When the news hit on May 5 that Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu would unexpectedly stand down from his post as a result of sharply escalating fighting behind the scenes over president Tayyip Erdogan's relentless attempt to rule Turkey with virtually no checks and balances, the market was not happy, and the volatility of the Turkish Lira soared the most in the past decade.
Since then the Turkish market has modestly tamed, even if the Erdogan's push for supreme control has done anything but, and during today's congress of Turkey's AKP, Erdogan confirmed an impotent lapdog, Binali Yildirim - a close ally for two decades and a co-founder of the ruling AK Party - as his new prime minister on Sunday, which as Reuters explained was "a big step towards the stronger presidential powers [Erdogan] has long sought." In plain English, Turkey is unofficially a dictatorship, in which Erdogan is president only in title and in reality a supreme despot as there is no longer anyone who can politically challenge the president.
Concurrently, Erdogan also accepted the resignation of outgoing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday, hours after AKP elected Yildirim as his replacement.
In a speech to AKP delegates who earlier elected him party leader at a special congress, Yildirim, transport minister for most of the past decade and a half, left no doubt that he would prioritise the policies closest to Erdogan's heart. His main aim, he said, was to deliver a new constitution and create an executive presidency, a change Erdogan says will bring stability to the NATO member state of 78 million, but which opponents fear will herald greater authoritarianism.
Yildirim, 60, said constitutional change was a necessity to legitimize the existing situation, tacit acknowledgment that Erdogan has extended the traditionally ceremonial role of the Turkish presidency. "The most important mission we have today is to legalize the de facto situation, to bring to an end this confusion by changing the constitution," he said. "The new constitution will be on an executive presidential system."
Erdogan meets with incoming Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.
The constitutional change would give Erdogan unlimited power over virtually every aspect of governance.
As if proof were needed of where power in the party lies, delegates remained standing through a message from Erdogan read out at the start of the congress. Yildirim vowed that, under his leadership, the AKP's way would be "Erdogan's way". Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Erdogan was the party's one leader.
He has made clear he will pursue two of Erdogan's biggest priorities - the executive presidency and the fight against militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the largely Kurdish southeast. "They are asking us when the anti-terror operations will end. I am announcing hereby that operations will end when all our citizens are safe," Yildirim said in an emotional speech.
"Operations will continue without pause until the bloody-handed terrorist organization PKK ends its armed actions."
Despite Erdogan's attempts to silence any journalistic criticism by sending his biggest public detractors to prison, some dares to voice their displeasure with what is happening inside the NATO member and Europe's close Asian ally:
"If they can succeed, this will be a transition period for the executive presidency," journalist Abdulkadir Selvi, who is seen as close to AKP, told Reuters.
And now that the Turkish premier figurehead is known, investors' eyes shift to the future of Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, who according to Reuters is seen as one of the remaining anchors of market confidence. Erdogan, who favors consumption-led growth, has repeatedly railed against high interest rates in Turkey, saying they cause inflation, a stance at odds with mainstream economics. Without Simsek, investors fear, it will be less likely that the government will deliver on promises to liberalize the labor market, encourage savings and bring in more private investment.
Installing a puppet PM was not all Erdogan did in this busy week: just to make sure Erdogan can use the law to crack down on any of his political opponents, last Friday Erdogan's puppet parliament agreed to strip its members of immunity, a move which will be used by Erdogan to prosecute members of the pro-Kurdish HDP, parliament's third-biggest party, as well as anyone else he choose to take down.
He accuses the HDP of being the political wing of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the state. The HDP denies such links and says its parliamentary presence could be all but wiped out if prosecutions go ahead.
In other words, if any MP says or does something that the president disagrees with, said member of parliament will promptly find themselves under arrest and behind bars: a strong deterrent never to say or do anything that would displease the ascendant tyrant.
It is this stripping of immunity that Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would discuss with Erdogan on Monday when the two meet tomorrow in Istanbul, voicing disquiet at a measure meant to sideline the pro-Kurdish opposition.
Erdogan meets with Merkel in Ankara, Turkey February 8, 2016
"Naturally some developments in Turkey are causing us grave concerns," Merkel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Sunday, one day before she meets Erdogan on the sidelines of a U.N.-sponsored humanitarian summit in Istanbul.
However, it's not as if Merkel has any leverage or strings to pull. Quite the opposite: Merkel is facing accusations at home that she has become too accommodating of Erdogan as she tries to secure a European Union deal with Ankara to stem the flow of refugees from Turkey into Europe, the bulk of whom have gone to Germany.
Worse, the accusations are 100% accurate, because as of this moment the person who dictates the future of Europe is neither in Greece, nor in Great Britain, but is not even located in Europe in the first place (although that may change soon). This guy.
