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| The Grand Turk |
| ErdogŸan Leads Turkey to the Precipice |
| 2015-10-17 |
| h/t Gates of Vienna [DanielPipes.org] The Republic of Turkey is undergoing possibly its greatest crisis since the founding of the state nearly a century ago. Present trends suggest worse to come as a long-time Western ally evolves into a hostile dictatorship. The crisis results primarily from the ambitions of one very capable and sinister individual, Turkey's 61-year old president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A career politician who previously served four years as the mayor of Turkey's megacity, Istanbul, and then eleven years as the country's prime minister, he forwards two goals hitherto unknown in the republic: dictatorship and full application of the Shari'a, Islam's law code. ...The poor showing in June 2015 blocked Erdogan from legitimately gaining his dream powers as executive president. But being the politician who stated long ago, when mayor of Istanbul, that democracy is like a trolley, "You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off," he predictably did not let something as petty as election results get in his way. Instead, he immediately began scheming to get around them. ...Assuming that Erdogan's mystery diseases stay under control, this Islamist idyll contains just one flaw: foreign relations, the most likely cause of its demise. Unlike a fellow dictator like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who had the good fortune to rule in the placid confines of South America, Erdogan is surrounded by the world's most crisis-ridden region. His domestic success increases the chances of an ego-driven blunder that diminishes or ends his rule. Tense relations with Iran and Russia over the fighting in Syria offer one temptation, as the seemingly purposeful Russian penetrations of Turkish airspace highlight; or with Israel over Jerusalem or Gaza; or with Cyprus over the newly discovered gas fields. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |