#recep tayyip erdoğan

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Aslı Aydıntaşbaş for Politico Magazine:

American democracy is about to undergo a serious stress test. I know how it feels, in part because I lived through the slow and steady march of state capture as a journalist working in Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey. Over a decade as a high-profile journalist, I covered Turkey’s descent into illiberalism, having to engage in the daily push and pull with the government. I know how self-censorship starts in small ways but then creeps into operations on a daily basis. I am familiar with the rhythms of the battle to reshape the media, state institutions and the judiciary. Having lived through it, and having gathered some lessons in hindsight, I believe that there are strategies that can help Democrats and Trump critics not only survive the coming four years, but come out stronger. Here are six of them.

1. Don’t Panic — Autocracy Takes Time

President-elect Donald Trump’s return to power is unnerving but, as I have argued previously, America will not turn into a dictatorship overnight — or in four years. Even the most determined strongmen face internal hurdles, from the bureaucracy to the media and the courts. It took Erdoğan well over a decade to fully consolidate his power. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Poland’s Law and Justice Party needed years to erode democratic norms and fortify their grip on state institutions.

I am not suggesting that the United States is immune to these patterns, but it’s important to remember that its decentralized system of governance — the network of state and local governments — offers enormous resilience. Federal judges serve lifetime appointments, states and governors have specific powers separate from those granted federally, there are local legislatures, and the media has the First Amendment as a shield, reinforced by over a century of legal precedents. Sure, there are dangers, including by a Supreme Court that might grant great deference to the president. But in the end, Donald Trump really only has two years to try to execute state capture. Legal battles, congressional pushback, market forces, midterm elections in 2026 and internal Republican dissent will slow him down and restrain him. The bottom line is that the U.S. is too decentralized in its governance system for a complete takeover. The Orbánization of America is not an imminent threat.

2. Don’t Disengage — Stay Connected

[...]

Nothing is more meaningful than being part of a struggle for democracy. That’s why millions of Turks turned out to the polls and gave the opposition a historic victory in local governments across Turkey earlier this year. That’s how the Poles organized a winning coalition to vote out the conservative Law and Justice Party last year. It can happen here, too. The answer to political defeat is not to disconnect, but to organize. You can take a couple of days or weeks off, commiserate with friends and mute Elon Musk on X — or erase the app altogether. But in the end, the best way to develop emotional resilience is greater engagement.

[...]

4. Charismatic Leadership Is a Non-Negotiable

One lesson from Turkey and Hungary is clear: You will lose if you don’t find a captivating leader, as was the case in 2023 general elections in Turkey and in 2022 in Hungary. Coalition-building or economic messaging is necessary and good. But it is not enough. You need charisma to mobilize social dissent. [...]

Last year’s elections in Poland and Turkey showcased how populist incumbents can be defeated (or not defeated, as in general elections in Turkey in 2023) depending on the opposition’s ability to unite around compelling candidates who resonate with voters. Voters seek authenticity and a connection — give it to them.

5. Skip the Protests and Identity Politics

Soon, Trump opponents will shake off the doldrums and start organizing an opposition campaign. But how they do it matters. For the longest time in Turkey, the opposition made the mistake of relying too much on holding street demonstrations and promoting secularism, Turkey’s version of identity politics, which speaks to the urban professional and middle class but not beyond. [...]

6. Have Hope

Nothing lasts forever and the U.S. is not the only part of the world that faces threats to democracy — and Americans are no different than the French, the Turks or Hungarians when it comes to the appeal of the far right. But in a country with a strong, decentralized system of government and with a long-standing tradition of free speech, the rule of law should be far more resilient than anywhere in the world. Trump’s return to power certainly poses challenges to U.S. democracy. But he will make mistakes and overplay his hand — at home and abroad. America will survive the next four years if Democrats pick themselves up and start learning from the successes of opponents of autocracy across the globe.

Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, who had first-hand experience with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarianism in her native Turkey as a journalist, wrote in Politico Magazine on how to effectively fight Donald Trump’s authoritarian impulses.

[dadsinsuits]

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

[kasimpasali-omer]

Saatleri kurun, geliyor MURAT KURUM!

İstanbul Murad'ına kavuşacak!!!

🇹🇷💡🤘🇹🇷

[demvakti]

İzlerken çok duygulandım..

[nefessim]

Göklerde ve yerde kim varsa O´nundur. O´nun yanında olanlar, O´na ibadet etmekte büyüklüğe kapılmazlar ve yorgunluk duymazlar.

Enbiya suresi 19

Gece ve gündüz, hiç durmaksızın tesbih ederler.

Enbiya suresi 20

[yildirimkemalsworld]

Suriyelinin Cebinden Çıkan Kağıt

Ülkesine Ne Yararı Vardı da Senin Ülkene Yararlı Olsun…

Ben bir Suriyeliyim ve ülkemde ki savaştan korkarak kaçtım evet kaçtım geride doğup büyüdüğüm ülkemden, arkamda akrabalarımın cesedini, annemi, babamı, kardeşimi ve hatta sevdiğim kadını bırakarak kaçtım.

Şimdi Türkiyedeyim sınırı geçmek eski oturduğum evimden bakkala ekmek almaya gidercesine rahat geçip geldim.

Ve evet unuttum ne savaş aklımda ne yanımda ölen annem babam kardeşim. Çünkü mutluyum, Türkiye her ay 1.700 lira para yardımı yapıyor. İstediğim hastaneye girip muayene olabiliyorum. İlk geldiğim zamanlar hırsızlık yapıp bir kıza tecavüz etmeme rağmen hakim karşısında ağlayıp şeytana uydum dediğim an serbest bırakıldım. Bu harika bir şey, Suriye’de büyük ihtimalle asılırdım. İyi ki Türkiye’deyim.

Bir çok arkadaşım kaçtı. Avrupa’ya umrumda değil heyecan aramak bana göre değil bir evde 8 kişi kalıyoruz. Kirayı bir kaç aydır vermiyoruz. Vermeyi de düşünmüyoruz. Ev sahibi bizden korktuğundan ses de çıkaramıyor yani anlayacağız her şey mükemmel….

Her bayram da Türkiye’den otobüslerle Suriye’ye gidiyor. Eski mahallede turluyoruz. Her şey aynı kaçtığımız gibi ama umurumda değil. Çünkü yeni Türkiye göçmenler için bulunmaz bir nimet…

[delitay]

Yurt dışında yaşayan aziz vatandaşlarım

Önceki iktidar sahipleri yıllarca sizleri görmezden geldi, sadece döviz ihtiyacı olduğunda sizi hatırladı.

Biz ise her sıkıntınızda yanınızda olduk, pek çok sorununuzu çözdük, haklarınızı teslim ettik.

Peki bundan sonra ne yapacağız?

TOKİ vasıtasıyla sizler için özel konut projeleri üreteceğiz.

Aile ataşeliklerimizin ve gezici konsolosluk hizmetlerimizin sayısını arttıracağız.

Yurt dışında yetişmiş nitelikli beyinlerin ülkemizde istihdam edilmelerini sağlayacağız.

Parlamentoda sizlerin temsiline ağırlık verecek, taleplerinizin karşılanmasını temin edeceğiz.

Yurt dışı borçlanması yoluyla emekli olanlara yurt dışında tam zamanlı çalışma hakkı tanıyacağız.

Mobil cihazların Türkiye’de kayıtsız kullanım sürelerini sizler için 180 güne çıkartacağız.

Türkiye’ye getirdiğiniz araçların tekrar girişi için, yurt dışında kalma şartını 30 güne düşüreceğiz.

Askerlik yapanların ikili anlaşmalar çerçevesinde vatani görevlerinin Türkiye’de de tanınmasını sağlayacağız.

Yurt dışında yaşayan 10 bin gencimizi her yıl ülkemize getireceğiz.