The Turkish opposition MPs should flee en masse to Greece and request political asylum.
That's the fastest way to bring Erdogan down.
In light of recent events, going by air might be risky (terrorism, you know . . .), and there are many reports of boats sinking every year in that part of the World.
"And - They've gone!" . . . . . . . .
turkey is a comer. it is being groomed to join the adults at the big table
they have proven to be faithful servants to natosrael
The US sure knows how to choose its Allies?
Hmm, seem to recall that being a brutal dictator and injurious to your people was justification for a US invasion to liberate the people. Can't wait for the intervention to commence on this one.
It is true that NATO, EU, DC, NWO, etc., are all owned and operated by a wide range of psychopaths and killers, but at the end of the day they require mutual cooperation.
Ergodan is losing his marbles and his temper, so his impulsive behavior will be that much more difficult to control. He is becoming a threat to the NWO since his actions are more frequent in broad daylight in front of cameras, attracting negative attention from all directions and complicating the plan.
His behavior will not be tolerated indefinitely. It remains to be seen how the perverts will handle a loose cannon. It is surprising that he has not been swapped out in a swift coup.
NATO knows exatly what to do with a loose cannon....point it at Russia
You have to admit it, in that last picture he's got the Sith Lord look down pat.
The MPs targeted by this constitutional coup are not going anywhere. They've been preparing for this since December, when the HDP delegation returning from Moscow talks were labelled "traitors" by the wannabe Caliph.
Both he and the PKK desire the rupture of any moderate stance on the Kurdish confict - the reason the puppet PM had to go was to bring things to this point. Now regional HDP headquarters are being firebombed, a leadup to the moment when the gloves really come off.
Demirtas and his caucus are preparing to be picked up and sent to jail the moment their "dossiers" are opened and "examined" by regime -controlled prosecutors. The moment that happens, it's off the fence time for close to twenty million Kurds - no middle ground in sectarian civil war which is going to make Syria look like a prequel.
And then the Alevis will be forced to choose as well. The CHP allowed the votes necessary to pass the illegal bill to come from their ranks. True to their legacy as the inheritors of Ataturk's sectarian ethno-religious supremacism, they have buried themselves now for good.
Dersim 2.0 - Defend yourselves or they will come for you. All roads outta this mess are now closed. By design.
Obama can only dream.
No shit. I knew he never had the balls to do it anyways and the "loyal opposition" had even less when President Redline brought forth his "formidable" pen & phone...lol.
None of them desire to fight or die over principle (they have none) just milk that motherfucker for all its worth, offer up a few platitudes about "bi-partisan cooperation"...for the people...lmao!...(and the children of course) and MoveOn with their fat ass salaries, pensions & benis.
It's a fuckin joke and I ain't playin their game no more.
Burn it.
Years ago I thought Erdogon and the AK would be a new face of moderate Islam - that having to deal with coalition parties, potholes, traffic lights and other esoteric municipal dogshit would take the edges off.
How wrong I was and maybe outside of Indonesia I'm beginning to think the elusive 'moderate muzzie' in fact does not exist.
The West's dictators and puppets can hardly be called moderates either.
"Turns out I'm pretty good at killing people." -- Obama
"We came, we saw, he died." -- Hillary
Erdogan also built a gaudy presidential palace in Ankara and is now expanding it (!), the size would shame any Ottoman sultan, something to go with his ego.
Erdogan turned 180 degrees against their former ally Syria and started supporting the radicals to overthrow Asad. His son Bilal is running the ISIL oil franchise, selling it to the Israelis.
Erdogan is really dangerous and untrustworthy.
Erdogan and the Saudi's are both behind the Syrian Civil War. Europe and the US jumped on board after Al Assad said he would allow no pipelines because it would offend Russia.
The International Deep State works on coalitions, not heirarchies.
Its members can, and do, regularly turn on each other, screw each other over, etc.
Erdogan needed a pretext to crush the Kurds.
The Saudi's (and also Qatar) needed expanded markets in Europe...as well as to have their cache increased in the Islamic world by fronting the 'Rise of Islam'.
Of course...Erdogan also intends to be the Caliph. As does King Salman. But in this their interests coincide.
Both of them bet on the complacency and short-sightedness of Europe and the US, that they would think only of the pipeline, and not about the overall change in power balance in the ME...and Gollum and Salman won that bet.
It was a stupid, short sighted, self-destructive decision on the part of Europe and the US to put their chips behind these people.
Yet ONE bullet is oh so cheap and effective.
