"A quick lookup shows that Erdoğan has been in office for the longest time since the 60s (three terms). To me, fears of Turkey becoming a de facto one-party state seems justified, at least absent any other information."
You're on to something. One of the underlying reasons of the protests is not only Erdoğan has been in the office for a long time, but also secular sections of the society has lost hope of change of government within the political system (Opposition is in shambles, AKP will likely win the elections again, etc.) There is no political alternative within the system, hence the growing discontent manifests itself in other ways.
If you think the worst is a one-party state, you've not been following the news. The worst is that Erdogan completes his mission : turning turkey in a middle-eastern islamic dictatorship where women are beaten for walking on the street and every tiniest bit of culture dies, violently and with beheadings.
You are joking right? Tell me one thing you could do 5,10,20 years ago and cannot do now that supports your future predictions. I am excluding drinking booze in public places.
The press could report on these events 10 years ago. Now they don't.
The workers could celebrate May day in Taksim square just a few years ago, this year they were banned.
People could express themselves more freely if they were not religious or if they were against the government. Now they fear retaliation, losing their job etc. This actually happened to journalists, they did lose their jobs. Hundreds are imprisoned without being convicted or even having a trial for months and years.
There are other indications that Turkey is turning into an Islamic (Sunni in particular) state and our culture is being destroyed. Scientists and artists are ridiculed routinely by the politicians in power. They destroyed Turkish Academy of Sciences. They shut down Feza Gürsey institute. They fired majority of people who made Pardus GNU/Linux distribution and Göktürk satellite from TÜBİTAK.
I am no supporter of current Government, but most things you say can be counter-answered.
- Some press reports things less than you like. Some reports with exaggeration. Blame the first group if you want for their cowardice. If second group is alive and kicking, your point is proven to be false.
- Taksim Square was actually totally closed to 1st of May events from 1978 to 2010 . It was this government allowed opening it again. This year there is construction so it was not allowed. I remember the horror in Kadikoy in 1996 tough.
"People could express themselves more freely if they were not religious or if they were against the government. Now they fear retaliation, losing their job etc." This is just your opinion. I cannot really prove the opposite either. Nepotism is there tough, and cannot be avoided regardless of any government.
Journalism issue is problematic and a shame. Most are really PKK related and probably this will change. I cannot say this is something new tough.
"Scientists and artists are ridiculed routinely by the politicians in power" they push each others wrong buttons, and politicians are less tolerable indeed. But apart from 1-2 incidents this cannot be generalized. It is a shame that PM does not have a sense of humor.
To me, Turkish Academy of Sciences issue is overrated. "Most" guys there weren't doing anything useful in terms of science there anyway. They continue their work in universities or in Tubitak without a loss. Handling of Science and Technology by this government can be criticized but for better or worse, they pour perhaps x10 more money on R&D than previous governments.
Do not know what really happened behind pardus and Gokturk issue. Sattelite is on the sky and Pardus turned to Debian, that is what I know.
When the events were escalating, while there were clashes between the police and thousands of protesters and hundreds were walking across a bridge over the Bosphorus only one TV channel reported these. And you are dismissing this neglect of the media by "Some press reports things less than you like. Some reports with exaggeration."???
The events unfolding at the moment shows that it was possible to celebrate the May Day in Taksim. "This year there is construction so it was not allowed." does not hold water.
As I gave an example (the journalists being fired), it is not my opinion, it is a fact. And if you do not observe other examples around you then you are simply not looking. Of course every government benefits their supporters to some extent, but getting journalists fired? When was the last time did that happen? And regardless of this happening before or not, is it not suppression of free speech?
You say, "To me, Turkish Academy of Sciences issue is overrated", to me it is not. To a lot of my scientist friends it is not (For the record, I am an astrophysicist). People spent a lot time and energy to build the Turkish Academy of Sciences and the Feza Gürsey Institute. And I know these developments did hurt scientists for a fact; I work in a university and I am personally affected. They may be pouring more money into R&D but did you look at the projects in the last science project fair?
http://www.sendika.org/2013/05/kuran-mucizesinden-seriat-huk...
Do you recall what the Science and Technology minister said about faculties of science or the theory of evolution? That's where a lot of money is going. It is hard to quantize how much real science is getting.
The satellite is in the sky and the team that built that satellite is mostly fired. Pardus was an independent distribution, the team that built Pardus is also gutted and the distribution is now a (badly) translated Debian.
When talking about press, I was talking in general. But yes, on recent events, few press focused on police brutality, and some focused on protester's vandalism. I still believe all mass media is business so I am not shocked with their behavior.
May Day issue. To me it holds water. You are dismissing the fact I told you. I put my money on this, once the re-construction is finished (if ever) I bet they will allow it. Mark this thread to remember.
Yes, I dislike the way Government's handling of press. They should never interfere. However, journalists are not being fired by PM. They are fired by their bosses. No matter what, blame and shame is on them. Also, my personal opinion, the fired journalists were mediocre at best. Perhaps they just screwed up and got fired afterwards. They could easily find places in anti-government press. Where are them now?
Sorry that you got personally effected from the Turkish Academy of Sciences issue. But from what I see Academy is very much alive and doing okay. Probably we will not reach to an agreement on this issue. I am not a believer of so called autonomous science academies. For fundamental science, I prefer actual research. And Universities are the places for that.
Also ouch!. Do you base your ideas on a single stupid project on a science fair for high schools? You are a man of Science, I would expect better.
Pardus was meant to replace MS dependency in government desktop and servers. It was funded by Tubitak. There were many full time paid developers. Initial developers were very strong - top notch. Some of them I know personally. But they left the project one by one. It was long ago. Call it miss management, or lack of vision of higher hierarchy, apparently they could not deliver afterwards. After the change of administration, group is dissolved and they went to plan-B. My point of view, Pardus was gone long before. It was not an ideological issue but a management problem. People may disagree with me, or shed light on the issues I do not know, but that is how I see this. I cannot comment on the satellite crew fired because it is hard to follow the correct information. If they were fired without a good reason, why didn't then fight using lawyers and Union? I do not know.
I do believe there is excessive nepotism and communitarianism in governmental institutions today (They may see it as their right, a form of 'revenge'. I call it bullsh*t). Of course It was there before opposing governments, even when republic was founded. There is no way of getting rid of it. Perhaps libertarians are right on this, you can only beat it by making government as small as possible.
Okay I am carried away and wrote too much when I could do actually useful things instead.