Ülkemizin dünyadaki temsilcisi olarak gördüğümüz siz kıymetli vatandaşlarımıza sahip çıkmaya devam edeceğiz.

Biriz, iriyiz, diriyiz. Sizlerle birlikte Türkiye’yiz.

Türkiye Yüzyılı’nı inşallah “Güçlü Türkiye Güçlü Diaspora” şiarıyla beraber inşa edeceğiz.

Bunun için, sizlerden sandıklara koşmanızı, 14 Mayıs’ta yine bir destan yazmanızı bekliyorum.

“SEN VARSAN TÜRKİYE

[derdiderun]

Tarafsız insan olmaz. Tarafsızlık münâfıklık maskesidir. Hak tarafı olacaksın...

Safımız belli, kararımız net...

[gregor-samsung]

“ La Guerra fredda aveva un senso. Fu una guerra ideologica in cui il vincitore, verosimilmente, avrebbe imposto al nemico sconfitto, per usare parole ormai screditate dal troppo uso, la propria filosofia e i propri valori. Può sembrare retorico, ma vi era in quello scontro fra giganti una certa nobiltà. Due grandi idee – la dittatura del proletariato e il capitalismo democratico – offrivano al mondo due strade diverse verso un futuro migliore. Le due diverse prospettive hanno creato speranze, attese, impegno e sacrifici che non sarebbe giusto ignorare. Oggi ogni traccia di nobiltà è scomparsa. Il comunismo è fallito e, come accade sempre in queste circostanze, la memoria collettiva ricorda soltanto le sue pagine peggiori: i massacri della fase rivoluzionaria, la fame ucraina, la persecuzione del clero, le purghe, i gulag, il lavoro coatto, i popoli trasferiti con la forza da una regione all’altra. La democrazia capitalista non è in migliori condizioni. Il trasferimento del potere economico dai produttori di beni ai produttori di denaro ha enormemente allargato il divario fra gli immensamente ricchi e i drammaticamente poveri. Il denaro governa le campagne elettorali. Le grandi piaghe della prima metà del Novecento – nazionalismo, militarismo, razzismo – si sono nuovamente aperte. Il linguaggio della competizione politica è diventato becero e volgare. Le convention americane sono diventate un circo equestre in cui i candidati esibiscono i muscoli della loro retorica. Il meritato riposo e un busto nel Pantheon della nazione, che attendevano gli uomini di Stato alla fine della loro carriera politica, sono stati sostituiti da posti nei consigli d’amministrazione, laute consulenze e conferenze generosamente retribuite (come i 225.000 dollari pagati da Goldman Sachs a Hillary Clinton per un dibattito dopo i suoi quattro anni al Dipartimento di Stato). Anziché affidarsi a leader saggi e prudenti, molti popoli sembrano preferire i demagoghi, i tribuni della plebe, i caudillos. Anche Putin appartiene per molti aspetti a un club frequentato da Erdoğan, Al Sisi, Orbán, Jaroslaw Kaczyński, Bibi Netanyahu, Xi Jinping, Lukašenko, per non parlare dei loro numerosi cugini in Africa e in Asia. Ma ha anche altre caratteristiche.

Deve governare un enorme spazio geografico popolato da una moltitudine di gruppi nazionali e religiosi. È il leader di un grande Paese che ha interessi legittimi e ambizioni comprensibili. È responsabile di una potenza che è anche un tassello indispensabile per l’amministrazione di un mondo caotico e pericoloso. Possiamo deplorare molti aspetti del suo carattere e della sua politica. Ma vedo sempre meno persone in Occidente che abbiano il diritto di impartirgli lezioni di democrazia. Occorrono 541 giorni per formare un governo in Belgio. Occorrono due elezioni politiche a distanza di sei mesi per formare un governo in Spagna. Occorrono tre commissioni bicamerali e due riforme costituzionali approvate dal Parlamento, ma sottoposte a referendum popolare, per cercare di modificare la costituzione in Italia. Nell’Unione Europea sono sempre più numerosi i cittadini che invocano il ritorno alle sovranità nazionali, ma in alcuni Stati nazionali (Belgio, Gran Bretagna, Spagna) la sovranità nazionale è contestata da regioni che chiedono il diritto di secessione. Mi chiedo: la democrazia è ancora un modello virtuoso che l’Europa delle democrazie malate e gli Stati Uniti delle sciagurate avventure mediorientali e del nuovo razzismo hanno il diritto di proporre alla Russia? “

