I've been hearing more and more really scary shit about how Turkey is handling the aftermath of this earthquake. From strangling communications used, among other things, by people trapped to tell rescuers they're alive, to preventing the movement of people internally, a general lack of mobilization of emergency resources that were supposed to be in place and paid for by a specific tax after the last devastating quakes.

    • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      For a country to get anything done, it needs to first move away from oligarchic models of government, which is what Erdogan has made steps towards.

      I'm sorry but this has no basis in reality. Erdogan has empowered an oligarchy with himself at it's head. You're just ignoring everything that I'm saying in favor of a fantastical Turkiye that doesn't exist.

        • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          It's complicated, because Erdogan has shaken hands with pretty much the entire political spectrum of Turkiye. And promptly burned bridges with them when it was useful to do so. A lot of reddit educated people think that Erdogan is just a big meanie persecuting an esoteric self support religious organization ie the gulenists. Except Gulen and Erdogan were allies and Gulen's movement was instrumental in how Erdogan captured the turkish state, subjugated the judiciary and broke down the professional bureaucracy.

          So who are the Turkish Nationalists in that situation? Is it the AKPartists who want CIA Gulen extradited and punished because of the attempts coup few years ago? Or is it the opposition, who hates Gulen even more since he pulled a Gorbachev, helped destroy the rule of law in their country, and now lives with all the rights and privileges of a wealthy Pennsylvanian? The answer is probably most both at this point.

        • CommunistBarbie [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Yeah, super weird to see one pop up here. Erdogan is anti-communist and has been extremely harsh in crushing Turkish leftists and Kurdish movements. He's also an Armenian genocide denialist...

        • CliffordBigRedDog [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Once saw a comment here that was excusing Azerbaijan by saying that Armenia "deserved it"

        • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Total control of the media is what happens in every country

          Yeah and I'm not about to pretend that it doesn't happen in Russia or the US because I agree or disagree with the parties in power, or with their political projects. The turkish state is under the private interests of Erdogan's family and their cronies in the AKP. Their control of the media reflects that. Their nation building ambitions are far from a country like China's. It's a standard representative democracy living through a breakdown of law and living standards. That's what is at stake in Turkiye, not a fantasy where the Turkish president is some sort of far sighted Dengist beset by his enemies.

            • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              So is Erdogan's government so catastrophic that he's making it easy for leftists to take over, or is he a far sighted leader at the head of 'good governance'? Which is it?

                • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
                  ·
                  2 years ago

                  the latter is what I’m suggesting

                  And frankly I just disagree.

                  Two, centralisation of power and divorcing the national bourgeoisie from the interests of the international bourgeoisie

                  like, this is just not a thing that is happening in Turkiye. not sanctioning russia is not that.

                  • Cottryofidia [any]
                    ·
                    2 years ago

                    Fair enough, we can agree to disagree and we'll see how things progress there I guess. Its possible that his coalition will lose the elections, in which case we can see what the alternatives are.