complete lack of accountability for faculty members.

  6. So now Erdogan has banned the teaching of evolution. I guess the next step will be the mandatory adoption of an Islamic fundamentalist version of the A-Beka curriculum in Turkey’s primary schools.

  7. So Erdogan’s program of wiping out secularism and free thought is now expanding to destroy its leading university.

    Oh, from Erdogan’s Turkey to Harvard, Berkeley, Yale and our own “leading” universities!

    C’mon, Erdogan reads the news, and lives in a mostly real world. Are our own “leading” universities pro or anti American? Eddogan sees this and does not want Turkey going down the same path. Where do you find the most anti-American sentiment in our country??

    And exactly how has the recent 40-50 years of “secularism and free thought” benefited the US??? It has pretty much destroyed family life for a high proportion of us, promoted sexual freakiness, and crappy narcissistic behavior. Half the country is on drugs, legal and otherwise, to cope with the reality of our lives. With bad tattoos and multiple body piercings. Our financial status is whack. And as a country, we are pretty unhappy. And, ungovernable.

    If one thinks that “secularism and free thought” are good things, then shouldn’t they have worked, or produced some tangible good results by now??? Oh wait! They have! Male trannies can tinkle in the Ladies Room now!

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    1. @Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter, March 27, 2018 at 12:13 PM

      “So Erdogan’s program of wiping out secularism and free thought is now expanding to destroy its leading university.

      “Oh, from Erdogan’s Turkey to Harvard, Berkeley, Yale and our own ‘leading’ universities!
      C’mon, Erdogan reads the news, and lives in a mostly real world. Are our own ‘leading’ universities pro or anti American? Eddogan sees this and does not want Turkey going down the same path. Where do you find the most anti-American sentiment in our country?? And exactly how has the recent 40-50 years of ‘secularism and free thought’ benefited the US???”

      “And as a country, we are pretty unhappy. And ungovernable.”

      And the solution to these social problems, you feel, is for US presidents to emulate people like Erdogan?

      Is that one of the reasons why you admire and support President Trump, i.e., because you see his mindset as being favorably comparable to Erdogan’s?

      1. No. Because we (Trump) can not “fix” America without a revolution or major natural catastrophe. Erdogan still has the power to “fix” Turkey, or at least keep it from going down the Western World’s rabbit hole. For a few more years.

        But no, Trump does not have the power to save America. The best he can do is give us a few years of respite from our unstoppable decline. The Democrats and Liberals have won in America. The Soviet’s Useful Idiot Program worked, just like Skynet, and took over the country. Stupidity will rule the day, and we will become another Venezuela.

        Only a catastrophe that will knock the Elitish Whites out of their comfort zones can reverse their idiocy. And maybe not even that.

        Squeeky Fromm
        Girl Reporter

        1. Squeeky – I would disagree. What we see on this blog are snapshots, not the big picture. The center is safe, the flanks are weak.

          1. I hope you are right, but I think we have hit a tipping point in the country. Would you have ever believed that people would seriously be contesting the very concept of borders for a country? That just whoever wanted to come here, had the RIGHT to do so?

            Nope, I think the idiots have already won. And nothing will change because too many white people are insulated from the reality. There is nothing to disabuse them of their fantasies. Unless we have a major catastrophe. So what is it that will change the trend line???

            Squeeky Fromm
            Girl Reporter

            1. Squeeky – there are more of us than them. Just keep fighting the good fight. Don’t let them wear you down. 😉

              1. Oh, just knowing that the idiots will prevail in the end does not keep me from fighting. Just like the heroes of the Alamo, sometimes you just have to fight like hell even though you know you are about to get slaughtered. That way, you can go to Valhalla when you die and be with other brave people. Until Ragnorak.

                Squeeky Fromm
                Girl Reporter

        2. @Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter,March 27, 2018 at 8:08 PM

          So, you’re saying that President Trump does have a comparably favorable mindset to that of Erdogan, but because of the various socio-political factions who don’t share that mindset, the best he can do is give us a few years of respite from the consequences of his oppositional factions’ behavior?

          1. Perhaps you should purchase a blow up Squeeky Fromm doll and then you could put all sorts of words in its mouth???

            I thought I was pretty clear. IMHO, America can not be fixed sans a revolution or major catastrophe. All Trump can do is slow down the fall for a few years by temporarily stopping some of the more stupid things that have been done, like massive importation of low skilled Democratic party voters, or stupid one-sided trade deals. Trump can give us smart Americans more time to lay up guns and ammo and food for the coming decline. But post-Trump, the decline will simply continue.

            A “Hitler” or “Pinochet” could possibly fix us without us going all the way down the tubes, but things are not bad enough for the country to tolerate Right Wing Death Squads yet. And when they are bad enough, I posit at least 75 to a 100 years from now, it will still take a massive bloody civil war of sorts. Unless Yellowstone cooks off, or we get hit by an asteroid, or electrical grid failure. Maybe a prolonged Greater Depression would do it.

            Squeeky Fromm
            Girl Reporter

            1. Squeeky – I am just hoping none of those disasters hit while I am still alive.

              1. I doubt we will be lucky enough for one of those disasters to hit. Maybe the financial one, but that will just get fixed by ending the Fed. No, I think the country will have to hit rock bottom.

                Squeeky Fromm
                Girl Reporter

                1. Squeeky – one of the local stations covered it live. Did they cover the UFO? No!!! But a cat up a pole deserves its own crew. 😉

            2. @Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter, March 27, 2018 at 9:48 PM
              “Perhaps you should purchase a blow up Squeeky Fromm doll and then you could put all sorts of words in its mouth???”

              How did my summary misrepresent your answer? The question is whether you think President Trump shares President Erdogan’s mindset, not how successful each is likely to be in implementing policies each sees as being reforms in their respective countries.

              Perhaps your apparent reluctance to answer the question is attributable to your not knowing what a mindset is. Do you?

              If you do, do you think that Presidents Trump and Erdogan have a common psychological orientation in terms of how they want to deal with their opposition, or not?

              If you don’t think they share a similar orientation, i.e., have a lot in common politically, what distinguishes the two presidents’ patterns of behavior as far as you’re concerned, and whose are better from your point of view?

  11. I smells a military coup. Typically, that is the routine. In the past it seems to have worked. Ataturk sorted out the country for sometime, perhaps going too far, fedoras in/fezes out.

    We have the same sort of leadership here in the US: idiots, maniacs, puppets, etc., elected to the highest offices. Fortunately, we have a working check and balance system. Even the majority Republican Party can put a leash on our ‘Big Dog’.

  12. Turkey used to be the most developed country in Asia. Now, this doofus wants to make it an intellectual backwater.

    All his deforms have been implemented to remove any vestiges of European thought from the mainstream of Turkish intellectual thought. Sadly, this country is a part of NATO; I believe that was done for geopolitical reasons, not because they had any connection to the north Atlantic region.

    Within a few years, I think Turkey will be on the brink of a civil war.

    1. Suze – only if they are printed in the newspaper. 😉 You get used to it. He does most of these late at night and about 3 or 4 in a row.

      1. Paul, you faithfully read his blog and write comments therein like clockwork

        Regards to David Brock

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