Sergio Romano, Putin e la ricostruzione della grande Russia, Longanesi, 2016¹. [Libro elettronico]

[mcanylm34]

[perge]

İzmir

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Henri J. Barkey at The UnPopulist:

Trump has not concealed his admiration for populist authoritarians worldwide. He has gone out of his way to praise and laud “strong leaders,” such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin—whom he admired for “being able to kill whoever,” calling him a “genius.” And he’s on record noting that Hungary’s Viktor Orbán has “made some smart decisions we could learn from in the United States,” adding that there’s no one “smarter or a better leader” than the Hungarian strongman. Much has been written about Trump’s parallels with these two leaders. But there is another strongman whom Trump could turn to for inspiration who has not received nearly as much attention: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president since 2014.

The two leaders represent opposite and conflicting ends of the civilizational pole: Erdoğan, a deeply devout Muslim, sees himself as the leader of the Islamic world and an antagonist of the West. Though not religious, Trump is positioning himself as the defender of Western Civilization.

But both are thoroughgoing illiberals who engage in populist politics and claim to represent the forces of “good” (the populace) against “evil” (the elites). They both rail against the Deep State, “derin devlet” in Turkey, even after Erdoğan, through his cunning, has defanged it. (The notion of the Deep State actually came to America from Turkey and referred to an unelected military brass that functioned as a shadowy parallel government, not anything that has ever existed here.) They both reject the current liberal-international order and harbor a deep disdain for their respective countries’ institutions that check executive power.

Understanding how Erdoğan transformed Turkey’s political system—rooted in the secular ideology of its founder, Kemal Atatürk—and quasi-democratic institutions into an illiberal regime that imposes a religious, nationalist ideology dominated by him would therefore be instructive. He has already reshaped the Turkish state and society in his image, just as Trump and his MAGA acolytes want to do in the United States. Both Erdoğan and Trump are narcissistic, thin-skinned figures who expect unquestioning, cult-like loyalty, especially when they go after the enemies that they see everywhere. They engage in demagoguery and conspiracy theories, creating an alternate reality that helps them solidify their hold on their allies and sympathizers. This gives them a solid basis to try to flatten civil society and governing institutions—and impose their will on the country.

Contempt for Courts and the Rule of Law

Consider how, instead of fixing Turkey’s admittedly imperfect rule of law, Erdoğan has coopted it. He has attacked the judiciary, sacking thousands of judges and prosecutors who wouldn’t bend to his will, replacing them with inexperienced judges who would. He has then used the courts to punish antagonists and, equally importantly, protect cronies, allies, and friends (Trump himself is no stranger to protecting and rewarding loyalists and friends). In essence, he has given a real-life demonstration of what a system that a strongman uses to “punish his enemies and reward his friends,” as Trump and his allies are overtly seeking, would look like. Turkish prisons are chock full of people whose sole crime was crossing or standing up to Erdoğan, like civil society leader Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for supposedly initiating the 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations against an urban development project and destabilizing the government. The scale of the two-and-a-half-million-strong demonstrations rivaled those in Arab Spring countries two years prior and badly spooked Erdoğan. The case against Kavala has received much international attention and resulted in a constitutionally binding ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for his release, which Erdoğan ignored.

