tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post2216018008842167781..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Turkey 2016 and 1981Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-42487440506580567442016-09-06T08:17:53.802+01:002016-09-06T08:17:53.802+01:00It was my body that did it to me, Will, and with n...It was my body that did it to me, Will, and with no prior warning in terms of pain in the side... I must say the super Cansu from the festival swung into action, though I doubt if I'd have got on a plane constantly throwing up like that. The stomach plays up a bit, and I've been rather tired, but otherwise back to normal - if only the NHS would get its act together to give me a date for the removal of the stent. It has to be done by the end of this week, and despite three calls to the doctor who contacted urology, they haven't been in touch.<br /><br />In one way it's more reassuring to be there because Turkey is so evenly split between progressives and religious conservatives. But of course Erdogan really holds all the cards and in the current state of emergency can do what he wants.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-4770039380534283842016-09-06T02:26:29.539+01:002016-09-06T02:26:29.539+01:00What have you been doing to yourself? I have onl...What have you been doing to yourself? I have only just caught up with my blog reading - between entertaining (if that's the word for being stuck in a classroom) 29 Security Managers from around the world and preparing for my final move to PEI I have been neglecting many things. I finally had time to catch up and was trying to figure out what was going on when I read your most recent and there was reference to a hospital in Bodrun. Then I read the previous entry. You're right thank god for agony, in this case it was a good thing. I'm just glad they caught that stone before it did further damage and that you heeded the warning and were in a place were you could get proper treatment. You have to admit that it's a bloody wonder what modern surgery can do without having to be too invasive. I do hope you're on the mend with no noticeable side effects? <br /><br />Your take on the Turkish situation was very interesting - I know our friend Gulay was worried about her family there given their political leanings. I'm rather happy that our godson and his family got out of Ankara just before the whole thing fell apart. I'm sure as a diplomat he would have been safe but... <br /><br />Looking forward to seeing you and the diplomate on our way through London. Please take care of each other - physically and spiritually. Willymhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652532356102638621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-86930777227158777242016-09-04T11:43:01.018+01:002016-09-04T11:43:01.018+01:00Likewise - I'd not have heard about the Taco v...Likewise - I'd not have heard about the Taco vans (one always wants to add -gate, but nothing seems to derail the Trump lunacy) had it not been for you. The weekly bulletins and their links are very much valued.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-12795873299444885832016-09-04T02:54:56.966+01:002016-09-04T02:54:56.966+01:00Thanks for this, David. Just as with Sophie in Dje...Thanks for this, David. Just as with Sophie in Djenne, it's critically important to have insights from closer by. Very, very hard to ascertain from my side on the pond what's going on in England, let alone Turkey!Susan Scheidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09250142489341777926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-53106131979312808412016-09-03T22:59:27.815+01:002016-09-03T22:59:27.815+01:00Good to have such detailed thoughtfulness, but I h...Good to have such detailed thoughtfulness, but I have to repeat that Erdogan is not - yet - anywhere near Putin. But his nationalist drive has the capacity to go that way. As one of my Turkish friends put it in an email today, nobody yet knows how far the ostensible drive to purge institutions of Gülenists - and there seems no doubt they were deeply embedded - will catch up 'intellectuals, journalists and all other innocent people'.<br /><br />As for left mirroring right in some respects, the Corbinistas have shown how hideous blind support can be in attacking anyone in the party who doesn't agree. The Marxist agenda and the old ties with Russia and Middle Eastern dictators comes back to haunt JC. I've given up all hope of the Labour Party for the moment and signed up for the Lib Dems. There's no one especially strong or charismatic in their ranks but they're the most pro-Europe and the most likely to get a coalition together, which would be the only viable opposition to the current, ever more dismaying Tory cabinet. We fear that May no longer has a double game in appointing those Brexit goons. <br /><br />Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-33905131811349554812016-09-03T21:43:59.957+01:002016-09-03T21:43:59.957+01:00In an interesting, and certainly fraught, way, our...In an interesting, and certainly fraught, way, our election in the US has brought the rest of the world much closer, and closer to the center of our national attention: Putin, Farage, and Erdogan are all examples of this. It is overwhelming to try and get on top of it, let alone to understand the dynamics sufficiently to learn the correct lessons. In the case of Turkey, I'm particularly glad you highlighted the Guardian article, and your own understandings and experience (not to mention reading) are welcome, too. I recently read a piece in the Financial Times, "Capitalism and democracy, the strain is showing," and I was struck by an observation about Russia and Turkey: "the rise of illiberal democracies or outright plebiscitary dictatorships, in which the elected ruler exercises control over both the state and capitalists. This is happening in Russia and Turkey." Fareed Zakaria wrote of this a decade or so ago, and I remember being struck by his discussion of liberal and illiberal democracies. So, might it be the case in Turkey, that, in addition to the forces of religious conservatism, there is also need to be concerned about simple majoritarian democracy that does not take into account individual rights? (As Zakaria has written, "a liberal democracy is a political system marked not only by free and fair elections, but also by the rule of law, a separation of powers, and the protection of basic liberties of speech, assembly, religion, and property.") <br /><br />I have begun to wonder more and more if some of the movements on the left, as well as on the right, are not on their way to falling into the trap of majoritarian rule as a panacea. I don't really understand the Momentum concept in the UK well enough to know, but over here, the penchant for direct action like that of the various "Occupy" efforts seems to contain within it the seeds of illiberal democracy--not intentionally, I would say, but as a possible effect.Susan Scheidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09250142489341777926noreply@blogger.com