Prime Minister Wiretapped — Vast Corruption Upending Turkey's Government 123
cold fjord writes with an update on the political upheaval happening in Turkey "From the article: 'Dawn raids last Tuesday nabbed almost 60 people and implicated three government ministries, the directors of state banks, and some of Turkey's most powerful businessmen in a massive corruption probe spread across three different cases. Three members of Turkey's cabinet resigned on Christmas Day, and one called on Erdogan to follow suit as accusations of kickbacks, smuggling, and abuse of office continue to mount. The scandal has even acquired an international dimension as suspicions that Iran has been using Turkey's banks to shirk sanctions were further bolstered by the arrest of Reza Sarraf, an Iranian businessmen who is accused of bribing the Economic Minister while coordinating transactions from Iran worth $120 billion. The AKP is scrambling to defend itself by claiming the arrests are a result of a dastardly foreign conspiracy ... while police officials have been removed and reshuffled and special prosecutors appointed to a degree that makes Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre look like exemplary justice. The Turkish press continues to eagerly publish the latest colorful details that emerge from the probe, including police reports of $500,000 bribes administered in boxes of chocolate and news that Erdoan himself was being wiretapped as part of the investigation.' Erdogan has been urged to resign, three days ago Turkey banned journalists from entering police stations, and police are using tear gas on protesters."
Re:OK.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Hi there! You're clueless about what constitutes new for nerds and what matters! We've got story after story on Slashdot about intelligence agencies with people making claims that they must be doing it to politicians. Here is a case of a national leader being wiretapped, and you claim "Nope" "Nope". That is before the question of a NATO ally's government staring into the chasm is considered, and the possible ties to Iranian sanctions busting. You are truly clueless.
Re:OK.. (Score:2, Insightful)
It matters and to suggest it doesn't just shows what a myopic moron you are.
The islamists are taking over the asylum and they're a bit too close for my liking.
This is a country that wants to get into the EU? I think they have a bit of work to do before that... Like providing basic rights to their citizens rather than operating a government that makes Argentina at its 30 year ago worst look positively angelic by comparison.
Perhaps Mr Anonymous Coward would have a different view if he lived in a country rapidly going down the Thomas.
Re:OK.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, there is a point to "the islamists are taking over". It is a power struggle between Erdogan's party, which has a bit of an islamist agenda, and the Gülen movement, which is an islamist movement, whose goals are unclear. Turkey has always had a "deep state", mainly secular, Atatürk-oriented, which has done some ghastly things. And now either islamist movement is interfering there. It's not racism. It might be bigoted, but racism?
BTW, Turks are not brown people, although a few do have unpronounceable names.
Re:what kind of box (Score:3, Insightful)
Your original answer was 10 words that actually answered the question. You then went on a 25 word rant about the US. Yes, we've noticed you don't like the US. The post you replied to above was correct, and more on topic to you than you were to the original.
Your first post is tedious axe grinding. It would be nice if you could give it a rest for a day, or is it a strong and compelling obsession to you?
Re:OK.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Many Americans are shocked to find out how religion and the state are still tied together in even Western Europe.
They are doing still stuff that was ruled out in the US before the revolution.
In a lot of ways the fact that America is so religious is due to the separation allowing for more freedom and diversity.
Some more juicy news (Score:5, Insightful)
- This is a power struggle between an Imam who lives in a mansion in Pennsylvania vs. his servant.
- In the past week, 5 ministers resigned. That is almost %20 of the cabinet
- In the past two days, almost all the police chiefs in the country were suspended
- When district attorneys ordered police to arrest some key businessmen, police refused. Eventhough this is a constitutional offense and has a penalty of jailtime, no one is on trial
- A reshuffle is expected tonight or tomorrow. Definitely before weekend. The servant wants to pick up the pieces but the Imam is bent on destroying them
- These fractions were once united through their belief in Allah and were hell-bent on destroying the old regime which they claim was built by American servants and godless infidels
- No Muslim country in the area would interfere if these two fractions are to murder each other this very moment. Just like Assad is murdering his country and destroying history that dates before religion and no one does anything useful
List goes on and on and on. You wouldn't care and I can't blame you. Just know that these are not much different from any other crazy religious people in the world. Just like anywhere else in the world, there are some people in this country who are harming its future. The mistake is that they are ruling now. This too shall pass.
Re:Indeed. (Score:2, Insightful)
Consider the NSA likely knew all this and used the information like Machiavelli.
Consider the NSA likely knows of 100 equally volatile potential scandals world wide and is using that information.
All these things ARE within the NSA's job description. Doing the same thing to all three branches of the US government and the press is not.
I for one, want to see what the NSA has on 'my' senators (Feinstein stepped into it by defending them). They've collected it, we should force them to reveal it. Just so everybody knows exactly what they're up to (they referring to both congresscritters and the NSA).
Still hoping Snowden got those files. (Congress, Executive, Judicial, Press, Banking).
Re: OK.. (Score:4, Insightful)