The leader of the opposition Kurdish party, People’s Democracy Party, Selahattin Demirtaş, was also sentenced to life imprisonment on terrorism charges for allegedly inspiring protests in 2014 and insulting the president, a crime in Turkey. This was a naked attempt to neutralize Demirtaş, a charismatic politician who was responsible for his party’s unexpected election success and setbacks for Erdoğan’s party. Trump, likewise, has made no secret of his wish to prosecute his opponents. During his presidency, the Department of Justice initiated politically motivated cases against former Obama secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, as well as former FBI Director James Comey, on an assortment of charges but they didn’t go anywhere.

It isn’t just opposition party officials Trump wants to go after but even his own if he thinks they are crossing him. He has called for the “execution” of the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley—because he kept a line of communication open with the Chinese during the last few turbulent months of the Trump presidency to avoid any dangerous misunderstandings. But his deepest desire for “retribution”—his word—is against Republicans who have had the temerity to attempt to hold him accountable to the rule of law. He’s vociferously called for former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney from Wyoming to be tried for treason—in a military court reserved for enemy combatants and war criminals, no less—because she cooperated with Democrats on the House Jan. 6 Committee to investigate his efforts to overturn the election and foment the attack on the Capitol. In other words, as far as Trump is concerned, he is the state.

Erdoğan has reached deep into civil society and charged tens of thousands of people, from journalists and politicians to ordinary citizens and even minors, with “insulting President Erdoğan”—in each case, the delineation of what constitutes an “insult” was primarily left to the the presidential palace. Similarly, countless newspapers and news websites have been subjected to capricious fines or shut down.

Likewise, Trump wants to silence the media—calling it the “enemy of the people”—and, most recently, threatened to scrap ABC’s broadcasting license after his poor debate performance that he blamed on the network’s moderators. He also wants Mark Zuckerberg to “spend the rest of his life in jail” for election interference should the Facebook founder, like in 2020, extend funding to boost local election infrastructure, which Trump believes, without any basis, went primarily to blue states and handed the election to Biden.

While the U.S. judicial system is significantly more resilient than Turkey’s, it is far from clear that it will hold in the face of outright contempt and open defiance that the Trump team, just like Erdoğan, has exhibited. Consider how both have handled the highest court in the land. On the rare occasion when the Constitutional Court diverged from Erdoğan’s preferred outcome, he defied its ruling. This year, for example, the court ruled that an opposition member elected to parliament should be released from jail and permitted to assume his seat. In refusing to implement the ruling, Erdoğan absurdly argued that a lower court’s prior verdict overruled that of the country’s highest court. Likewise, JD Vance, Trump’s vice-presidential choice, has declared that if the Supreme Court objects to the duo’s plans to fire civil servants and replace them with loyalists, the administration should ignore the ruling. It should “stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say the Chief Justice has made the ruling, now let him enforce it.”

[...]

Ending the Separation of Religion and State

Religion and religious identity have become integral to Turkey’s politics since Erdoğan came along. He has prioritized the creation of a “pious generation” that identifies being a Turk with being a Muslim and has used the school system to accomplish this goal. He has created religious schools that equally divide their classes between a regular curriculum and core classes on Islam. Trump, unlike Erdoğan, may not be personally devout, but he has been supportive of evangelical Christians’ demands for public schools to sport Christian religious symbols, such as displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms or teaching the Bible. Republican governors in some red states are following through. Louisiana became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in schools. Oklahoma has gone even further and ordered Bible teaching to be part of the regular school curriculum.

Mongering Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy discourses are a standard tool of authoritarians because they serve to project an image of victimhood, which they use to solidify their bonds with the public. Erdoğan used this to great effect when he blamed Washington, without any evidence, for organizing the failed 2016 military coup. Similarly, Trump blamed his 2020 loss on outlandish theories about voter fraud, machine swapping, deliberate local miscounting of votes, and much else. He is already yammering that this will be the most corrupt election in history if he loses.

Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have lots of things in common: oppress their peoples, bloviate about enemies real or perceived, religious nationalism, and more.

