311–320 of 375 posts
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It's disturbing that leaders (political or religious) would put their constituents in harms way. I keep reading that Erdogan is popular, but I also read that he was elected with only 13% of the vote.
> put their constituents in harms way. Such is the way of leaders throughout history. For instance, Rev. Dr. King deliberately had teenagers get assaulted with dogs, water cannon, and truncheons as a tactic for getting media attention.
Current status as reported by government of Turkey: - Coup attempt claimed to be unsuccessful. - About 1500 members of military arrested so far. Two senior generals will be tried for treason. - About 90 dead reported so far. - Heavy damage at parliament building and presidential palace. - Airports supposedly reopening soon. (Airport departure list shows "Delayed" for everything except one flight to Odessa.) [1] - If…
I found it very strange the coup makers did not attempt to round Erdogan up at his holiday home in Marmaris (or wherever he was).
Mods: Why do you delete news posts like this one? I understand you're trying to keep Hacker News tech/business/science focused, maybe, but don't you think major world events that are getting tons of interest should be allowed to float up to the front page on their own merit? If the users are interested in it, why is it being deleted? I feel like major events like yesterday's massacre in Nice or today coup d'état meri…
> don't you think major world events that are getting tons of interest should be allowed to float up to the front page on their own merit? I don't really see why. It's unlikely any HN readers use HN as their sole news source (and if they do, it's probably because they're uninterested in other news), and there's no shortage of alternative discussion forums for regular news. > If the users are interested in it, why is…
Current status as reported by government of Turkey: - Coup attempt claimed to be unsuccessful. - About 1500 members of military arrested so far. Two senior generals will be tried for treason. - About 90 dead reported so far. - Heavy damage at parliament building and presidential palace. - Airports supposedly reopening soon. (Airport departure list shows "Delayed" for everything except one flight to Odessa.) [1] - If…
Using FaceTime and sending private text messages to people in your contact list hardly counts as using social "media"?
Let me give you guys some more inside details: From the start it was clear that something was weird: they weren't enough soldiers to make a real coup, only a few hundred soldiers a few helicopters, tanks, etc... And it seems that they knew it and did it despite that. By the way they even bombed the house where the President was supposed to be... The coup attempt was made by members of a religious group named "Nurcu"…
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Turns out that it wasn't entirely, or even mostly. Erdogan's call that did it. The mosques turned on their call-to-prayer PA systems and ordered their followers into the streets. [1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/15/turkey-low-flying...
It's disturbing that leaders (political or religious) would put their constituents in harms way. I keep reading that Erdogan is popular, but I also read that he was elected with only 13% of the vote.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_presidential_election,...
Does anyone have an explanation, or a link to an explanation for all the happenings in Turkey? I'm an occasional follower of this kind of stuff, but it would be great to understand the full situation in Turkey in an easily digestible way. 1. The current coup 2. The president's history 3. The different terrorist groups operating within the country and their beliefs and goals 4. Turkey's legal system and freedoms allow…
The army is secular. Every 20 years they remove some dictator or zealot that the system seems to throw up regularly. I'm not sure if there's been a split in the armed forces before, but the police always cop a hammering.
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No. Erdogan called for people to take to the streets, and within an hour, the airport and bridge were filled with thousands of people waving flags. (From pictures, all male.) That's popular support. The military is not attacking the crowds. The military presence was apparently not that big, concentrating on a few key spots. A coup has to succeed within the first few hours. Control must be established before oppositio…
Turns out that it wasn't entirely, or even mostly. Erdogan's call that did it. The mosques turned on their call-to-prayer PA systems and ordered their followers into the streets. [1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/15/turkey-low-flying...
While it sounds like a joke coming from Erdogan, with his "ambivalent" relationship to democracy, asking the people to go to the squares and streets is asking them to defend a democracy.
Sadly, either outcome still leaves Turkey less democratic and less stable than before. As it currently seems, Erdogan is going to have more power than ever before with all his adversaries purged from the military.
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> The amusing thing is that Erdoğan is against social media. It's not like the internet is a regulated place to have a thoughtful conversation. There are not that many countries where the government can risk itself using the internet for its benefit. Freedom of speech is important, but seen how Turkey is bordering Syria, I would not like to sit at Erdogan's place either.
That's ok, he doesn't want anyone else to sit at his place anyway.
Not defending Erdogan here. Just being wary when people advocate for the removal of an authoritarian leader (Saddam, Assad...). It's easy to talk about free speech technologies when we enjoy the comfort we have. It's harder to look at history and try to have a conversation.
"Modern Turkey was founded by Mustafa Kemal, a general in the Turkish Army who was later formally granted the surname “Ataturk,” or father of the Turks. Ataturk set about an aggressive program of modernizing and “Westernizing” the country, pushing religion to the margins, banning certain apparel like headscarves and fezes, and converting Turkish from Arabic to Latin script. But that secularism has always remained ten…
A democratic arm that rules the country day-to-day, and a "benevolent dictatorship" that will overthrow the democratic arm if it violates the country's "fundamental principles" Exactly (part of) why I'm in support of the monarchy in the UK. If push came to shove, the armed forces swear their allegiance to the British monarch, not the government (I'm from an army family and know this is taken seriously). We have attai…
Not that the royals have used this power ever but it is a good check on the parlament.