Erdoğan's Police Escort Attacked, One Dead
One police officer was killed and two others wounded. Erdoğan had apparently already left Kastamonu (which is in the north) by helicopter. Nothing is yet clear about the attack, although it's being attributed--probably rightly--to the PKK.
I heard about it in a crowded restaurant. Erdoğan was on the radio in the background, sounding extremely cross. But it was too noisy to hear exactly what he was saying.
Someone with me mooted the hypothesis that he'd staged the attack himself as a campaign-booster. Ten half-hearted seconds of conspiracy-theorizing ensued. The story then disappeared into the noise of the city. I didn't realize it was making international news until I checked my mail a few hours later. You need a much bigger attack than that to get people's attention for long in Istanbul.
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Aug '10
Re: Erdoğan's Police Escort Attacked, One Dead
He-Falcon has no enemies? It therefore has to be the PKK?
Feb '11
Re: Erdoğan's Police Escort Attacked, One Dead
This brings season seven of ERGENEKON to a close.
Be sure to tune in next Fall. Terry O'Quinn will join the cast, as one of our learned elders of Zion. Secrets will be revealed. Who stole the PM's faculty of reason? Why did Sheikh G veto the generals' order to infuse the city's aquifers with lithium salts? We'll reveal this and much more -- so be sure to join us ... as we hunt down ... yet another tentacle of ... the Deep State ... ERGENEKON!
Until next time, stay safe and always remember: You're only crazy if somebody else is sane.
Aug '10
Re: Erdoğan's Police Escort Attacked, One Dead
Splendid post, Professor. Yes, Ergenekon; it had to be. Although I thought the word translated not as "lithium" but as "fluoride."
I was kinda worried this thread would go nowhere. But then, Claire's probably gone to bed already. It's late in Stamboul, a city of ambiguous nightlife. Its motto may well be "From Here To Armenia, The Beer Doesn't Get Any Colder."
Re: Erdoğan's Police Escort Attacked, One Dead
"You're only crazy if somebody else is sane."
Why why why did I not write that? Why did God give that line to John Lamoreaux and not me? I've been living under the He-Falcon and the Shadow of Ergenekon for five years! I deserved it!
Feb '11
Re: Erdoğan's Police Escort Attacked, One Dead
Just returned from grading finals....
Talked to God and we've agreed to GPL the line.
Five years? I do hope you're getting regular checkups. You'll know it's time to leave when the law of excluded middle starts to apply only occasionally.
When I was doing my time in Damascus and Istanbul, I waited too long, only leaving when symptoms had already begun to manifest and I could actually sometimes see the tails on Jews. Took six readings of Rosenzweig's Star to restore sanity.
Bernard Lewis quote to follow....
Feb '11
Re: Erdoğan's Police Escort Attacked, One Dead
"Foreign newspapers can be obtained in Cairo---though occasional pages or even whole issues may be missing. They are however difficult and troublesome to get, and while I was there I relied on the local newspapers. These present a somewhat curious view of the world. One recognises the familiar outlines of places and people and events, but they appear in a strange and rather distorted form.... To begin with, I was able after my arrival to recognise the events and the situations to which newspaper articles and news items referred and to make the necessary adjustments. But after spending a little while in the country, I found my connection with reality slowly slipping. I began to feel myself much more influenced and affected by what I was reading, and unconsciously yielding to the Western-induced habit of believing that what one finds in print in a newspaper must have some sort of foundation of truth. One may doubt, one may feel that there is exaggeration, misrepresentation, or distortion, but one stops short of rejecting the entire story as a fabrication from start to finish." [B. Lewis, From Babel to Dragoman, p. 255]