[dadsinsuits]

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

[leftistfeminista]

Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party Party executive council member and Youth Assembly spokesperson Edanur İbrahimoğlu was tortured in police custody in Turkey. Despite the state terrorism deployed against her, she continues to speak out. The far right Islamist regime of Erdoğan singles out women political leaders for special violence. Based on misogynist patriarchal myths that women are easy to make docile from abuse.

[skylark03]

Though I've always been pretty familiar with the general conflict of Syria, I've never known all the moving parts and forces involved. I feel like it's the same for a lot of people, so here's what I've learned:

Bashar al-Assad is bad because of the whole putting children and innocents in prison - that one is pretty cut and dry. His reign was terrible and countless Syrians had to flee the country - it's with great celebration that he has fled to Moscow and Syrian refugees can return to their homes (though a lot of those homes are reduced to rubble in light of the conflict). Seemingly, his power only remained as long as Hezbollah and Russia supported him; with both forces were busy with the Ukraine and Israel respectively, he lost a lot of his defensive power. Armenia, who initially backed the Assad regime (which has a lot to do with Assad recognising the Armenian genocide and siding against Türkiye) has pulled their embassy out of Damascus as Iran's embassy in Damascus was stormed by rebel groups (though it may have reopened a few hours ago as of writing???).

Erdoğan's motives and by extension the TFSA (Free Syrian Army) is shady because of Türkiye and their tendency to casually commit genocide (re: Armenian genocide and Kurdish cultural cleansing); though Erdoğan has put blockades on Israel in light of October 7th, it's unclear how much of that is because Israel is allies with Armenia (Armenia gets 4.8% of its imports from Israel, while Israel receives 7.1% from Armenia) as opposed to earnestly siding with the Palestinians. Türkiye's involvement in NATO and the UN means that a lot of the time it's acting in Western interesting (AKA, the USA) and Western interest in the Middle East is NEVER A GOOD THING!!! In other words, Erdoğan is likely not acting with the interest of Syrian liberation in mind - just that he doesn't like Assad (and is aligning himself against Iran, Russia and Armenia) and doesn't like the prospect of an independent Kurdistan region in Syria.

Another player in the game is Kurdistan - the Syria Defense Force or SDF or the US-backed People's Defense Units (YPG) - which might be the most complicated to me tbh. They are considered a terrorist group by Türkiye; though of course Türkiye has a complicated relationship with Kurdistan - having a strong trade relationship with the autonomous region in Iraq, yet fighting against the YPG (since Türkiye doesn't want an autonomous Kurdish nation on their border) and PKK (who fight against Kurdish oppression in Türkiye). Kurds in general, but specifically the Kurdish Region in Iraq just sorta want autonomy - though to get that autonomy they have aligned themselves with Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel is the only country in the region to recognise Kurdistan as an independent state, though many others of Kurdistan - especially in Syria - have also expressed support for Palestine as an independent state, acknowledging that the Palestinian genocide is the same which Kurds experienced in Turkey. Hafez al-Assad of Syria has also supported certain Kurdish rebellions in the past, specifically in Iraq, and the SDF also allied itself with Bashar al-Assad and Putin against Türkiye, an alleged "painful compromise" to protect the Kurdish population of Syria - even though Assad would never recognise Kurdistan as autonomous (especially not within de facto Syria).

