Was the election honest? On face value probably. But in another all-important sense it most certainly wasn’t.
Turkey is a big country with 85 million people. Roughly half live in the cities. The city dwellers overwhelmingly voted for change, the rural voters as everywhere, including New Zealand were more conservative, fearful of the new. Additionally, the Opposition leader represented a secular group thus Erdogan had the closed mind Muslim vote wrapped up.
Turkey has nearly 200 television news channels, all controlled by Erdogan in diverse ways, such as funding the media “in the national interest”. Ring a bell does it? All heavily promoted Erdogan, just as Stuff in particular does here with the Government’s agenda, it being substantially dependent on the government (our) money. Frankly, that’s been tantamount to corruption.
I first visited Turkey over half a century back and was last there about 15 years ago since when Istanbul has visibly gone backwards. Today, vast numbers of unemployed men stand about everywhere gazing at their bloody cell-phones.
At the turn of the century there was a great deal of speculative journalism making predictions about the new century ahead. I recall my surprise when many of the forecasts picked Turkey as destined to be one of the great 21st Century growth nations, for reasons I can no longer recall.
But assuming there was validity to their prophecies, then the Erdogan disaster shows how a single dominant personality leader can stuff a country up, as we’ve witnessed throughout history and today in numerous nations.
Sir Bob Jones is a renowned author, columnist , property investor, and former politician, who blogs at No Punches Pulled HERE.
Turkey has nearly 200 television news channels, all controlled by Erdogan in diverse ways, such as funding the media “in the national interest”. Ring a bell does it? All heavily promoted Erdogan, just as Stuff in particular does here with the Government’s agenda, it being substantially dependent on the government (our) money. Frankly, that’s been tantamount to corruption.
I first visited Turkey over half a century back and was last there about 15 years ago since when Istanbul has visibly gone backwards. Today, vast numbers of unemployed men stand about everywhere gazing at their bloody cell-phones.
At the turn of the century there was a great deal of speculative journalism making predictions about the new century ahead. I recall my surprise when many of the forecasts picked Turkey as destined to be one of the great 21st Century growth nations, for reasons I can no longer recall.
But assuming there was validity to their prophecies, then the Erdogan disaster shows how a single dominant personality leader can stuff a country up, as we’ve witnessed throughout history and today in numerous nations.
Sir Bob Jones is a renowned author, columnist , property investor, and former politician, who blogs at No Punches Pulled HERE.
2 comments:
Compare Bob's prose with Mohan Dutta. I suppose many indoctrinated (and therfore necessarily little read) dismiss Bob as just another pale old whitey.
Interesting to hear your report from being there and thanks for sharing. It looked like it was very close run and almost a change. Reading Al Jazeera has been good to see what has been going on there but even better to know what you found.
Turkiye has been very adept at hunting with the hounds and running with the foxes in relations with those to the East and those to the West.
It's a pity for Turkiye that Erdogan is not only autocratic but also a terrible economist.
MC
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