I firmly think seeing the reality sitting in front of a person instead of hallucinating and feeding his/her own wishful thinking would be a good place to start. The achievements for which Erdogan and the AKP have been given need to be re-evaluated. Have they really taken place? If they have, how? May there be ulterior motives for them, i.e. are they intended to be genuine and lasting, or have they been undertaken strictly for PR purposes and to appear credible or to bribe the international community, so to speak? Have undesirable developments taken place simultaneously? What are they? Do the negatives override the positives? Are the negatives at all acceptable? It does not appear such questions have been asked with regard to the AKP. To the contrary, whatever the AKP (and the pro-AKP Western) PR machine has fed the West seems to have been accepted unconditionally.

"A dangerous man is waving a lit match in a tinderbox." Yes...

The opposition parties have been inept. Nothing ever changes in any party because once a party is elected, they have all the reasons to keep it corrupt. This is due to the selection of the MP's directly by the party leader and not by the people. People vote for the party, and the party leader practically picks the members of the parliament to represent them. Naturally the MPs end up representing the party leader and not the constituents. That is at the core of the problem, which no politician wants to solve.

This assumes that they have hired someone. Are you sure they have any PR people? I am not so sure.

I should add that no real change will come until the absolute power of the party leader over his party (not to mention all three of the executive, legislative and judicial branches if elected) is taken away. And I see no pressure by anyone, domestically or internationally, demanding such change. If anyone has any idea about how we can prod the international community to start talking about it, I am ready to lend an ear. Because demanding it domestically will not suffice even if such a demand could be mustered.

The CHP and MHP are certainly as mired in fantasy as the AKP. But that is not the point. The point is there is no politician who is truly Western in Turkey, and that is exactly the point. The political system, or the political mafioso if you will, will not let the Turkish people determine the direction of the nation and have nearly always been imposing their narrow outlook on the people. It does not really change with the party that wins. The only change is in the extent of the exploitation of the state power and of the appearance of undertaking reforms. No leader resigns after losing. Erdogan may let go of the leadership of his party, but only because he will (or believes he will) become the president after his third term. No politician will let go of power, and no one has had power like Erdogan has now.

All the wrong moves...

Hmmm, that rings a bell, too. The only difference is they are not locked up since they are not inside the country.

Boy, does this sound familiar...

To me, this piece is fascinatingly right on target.

This is akin to sabotaging the USA. As a lover of the United States and its core constitutional principles, I myself is not only disappointed, but also deeply saddened. How am I going to be able to defend America in the face of all the conspiracy theories that run amok?

Well... here may the reason: 

Directed by Phyllida Christian Lloyd 

Leading British theatre director, particularly praised for her work in opera.

In the Independent on Sunday 2006 Pink List - a list of the most influential gay men and women - she came no. 56, a new entry.

Western Europe has taken care of that problem... That used to be the case.

Yes. And it has become obvious by now that the affiliations of the detained are not allocated among all possible teams and matches the outcomes of which may be considered questionable. It appears very similar to the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer cases where the evidence (in this case allegations) comes from a single source.

It is the worst piece of [edited] (propaganda) I have ever seen. I don't understand why it is so influential. Perhaps it is the will in an average person to self-destruct. The NY Times is that bad.

I remind us all again... This is what the NY Times is writing, which in itself has no value.