But He's Democratically Elected !!!

Photo: Rama

President Barack Obama urged all sides in Turkey to support the democratically elected government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid a military takeover of the key NATO ally.

Why?  I find it hard to believe if there were a Putsch in the Kremlin or in Tehran he'd be urging everyone to support their democratically elected governments.  

A UN Security Council resolution failed to pass after Egypt objected to similar language with the argument that the council was "in no position to qualify, or label that government — or any other government for that matter — as democratically elected or not" and suggested other language that urged all parties to "respect the democratic and constitutional principles and the rule of law".  They do after all have a valid point, there are many governments around the world that are technically "democratically elected" yet that do not adhere to democratic and constitutional principles and the rule of law", and frankly the government of Recep Ergodan is one of them.

Why does Ergodan get a pass? When most probably Putin and Rouhani would not? Me? I was rooting for the Turkish military which has historically been the defender of the Turkish Constitution laid out on secular grounds by Mustafa Atatürk.

In the immediate aftermath of the coup the Ergodan government has arrested 7500 and relieved (fired) 9000 others with such rapidity as to prompt an EU commissioner to suggest that the list was prepared well before the coup ever started.

 

Strange Days Indeed

Turkey: Don't Let a Crisis go to Waste

An interesting coup attempt in Turkey perhaps somewhat reminiscent of the Reichstag fire. There have been many coups in Turkey by the military which sees itself as the protector of Atatürk's secular legacy, oddly this doesn't seem to have been one of them. This coup seems to have come from a limited sector of the Turkish military, a sector that Ergodan is happy to blame on an exiled cleric in Pennsylvania who has denied any involvement and condemned the coup.

Ergodan is no friend of ours other than one of expediency and he is certainly no friend of democracy and of constitutional government.  I wouldn't call him an enemy, but simply Ergodan is in it for Ergodan.  In the immediate aftermath of the coup Turkish TV announced a purge of some 2,745 judges, a rather convenient consequence for a man accused of corruption.  This coup will be the opportunity to purge anyone and everyone in government who is opposed to Ergodan and his "Justice" and Development Party.

You can't make this stuff up!

Turkey 2016

36+ Dead, 147+ Wounded.