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Author Topic: Which way will Turkey go?  (Read 9760 times)

chickengeorge

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Which way will Turkey go?
« on: March 21, 2014, 05:30:21 AM »
With Erdogan blocking Twitter I wonder which way Turkey is heading. My feeling is the wrong way. He seems to be becoming more authoritarian by the day and with AK party still leading the polls and elections coming soon I have a feeling he will be stamping down further. Anyone else have any thoughts on this, particularly if you are resident in Turkey as I guess you will be more informed.

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Offline Mayday1

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Re: Which way will Turkey go?
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2014, 07:05:25 AM »
I agree chickengeorge.The EU classifys it has censorship,pure and simple.I presume Erdigan's party is the AK party.........If so there must be a lot of people in Turkey who want this direction of politics.

I would have thought,after all the protests against his leadership they would be kicking him out,for a more liberal approach.

Offline Bdancer

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Re: Which way will Turkey go?
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2014, 08:54:01 AM »
Plus the coverage on the his alleged phone calls scandal, it's amazing he's managing to stay ahead
Isis

Offline Cosetta

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Re: Which way will Turkey go?
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2014, 02:47:21 PM »
The AKP party was founded in 2001 by members of a number of existing conservative parties. Over the years it has continually strengthened its base, largely composed of central Anatolian conservative voters who have greatly benefited from the success of Erdoğan's economic policies before the world economic crisis set in.

Unfortunately, the party which used to be in power and which had the support of the military, the CHP party, have adopted the reputation of being the party of "No!".  A party with no platform, no alternative proposals, no strong leaders, no progressive ideas and only able to say "No!" to anything and everything proposed by the AKP party.

Under the AKP, many Turkish citizens previously emarginalised for their religious lifestyle and/or lack of education (mainly due to lack of equal opportunities) gained power, education, entrance to universities and generally developed into a rising, entrepreneurial middle class which now has a strong influence in politics.  These people are strong supporters of all Erdoğan has done and is currently doing.  Supporters are not limited to the rural areas.  There are many young Turks in Kalkan, including boat captains, who are AKP supporters.  It is not the AKP party which is the problem:  it is RTE, it's Prime Minister who is dragging it down a bad path.

Even more unfortunately, everything he has done over the years to build up the Turkish economy -- increasing foreign investment, opening new markets, developing tourism, improving educational access and reigning in inflation -- he is now tearing down in this victorless power struggle to which he has given priority.  In his power struggle with Gülen, RTE has become a tyrannical, self-serving modern dictator.  Turkey has gone from being viewed as a model of Islamic democracy to being just another authoritarian government. 

Alas, there is a leadership vacuum in the opposition parties.  Until someone comes forth -- or Gül splits entirely away from Erdoğan -- he will remain in power, virtually unchallenged.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2014, 02:49:44 PM by Cosetta »
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chickengeorge

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Re: Which way will Turkey go?
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2014, 03:03:29 PM »
I find it strange, although not really surprising, that there hasn't been a greater debate on this. Maybe Cosetta has summed it up perfectly but I would have thought, particularly for residents and owners, that this is going to be a critical subject for months to come. Maybe finding out when people are arriving in Kalkan, when they pack and what they take home are far more important and I'm missing something. I have no problem with people discussing those things but it's when they get 100s % more response than this! I hope to move to Turkey in the future but I am starting to believe that may be severely affected by current events. Oh well, in the meantime , I guess I will just have to keep selecting that 'mark all messages as read' button. 

Offline Cosetta

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Re: Which way will Turkey go?
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2014, 09:45:19 PM »
In my 11 years living in Kalkan, I have not met more than a handful of non-Turks interested in or knowledgeable about Turkish politics.  We are a rare breed!  Even among those few interested, I could not find one person willing to read an interesting but rather academic socio-political review of the New Turks and Muslim Nationalism, authored by an internationally respected Turkish 'expert', Professor at Boston University who is often called upon to participate in political think tanks and Senate hearings.

Aside from interest in such apparently esoteric reading, it is difficult to find people in Kalkan who know much about the politics or economy of Turkey.  Your question as to how that may affect our lives as foreign residents is valid.

Personally, I think it will not have much effect at all because Turkey is putting most of its investment eggs into tourism and will not likely upset that lucrative cart.  Over the past several years tourism has nearly doubled from 18 million to 34+ million tourists in 2013.  Antalya alone, with a population of only 1 million inhabitants, received more than 6 million tourists last year, the vast majority being Russian and German.

Turkey is now in 3rd position as a halal (muslim) vacation destination (Malaysia is no 1).  Clearly, this is a trend which will continue and it provides a huge income to the country.  People have not been off put by the political or even financial turmoil.  The fact is, business goes on as usual.  What does affect us 'yabanci' is the inflation rate of some necessities such as petrol, electricity and water.  And of course alcoholic beverages but those are a luxury, not a necessity.

When we were recently asked by friends in Spain how the current turmoil affects us, we replied: "Positively. Our cost of living has dropped by the amount of devaluation of the lira, and our income has risen as a consequence of the increase in interest rates on TL time deposits" (now around 9.5%).  This is a sad comment on the current state of the economy but a glad comment on our personal financials.

In conclusion, we are not too worried about losing our rights or YouTube or Twitter, there are many ways around these inconveniences.  If you look at tonight's election results, you will see that the coastal areas of western Turkey all voted for CHP candidates, not AKP.  In either case, I don't see that it will make a fundamental difference to our lives in Kalkan except insofar as the cost of living goes up or down.

So enjoy your contemplated move to Kalkan!
« Last Edit: March 30, 2014, 10:17:50 PM by Cosetta »

Offline kalkan4eva

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Re: Which way will Turkey go?
« Reply #6 on: March 31, 2014, 08:57:05 AM »
According to KTLN, AKP have been voted in for the Kas Municipality.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2014, 09:02:18 AM by kalkan4eva »
Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt :)


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