It'd be remiss not to mention Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham or the HTS which toppled Assad and looks like Abu Mohammad al-Jolani is in charge of Syria atm as the transitional government. He has stated he will lead Syria "moderately", and he has cut ties with al-Qaeda. Despite the look, I am not reflexively against a person just for having ties to al-Qaeda (fuck it, even the Taliban or any other Islamic fundamentalist group in the region) because while I disavow these groups and what they stand for, it's hard to do the same for the people part of and supporting those organisations (the whole 'be kind to individuals, but be ruthless to institutions' schtick). Simply put, there's a lot of complicated parts to how terrorists groups like these form in the first place - including the simple fact that you can't bomb your way into peace, as the continued bombing of civilians and residential areas and upheaval of peaceful civilian life only festers radicalisation and anti-USA sentiment and has only bolstered support for terrorist groups who 'protect' civilians from Western bombs at the very least (I know Medhi Hasan has written a few essays on how extremist groups form and how to counter them which cuts through Western propagandic Islamophobic bullshit, if you wanna read into it more). Jolani pretty much said as much himself in an interview with PBS Frontline in 2021: [Jolani] "This issue needs a closer look, we need to consider the recent history of the region. […] We're talking about a region ruled by tyrants - by people who ruled with an iron fist. And this region is surrounded by numerous conflicts and wars. There are thousands who joined al-Qaeda. But why did they join al-Qaeda?" [Jolani] "We were against killing innocent people. I wasn't alone, many of us with a conscience and a true understanding of Islam were against the killing of any innocent person." [Martin Smith] "Americans would say they came to liberate Iraq, and had you not resisted - constant car bombings, IEDs, snipers - there would not have been so much bloodshed." [Jolani] "And if there was no American presence, there would not have been resistance." A lot of his political radicalisation came from the Israeli invasion of the Golan Heights and Julani wanting to "[Defend] a people who are oppressed by occupiers and invaders." Also according to this documentary, Julani, or at least the HTS, has a bit of a history with brutal methods including the torture of prisoners, not to mention his involvement with the Jihadist movement spells uncertainty for Syria's Druze, Christian and Catholic population.

Netanyahu of course is another factor. Immediately after Assad fell, Israel started striking Damascus and invading the buffer region in the Golan heights, exploiting the instability for their own expansionist goals. The UN has protested against this invasion, but like usual they will do nothing to stop it, like even Germany who has held steadfast support of Israel is like "bro wtf". Just yesterday, news broke that Israel dropped a bomb on Syria that was picked up on the fucking Richter scale because the blast was enough to cause a seismic earthquake.

Lemme know if I missed or misrepresented anything (i'll correct the post n' everything) - the conflict is still unfolding n' all and some things are unclear. Whatever happens next, hopefully it'll be at least a little better for the Syrian people, and if not for them then for their children.

[tomorrowusa]

Turkey/Türkiye held local elections over the weekend and the secularist democratic opposition did surprisingly well. It spells bad news for authoritarians – both at home (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) and potentially across the Black Sea (Vladimir Putin).

The Turkish party led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suffered big losses in local elections held on Sunday. Ekrem Imamoğlu, the incumbent from main opposition party CHP, led the mayoral race in Istanbul by nearly 10 percentage points after more than half the votes had been counted, Reuters reported early on Monday. CHP also retained its mayoral seat in Ankara and gained another 15 seats in cities across the country. Erdoğan conceded defeat for the AK Party, the AFP reported. The opposition's win is a blow to Erdoğan, who has been in power as Turkey's prime minister or president since 2003. Since he is also a close partner of Russian President Vladimir Putin — even though Turkey is a NATO member — the defeat of Erdoğan's party could change the two countries' relationship. If Erdoğan's AK Party had won resoundingly, the victory would be used in Ankara to "justify a close relationship with Russia in the eyes of the Turkish public," Marc Pierieni and Francesco Siccardi, researchers at think tank Carnegie Europe, wrote last week. [ ... ] Erdoğan's administration has been talking to Moscow about setting up a gas hub in Turkey as Europe weans itself off natural-gas imports from Russia.

The Financial Times has more specific figures on the shift in fortunes for the two largest parties. Erdoğan's AK Party is often called the AKP.

Overall the CHP captured 38 per cent of the national vote, while support for the AKP fell to 35 per cent. In the 2019 local election the AKP notched up 44 per cent of the vote, with the CHP well behind at around 30 per cent, according to Anadolu data

As an aside, Turkey has a great sounding national anthem called İstiklal Marşı. It's the only anthem I'm aware of that has the word coy in its lyrics.