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Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

reuters.com

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Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#181

Post by skissane »

tialaramex wrote: post #157
throwaind29k wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more fundamental question is why a degree should be necessary to run for President. US does not require one for example.

The US does have some very weird rules for its Presidents though, both written rules - the "natural born citizen" clause for example, or the minimum age (thirty five years old) and the unwritten rules - no women have ever been elected to this role although the rules don't forbid it, most Americans have also indicated they wouldn't elect anybody who admitted to atheism...

> no women have ever been elected to this role although the rules don't forbid it

The same is true of the role of Leader of the UK Labour Party–but I wonder how many people would suggest that the UK Labour Party has an "unwritten rule" that its leader must be male?

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#182

Post by labster »

throwaway3485t8 wrote: post #50
aiono wrote: post #9

I am from Turkey and this really concerns me. If we don't protest this in the streets and fight back I am afraid we don't have any kind of law anymore.

Given that people are being arrested for the most stupid reasons in Turkey, I can understand people not wanting to put their life on the line. 10 years ago I could have seen people protesting (see Gezi park protests) but now ? Not really. What's worse is that somehow plenty of Turk are fine with it. Inflation above 100% for long time, crappy salaries, people can't even afford rents but the leader's party still get ab…

Well, damn, that was my strategy to deal with Trump, waiting on the economy. I guess it’s all joever for American democracy. 250 years was a pretty good run all things considered.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#183

Post by CharlieDigital »

dylan604 wrote: post #159
eru wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US requires a fairly high minimum age and for someone to be born American. Those requirements seem also a bit silly and stand in the way of voters expressing their wishes. For some fun times, have a look at the requirements to become president in Singapore. Basically, you either have to have been a senior civil servant before or the CEO of a large and profitable company. https://www.eld.gov.sg/candidate_president…

Having someone born in the country they are looking to lead seems silly to you? With that restriction, it has taken quite some time for a foreign adversary to have a puppet elected vs just shipping in some carpet bagger. Having a minimum age also allows for some decent life experience. After all, 35 years old is not that old.

It is silly.

What if a twin is born in Canadian airspace and the other on American soil?

How big of a difference is it if an infant is born on Monday and their parents immigrate to the US legally on Friday?

Irrelevant.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#184

Post by breadwinner »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #34

The really interesting news here is that in Turkey you need a degree to run for president.

United States from the 1890s to the 1960s required voters to pass a literacy before they could vote. We should bring back this rule. Voters should have a minimum level of knowledge about the world, science and democracy in order to vote. This would have prevented the current disaster which threatens not just our democracy, but by denying climate change, the entire planet.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#185

Post by psychlops »

throwaway3485t8 wrote: post #50
aiono wrote: post #9

I am from Turkey and this really concerns me. If we don't protest this in the streets and fight back I am afraid we don't have any kind of law anymore.

Given that people are being arrested for the most stupid reasons in Turkey, I can understand people not wanting to put their life on the line. 10 years ago I could have seen people protesting (see Gezi park protests) but now ? Not really. What's worse is that somehow plenty of Turk are fine with it. Inflation above 100% for long time, crappy salaries, people can't even afford rents but the leader's party still get ab…

Trump can't run for election again as it's his second term. Voting doesn't apply.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#186

Post by tarikozket »

throwaway3485t8 wrote: post #35

To add insult to injury, it could be the case that Erdogan's degree is fake [1] (I don't know of a single Turkish person NOT voting for him that thinks that his degree is authentic) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recep_Tayyip_Erdo%C4%9Fan_univ...

that's how the opposition party started the discussions. however, they went quiet after a key member from the opposition said that he went to college with Erdogan and they attended the classes together:

here is the blooper a TV news channel that leans towards the opposition side had. you can see how their postures and gestures change immediately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20szE-7h4NA

extended interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhCfXFZgd0I

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#187

Post by DC-3 »

breadwinner wrote: post #184
amadeuspagel wrote: post #34

The really interesting news here is that in Turkey you need a degree to run for president.

United States from the 1890s to the 1960s required voters to pass a literacy before they could vote. We should bring back this rule. Voters should have a minimum level of knowledge about the world, science and democracy in order to vote. This would have prevented the current disaster which threatens not just our democracy, but by denying climate change, the entire planet.

I'm not even American and yet where I'm from it's common knowledge that literacy tests were used to systematically disenfranchise black people from voting.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#188

Post by dragonwriter »

psychlops wrote: post #185
throwaway3485t8 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that people are being arrested for the most stupid reasons in Turkey, I can understand people not wanting to put their life on the line. 10 years ago I could have seen people protesting (see Gezi park protests) but now ? Not really. What's worse is that somehow plenty of Turk are fine with it. Inflation above 100% for long time, crappy salaries, people can't even afford rents but the leader's party still get ab…

Trump can't run for election again as it's his second term. Voting doesn't apply.

He can't run within the Constitution if it isn't changed. OTOH, his concern about whether his actions are Constitutional and the ability and willingness of any other institution to impose meaningful consequences on his unconstitutional acts don't support the conclusion that his future actions will be limited to what the Constitution allows.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#189

Post by psychlops »

darkhorn wrote: post #65
echoangle wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well at least in my opinion, it seems extremely undemocratic. University education is a privilege that some people won’t be able to experience (financial constraints, having to care for relatives, …), and I don’t think it’s a unique qualifier for being a good president. I think if people want to elect someone who didn’t go to university, they should be able to.

Democracy doesn't work when ordinary people are not educated. Education in Turkey has been very poor. Many people have finished only 5th or 8th grades. Many didn't go to a high school. Thus people are not critical thinkers. They are voting as if they are supporting a football team. Someone popular with a low education can fool people, just like in Turkey or Venezuella. And now here we see the result. Erdoğan has no d…

Democracy works just fine either way. You just might not like the results.

Also, because a person doesn't have an education doesn't mean they are stupid or can't think critically. Further, there are plenty of educated people who vote for their favorite team.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#190

Post by breadwinner »

DC-3 wrote: post #187
breadwinner wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

United States from the 1890s to the 1960s required voters to pass a literacy before they could vote. We should bring back this rule. Voters should have a minimum level of knowledge about the world, science and democracy in order to vote. This would have prevented the current disaster which threatens not just our democracy, but by denying climate change, the entire planet.

I'm not even American and yet where I'm from it's common knowledge that literacy tests were used to systematically disenfranchise black people from voting.

Right, and that was apparently constitutional. If so we can bring back the law, but this time to disenfranchise dumb voters.
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