Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, once identified by President Obama as one of his top five closest international leader friends, famously said: “Democracy is a like a train: you get off once you’ve reached your destination.”
Grave reports are emerging from NATO member Turkey tonight that Erdogan is getting the country off the democracy train. Kurdish lawmakers have been arrested and Internet social media applications are being blocked by the Turkish government, in an escalating crackdown that Erdogan has waged since a botched coup attempt this past July.
Turkey appears to be arresting all the HDP MPs, third-largest party in parliament. This is it, people.
— Nate Schenkkan (@nateschenkkan) November 3, 2016
Turkey police detain co-leaders of main pro-Kurdish party: reports https://t.co/wR7DreyUWJ pic.twitter.com/f71in7m1aN
— FRANCE 24 (@FRANCE24) November 4, 2016
Number of HDP MPs that are detained is increasing rapidly. Here is the most recent confirmed list pic.twitter.com/00l5gDez63
— Mutlu Civiroglu (@mutludc) November 3, 2016
#WhatsApp messaging service block in #Turkey confirmed, joining Twitter, Facebook and YouTube shutdown https://t.co/gAWYUSB5BP#DarkAges
— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) November 3, 2016
Reuters reports:
Turkey detained two co-leaders and nine other lawmakers of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) early on Friday over reluctance to give testimony for crimes linked to “terrorist propaganda.”
The Turkish Interior Ministry said detention orders for 13 MPs were issued, but only 11 were detained as two lawmakers were abroad. Lawyers had earlier said 15 MPs were detained.
Turkish police raided the Ankara house of co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and the house of co-leader Figen Yuksekdag in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast, the party’s lawyers told Reuters.
“HDP call international community to react against Erdogan Regime’s coup,” the party said on Twitter, referring to President Tayyip Erdogan.
Police also raided and searched the party’s head office in central Ankara. Television images showed party officials quarreling with police during the raid, and a Reuters witness said many police cars and armed vehicles had closed the entrances to the street of the HDP headquarters […]
HDP is the third largest party in the 550-seat Turkish parliament, with 59 seats. Parliamentarians in Turkey normally enjoy immunity from prosecution, but the pro-Kurdish party’s immunity was lifted earlier this year.
Arrests have been widespread since the July attempted coup, with the Erdogan regime imprisoning opponents, banning rallies, taking over media outlets, and sacking non-Islamist government employees by the thousands.
Just a few days ago, the State Department ordered families and dependents to leave the country.
.@StateDept ordering families of #US government employees at consulate in #Istanbul, #Turkey to leave,
citing security threats.— Matt Lee (@APDiploWriter) October 29, 2016
The ostensible reason was increased fears of possible terrorism, but Erdogan has been ramping up the crackdown over the past week.
#Turkey: All protests, demonstrations, rallies banned in #Ankara through 30 Nov due to “security concerns” https://t.co/SUDIFlioHJ pic.twitter.com/nnvgpMBgtb
— OSAC (@OSACState) October 28, 2016
BREAKING: President Erdogan sacks 10,000 officials as Turkish chief tightens grip on power https://t.co/a8tBdXqxqu pic.twitter.com/egU5bNlcM5
— Daily Express (@Daily_Express) October 30, 2016
Turkey, the largest jailer of journalists in the world, detains more prominent opposition journalists, via @nytimes https://t.co/6Qz8jSubNO
— Ceylan Yeginsu (@CeylanWrites) October 31, 2016
The Obama administration has been noticeably quiet about the escalating crackdown in Turkey, which hasn’t gone unnoticed:
Reminder: US @StateDept has NOT issued a single statement despite #fact over 170 media orgs shutdown in Turkey, +130 journos arrested.#Ally
— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) October 31, 2016
The situation with our NATO ally is complicated even further with U.S. special forces embedded with Turkish troops operating in northern Syria.
But Turkey has also been attacking Syrian Democratic Forces that also have embedded U.S. special forces.
#Turkey is cracking down hard on #YPG and #SDF in northern #Syria and #ISIS is using proxy war of NATO allies as means to advance. Mad!
— Julie Lenarz (@MsJulieLenarz) October 26, 2016
Oh, and the U.S. has 60-70 nuclear weapons stationed at the NATO Incirlik air base in southern Turkey.
Earlier today Robert Jones reported here at PJ Media about the rapid increase in the murder of women as Turkey has Islamicized under Erdogan.
And just last week, the Erdogan regime made the highly provocative move to appoint an imam for the occupied church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which had been de-Islamicized and turned into a museum under the reign of Ataturk nearly one hundred years ago.
#Turkey gov’t appoints a full time Imam to lead daily & Friday prayers at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul after 80 years in hiatus. pic.twitter.com/Rbu0u9Qn6e
— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) October 25, 2016
We will continue to monitor the situation in Turkey and bring our readers updates as they happen.
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