Take two for maximum effectivness.
he is a modern hitler mirror image.
was in jail for politics, not allowed to do any political things, came back, silenced parliament,
was appeased. next he goes syria and then russia and boom, europe gets a new marshall plan after that.
he is a full blown psycho puppet to be wasted as a bad symbol. and turks love him because he acts like a man .....
i want a lottery jackpot, then i settle down on an island elsewhere, dying in peace.
Greened you but only 40% of Turks love him and they're generally from the slave owning segments.
40 percent love the puppet
is that good?
Remember, only 42% of the electorate voted for this party/man. The rest are categorically against him. But the problem lies in this bullshit 10% barrier to get into parliament and this has been the unravelling of what constituted a "democracy" in this country. In the end, Turkish citizens only have themselves to blame for allowing for such a system that permited this to happen.
And now, Erdo?an who "rode the bus of democracy" has signalled it's time to get off.
Arrests are probably coming in the next two-four weeks. HDP will be physically removed from parliament and the final blockage between him and absolute dictatorial power will be erased. Parliament will vote to end its own power.
Imagine that.
No such luck.
Nothing was done about Hitler till he stabbed the City of London in the back. Merkel will go on kissing Erdogan's ass till the Turkish air force are bombing Frankfurt.
I have to say I'm surprised the Army has let him get this far. It has traditionally been loyal to Ataturk's secular state. Whatever happened to that loyalty, I wonder.
Erdogan started purging the army years ago.
Show trails that would have made Stalin blush.
Army, Judiciary, Media, Business - totally gutted the foundations of modern Turkey.
EU has a much bigger frickin' problem than they currently realize.
The Turkish army was purged with the arrest of around 400 officers over 2-3 years in 2009-2011. They were accused of being part of the "deep state" (that's actually a Turkish phrase!) conspiracy to overthrow the AKP, Erdogan's party.
Since then the constitutional status of the army as the guarantor of secularism was limited, to make the Turkish Army more in line with norms of the EU.
These latest developments raise the spectre that the modern Ataturk secular Republic will retrograde civilly even as the country modernizes economically and industrially. Its a strange picture.
NATO is a BIGGER POS than Turkey and that's saying somethin'!
And the filthy minded megalomaniac is also running the EU. Hahaha, the degraded EU "leaders" are such slimy, crybaby pussies with their sleazy "humanism" and "giving chances to all!!!". The only thing they do with it is inviting hell. Indeed, they're Kali yuga nutcases only. Hare Krishna.
This clown needs his gold ring..... My precious!!!!
I wonder which adjoining country he'll try to rescue next?
Obama and these ass-licking European Leaders ( used loosely ) are salivating at such a prospect. We might be pussies but we're nowhere near as pussified as the Turks.
He certainly didn't let the Syria "opportunity" go to waste to strip democracy bare in Turkey. Not sure installing a non-secular despot in Turkey was the regime change we were after. This is a tragedy for the Turkish people, Europe, and the world. I hope this can be undone.
I don't see how NATO allowing the membership by a Tyrant advances "Western Values".
Erdogan is being allowed to careen about in his own nation and the Middle East as a useful idiot who will advance the goals of NATO in engaging Russia in a conflict.
Funny (dissapointing) how NATO once promoting the adoption of Democracy in non NATO nations has changed its values so dramatically.
That cow Mercel supports this terriorist.
I support regime change in Turkey.
Doesn't he have nukes that can hit the UK in under 40 minutes, or chemical weapons, or, or....
Next dictator, friend today, gone tomorrow.
If erDOGan wants to be
the Hitler, let it know
that in the end ppl
will treat it like an animal
with rabies
He's trying to become the most powerful man in the world, but that title still goes to Abe Foxman.
If you get any calls from Victoria Nudelman (she changed it to Nuland to sound less Jewish) wanting to help, just hang up Immediately.
He will be horizontal and permanently underground before the winter is over. The "Kemal Option" will be exercised.
Imagin the worst leaders you possibily can have.
Now multiply it by 6 (CIA + NATO + USA + MOSSAD + SAUD + JEWZIOCABALFORCE) and add dop sniff,corruption and war crimes, genocide and fag friends encercling you, you will get close to Erdogan.
I'm 80% sure this guy is the Antichrist. Like, the real Antichrist. Like from the Bible. Go to walidshoebat.com if you want to know what to do during Armageddon.
A wonderful, trustworthy, ethical, moral and reliable NATO ally. Vomit time.
there was an old fart from Ankara
who could't stop playing with his wankara
he sowed his wild oats with the help of a goat
and couldn't be bothered to thankara.
(with apologies to Boris Johnson)
Shari, Shari,
Sharia baby,
Can you come out tonight?