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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 8/25/16

Erdogan Leads Turkey's Democracy on a Populist Death March After Failed Coup

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Via: www.stupidpartymathvmyth.com

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Intro by Patrick Andendall:

"In my previous piece on Turkey, written as the coup attempt was
underway, I noted that should the coup fail, ErdoÄŸan would simply accelerate Turkish democracy's death march he had already put in motion for some time. Sadly, things have been utterly predictable since the end of the coup, which ended up failing quickly, and resoundingly so, except for perhaps the fact that ErdoÄŸan is pressing his post-coup advantage even more forcefully than expected in a purge unprecedented in recent global memory. At stake is the survival both of Turkey's democracy and of the NATO alliance as we know it. And both Tocqueville and Orwell can shed some light on all of this."

By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981)

AMMAN -- Since the failure of the dramatic coup attempt in Turkey, we are witnessing the methodical destruction of everything democratic about Turkey, save the exception of the majority's ability to impose its will on the nation as a whole through periodic voting: a true Tocquevillian "tyranny of the majority" empowered and sustained through Orwellian means.

ErdoÄŸan's Mob Rule: The Tyranny of the AKP Majority

Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan is increasingly using rhetoric that credits he and the people with "victory" over the coup plotters. The lesson: ErdoÄŸan is the people, and the people are him; they are one: he speaks for them, they speak for him.

Using such rhetoric, ErdoÄŸan for weeks exhorted his followers to engage in nightly demonstrations since the coup failed, providing free public transportation to--and free food and water at--the rallies throughout to encourage mass attendance and culminating in series of final, massive rallies in 80 cities on Sunday, August 8th, including one with millions of people in Istanbul that might have been the nation's largest rally ever. Though these rallies received robust support and encouragement from the government, the country's main Kurdish political party--the HDP, the third-largest party in Turkey's parliament--was excluded. Considering that many other demonstrations not favorable to ErdoÄŸan's agenda are banned and met with force at the hands of the police, considering that ErdoÄŸan's ruling AKP party is using government funds to stage repeated, continuous political rallies that exclude a major party representing a minority with which the government is in a brewing mini-civil war (or insurgency, if you like, which is claiming lives even now) in Turkey's southeast, this must certainly be considered an improper use of power in a country that is supposedly a "democracy."

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Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Press Service via AP

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Award Winning Author Patrick Andendall has always had an interest in politics, and being multicultural, he views issues from a more international perspective. In 2004, five days before the election, he flew to Cleveland and pitched in to help with (more...)
 
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Erdogan Leads Turkey's Democracy on a Populist Death March After Failed Coup

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