No Supermajority
Claire Berlinski, Ed. ·
Jun 12, 2011 at 12:15pm
I'm at dinner with my father right now, so I'll comment on this later.
It's not the worst-case scenario. It's sure not the best. This comment from a friend on Facebook is awful:
as of today, Turkey is more [expletive] than ever. people who support freedom and rights or issues like education, we will be buried alive here. but who cares, we are dead already.
No, friend, you're not. And until you are, keep fighting.
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Re: No Supermajority
True fact*: When Claire & her father dine, they mostly talk about NASCAR and Tyler Perry movies.
*Not guaranteed to be either true or a fact.
May '10
Re: No Supermajority
Try the veal.
Obviously more is personally at stake in an election for the individual resident of Turkey than that of the US, but those kind of statements expressed in the immediate aftermath of a result are pretty common here as well. On either side, depending how things go.
So buck up. You'll feel better in a couple of days.
Nov '10
Re: No Supermajority
On the other hand, one of the characters in an Alan Furst novel speaks of how his father, active in the labor movement in Germany between the wars, "took the suitcases down from the closet" [I quote from memory] the day after the Nazis won control of the government in Germany because he knew what that would mean for him and his family.
Sometimes good sense dictates a strategic retreat in order to fight another day. I don't know Claire's friend's situation, but if I were a democrat, Jew, or a Christian in Turkey just now, I might be looking for a new abode. It may be that the time for fighting there passed some time ago.
Edited on Jun 12, 2011 at 4:15pmRe: No Supermajority
Bill Walsh: True fact*: When Claire & her father dine, they mostly talk about NASCAR and Tyler Perry movies.
*Not guaranteed to be either true or a fact. · Jun 12 at 12:35pm
Sugar Ray Robinson, as it happens. And a few other things.
I'll fill everyone in on this meeting tomorrow.
For now--I need to sleep.
May '10
Re: No Supermajority
Hi Claire's dad! Goodnight Claire!
Jul '10
Re: No Supermajority
For now, the summary of the Turkish elections given the Turkish political system: The AKP stays in power, but loses 6 MP's in the parliament. Hence, they are slightly weaker than before the elections.
Sep '10
Re: No Supermajority
Sugar Ray Robinson, as it happens. And a few other things.
The Gene Fullmer left hook was a beaut.
Jun '11
Re: No Supermajority
Aside from the fact that the AKP are a foreign policy nightmare for the West there is an argument that the AKP are Turkey's Islamic equivalent of a European Christian Democratic party. I know that Daniel Pipes, whom I have a great deal of respect for doesn't agree, what do you think?
Re: No Supermajority
There's some of truth to it, but I'd say this argument was a lot stronger when they first came into office. As they've gained a more and more unassailable electoral position, they've drifted away from “Muslim Democratic” type behavior towards the authoritarian behavior that Turkish politics tend to encourage (with, e.g., parties being vehicles for individuals rather than ideologies), tatterring the “democratic” part of their label, particularly with the whole, bizarre affaire Ergenekon.
Still, you never know, given a robust enough opposition, they might well evolve into something like that, though it's extremely unlikely in the short term, I'd say.
May '10
Re: No Supermajority
Please do. Probably should be abashed to say it, but I'll be much more interested in anything you care to share about your dinner conversation with your dad than what happened in the Turkish election.