Election observers threatened in Turkey

[Deleted]

Elections observers in Turkey said they were intimidated and forcibly removed from polling stations by the Turkish military, Swedish media reports.

Source: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel...rtikel=6184106

Swedish Radio in Gävleborg reports that a delegation from that city was thrown out by military personnel from a polling station in the southeastern town of Adiyaman.

"The military must not be within 100 meters of a polling station, so we said [to the soldiers] that what you are doing is illegal," Ellen Gustafsson, a monitor with the Swedish Left Party's youth wing, told the radio station.

She said the military grabbed them and took them out of the polling station. Gustafsson said the observers tried to resist but that the situation only became more tense when they asked why only representatives of the ruling AKP party were present.

Turkey is holding a crucial parliamentary election on Sunday that will determine whether lawmakers with the AKP will have the authority to rewrite the constitution and strengthen the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports that the military also intimidated two Swedish election observers in the eastern province of Bingöl.

Ann-Margarethe Livh, who is working with the Left International Forum, a the division of the Swedish Left Party responsible for international solidarity work, said Turkish soldiers with automatic weapons ordered them to leave a polling station.

Livh described the scene as "both shocking and sad."

"We have seen the obvious electoral fraud, like at a polling station where a female official was told by a man standing next to her on how to fill out her ballot," she told the newspaper. "When we pointed that out we were thrown out."

[Revi]

Bump!

Not sure if that's against the rules, but this needs a few more views. Sucks that it probably won't be picked up by international news.

[Deleted]

Wow that wont end well.......
the last days of the Republic.

[Acidbaron]

Not overly surprised by Erdogan due to previous witch hunts on reporters, media outlets, social media and so on.

While at one hand this is a bad thing, on the other hand these continued scandals will make it so that the public platform of allowing turkey in the EU remains on an all time low.


I wouldn't be surprised if they go too far that the military will do another coup.

[Deleted]

I wouldn't be surprised if they go too far that the military will do another coup.

I think one of the first things Erdogan did was to effectively decapitate the military by ousting a whole bunch of generals.

Looks like Erdogan/AKP from the start were intent on making sure they are there to stay in Turkey no matter the cost and regardless of foreign relations or whatever citizen ambition there may still be for moving closer to the EU.

Also, after the disaster that has been Greece, let alone still paying for the rest of the PIGS and potential France economic mismanagement, I highly doubt EU leaders are the least bit interested in absorbing another borderline (and huge) country anytime soon.

[Acidbaron]

I think one of the first things Erdogan did was to effectively decapitate the military by ousting a whole bunch of generals.

Looks like Erdogan/AKP from the start were intent on making sure they are there to stay in Turkey no matter the cost and regardless of foreign relations or whatever citizen ambition there may still be for moving closer to the EU.

Also, after the disaster that has been Greece, let alone still paying for the rest of the PIGS and potential France economic mismanagement, I highly doubt EU leaders are the least bit interested in absorbing another borderline (and huge) country anytime soon.

True can be, i haven't looked too deeply into politics of Turkey could be he really did move out the old guard and that would be bad as there's already a split noticeable among the population and that is something that even spreads to abroad. Which could lead to civil unrest in Turkey and i would be surprised if it wouldn't seeing how trying to silence the opposition never works out long term. The arab spring also completely avoided turkey since they weren't in so much misery as the other countries were.

Erdogan is still popular due to his economic boom during his party being in control (avoiding getting into the discussion how much he personally contributed to that) which is why he currently gets away with things, let's say we start slamming them with sanctions as we did in Russia? we could change that quite heavily, sadly we need turkey due to military reasons.

[Bakis]

The Turkish Supreme Court has ruled that the construction of an 1,100-room palace by President Erdogan was illegal. The palace was constructed on protected land.

And yet his golden palace is there, that says alot about how much he care what others think

[Drukqs]

we did it boooooiiiis.no more erdogan

[Bakis]

we did it boooooiiiis.no more erdogan

Sadly no, he will form an unholy coalition and keep the power simply cos one or more of the other parties who are against him are against the kurdish party even more.

[Acidbaron]

Sadly no, he will form an unholy coalition and keep the power simply cos one or more of the other parties who are against him are against the kurdish party even more.

I wouldn't be so fast to rule it that way, if the party lost as much as they did. Doing so could be a political nightmare next election especially if the public is even more opposed to the AKP. As take note the party has been losing popularity over more than one election since the early 2000's.

Is really interesting that the Kurds manage to take away 10%. that HDP has 12,5-15% and the other large party has 25% what is effectively the opposition. AKP sits at 41%, so they need one more to gain majority but considering how the AKP has had a 50% majority for a long time and not been very cooperative with other thinking parties. THey are going to have a hard time finding a party to work with them.


edit: it's going to be interesting to see if Erdogan even accepts these results since he has shown dictatorship traits before.

[Bakis]

Kind of weird, of all the countries where the military had significant power none fared very well but heh, it kinda sucks that Erdo cleaned them out tirelessly for years given where we stand now.

[Deleted]

I think his correct political title is head of theft, bribery and corruption

[Acidbaron]

They had that power to ensure the secular state and was part of ataturks legacy, who was also part of the military before become a politician.
I would argue the countries that didn't do well with powerful military are those in charge of dictators to keep the people down and so they were also head of the military as of the political structure.

Now i'm trying to see any sort of coalition being formed but i really can't see it on either side. HDP isn't really welcome at any table and AKP can't rule alone neither can the second largest party. There's still a good 20% left on other smaller parties but any government to get an absolute majority not seeing it currently.

[Deleted]

Elections observers in Turkey said they were intimidated and forcibly removed from polling stations by the Turkish military, Swedish media reports.

Source: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel...rtikel=6184106

Still feels like Turkey is teetering on the border to some serious inner turmoil that could end in riots and death.