The Turkish Government has been boosting the economy in the USA with more direct investments, especially in the print media. In the WSJ, the country has taken out full page ads, enticing investors with glowing descriptions of the country. The ads praise the business environment and its potential.
In the NY Times, the country added a supplement to the weekend edition that had pages dedicated to various topics covering a broad overview of Turkey and its people. The key word sprinkled throughout the ads was: democracy. Ha ha ha-democracy, that old Greek concept. Who needs it now: not us. Oh, wait, we are a democracy. Or maybe we were a democracy. What is a democracy? What are we-a dictatorship? A constitutional theocracy? An oligarchy? What's a Kurd? None of the ads mentioned the Kurds. Do they even exist in Turkey? What about the refugees from Syria? Syria. What's a Syria?
Recep Erdogan, the president, or chief executive, is struggling in his role as head Turk. Last year an attempted coup upset his apple cart of government. Since then, things have changed in the country that is a member of NATO. It wants to join the EU, but the EU has been a bit difficult of late. Something about human rights in the Turk country. Since the coup failed, the government has been on a tear to root out plotters, a great game.
Now the entire population waits for the midnight knock on the door. "Who is It?" "Goldilocks?" "MIckey MOuse?" "Barbarella?" Tens of thousands of citizens have lost their jobs. Thousands more have been arrested and held w/o charges. Hmmm. Where have we heard of this before? Up the street in our fave country run by Mad Vlad? Or across the Himalayas where Xi rules? Or down the street where Bashar al Assad gasses his own people?
Maybe the C.I.A. is really running Turkey. Does Erdogan know? What about his arch enemy:
Fatullah Gulen, the resident of Pennsylvania that Erdogan accuses of just about everything that's wrong with Turkey. Paranoia runs deep in Istanbul.
Don't answer the door, ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment