Turkey: what is going on?

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to WoTR for this commentary:

Most observers of Turkey have reduced every single problem facing Turkey to one factor: Erdogan, its president. He is certainly a troubling leader, but Turkey's trials run far deeper than one man.

Link:http://warontherocks.com/2015/09/the...-telling-you/?

A taster:

We are looking at a multi-player game of chicken where different actors are speeding toward each other with no intention to step on the brakes. Erdogan is driving the largest vehicle, but it takes more than one driver to cause a pileup.

[davidbfpo]

A somewhat surprising opinion column in the NYT, by an American SME, who writes that the military are now back in favour with President Erdogan:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/op...y-rulers.html?

[davidbfpo]

Moderator's Note

This thread has been renamed from 'WTF News Network : Turkish Senior Ranks' mass resignation/retirement' to 'Turkey: politicians and generals - what is going on?'

In October 2015 the thread was renamed from Turkey: politicians and generals - what is going on? - to Turkey: what is going on? A small number of older threads and SWJ pieces were merged in.

A thread 2008-2009 called 'Secularism and Foreign Policy in Turkey', which contains background to the latest issues has now been merged into this thread (Ends).

[davidbfpo]

An Open Democracy article on Turkey after the terrorist bombing of a pro-Kurdish rally in Ankara; in summary:

What we have witnessed in the last two years, culminating in the horrible scenes of 10 October in Ankara, is the end of the Turkish Republic as we know it.

Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/umut-o...rkish-republic

This article cites another report, minus a link, so here it is:http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...-attack-coming

A lengthy BBC report after:

he Islamic State (IS) group is the prime suspect in the Ankara bombings that killed nearly 100 on Saturday, Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu has said.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34505030

[davidbfpo]

Those who watch Turkey will probably know, but given its regional role we should note "enemies to the front and rear". The article starts with:

The latest footage to come out of Sur, the historical district in Diyarbakir that has been under total lock down by Turkish armed forces for the past sixty days, shows a level of devastation one would sooner expect in Syria. In more ways than one – empty streets lined with debris, bombed-out buildings, tanks and soldiers shooting at invisible assailants – the situation in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeastern regions resembles a war zone.

Link:http://www.juancole.com/2016/02/turk...escalates.html

Then a UK paper headline, sadly:

Horrific video 'shows unarmed Kurds waving white flag shot dead by Turkish soldiers'

Link:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-n...-kurds-7225065

[davidbfpo]

A short commentary on the path taken by the Erdogan-led AKP government, including taking over this week an opposition newspaper:http://tahirabbas.co.uk/index.php/no-freedom-no-speech/

It ends with:

People in Turkey remember the dark days of the 1980s and 1990s, when ethnic and sectarian violence was the norm, with people sharply divided politically, culturally and economically, and when a dark and gloomy cloud hung over the nation without hope or opportunity. The irony is that half of the nation regards anything the ruling party does as perfectly acceptable in the current climate of actual terrorism in the form of far left violence, Islamic State bombings and the perennial bogeyman, the PKK, resurfacing as Turkey’s most sinister enemy within. With an immense electoral mandate, the AKP leadership sees itself as untouchable. Such hubris is often the pride before the fall.

[davidbfpo]

A short article after recent events:https://theconversation.com/bombing-...-turkey-56223?

Which concludes:

So brace for further attacks on Turkey’s major centres of population. The tragedy is that the more regular these become, the more polarised civil society will become in the country. The prospect of communal violence against minority Kurdish populations in parts of Turkey is growing more likely and an end to the conflict seems further away than ever.