Military coup underway in Turkey

Danegeld? What has that to do with Turkey - it was a tax raised to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. You've lost me. LL

Same principle, LL - trying to pay people of ill intent off, in the hope of buying yourself a quiet life.

Opposition leader: Turkey is misusing its emergency powers
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's opposition leader accused the government on Friday of using emergency powers from the aftermath of a failed coup to clamp down on dissenting voices, as authorities ordered 12 more news organizations to shut down for alleged threats to national security.

https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4638508-opposition-leader-turkey-misusing-emergency-powers.html#.1258-stage-hero1-7

Turkey: Fethullah Gulen's brother arrested in Erdogan's ongoing crackdown after coup.
Qutbadin Gulen has become the latest member of the family to be arrested by the regime.
Turkish police have reportedly detained the brother of Fethullah Gulen, as Recep Erdogan's government continues its purge of the exiled cleric's supporters following the summer’s failed coup.

Qutbadin Gulen was detained in western Turkey on suspicion of being involved in the coup attempt which saw soldiers on the streets of Ankara and Istanbul in July.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkey-coup-fethullah-gulen-police-arrest-brother-qutbadin-gulen-crackdown-erdogan-a7341471.html

2 bombers blow themselves up after police stop in Turkey
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Two suicide bombers blew themselves up after refusing to surrender to police during an operation in the outskirts of the capital Ankara Saturday, a senior official said. No one else was killed or hurt.
Governor Erkan Topaca said police, acting on a tip, launched an operation to catch a man and a woman who were suspected of planning a suicide car bombing in Ankara. They were hiding inside a hut at a horse farm in the district of Haymana, just outside of the capital.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4655812-2-bombers-blow-themselves-up-police-turkey.html#.1258-stage-hero1-1

At least that's two more off the streets not being able to do harm.

Turkey warned over death penalty plans
Published: 30 Oct 2016 20:32
The Council of Europe warned Turkey against reestablishing the death penalty Sunday as Ankara stepped up its crackdown over the failed July coup by firing 10,000 more civil servants.
"Executing the death penalty is incompatible with membership of the Council of Europe," the 47-member organisation, which includes Turkey, tweeted a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government would ask parliament to consider reintroduction.
https://www.thelocal.at/20161030/turkey-warned-over-death-penalty-plans

I am slightly more worried about Erdogan wanting Greek islands back, and making noises about parts of Syria and Iraq being 'Turkish'....

Turkey detains opposition newspaper editor, writers
October 31, 2016
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish police detained the chief editor and at least 12 senior staff of Turkey's opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper on Monday, in a widening crackdown on dissenting voices. Editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, cartoonist Musa Kart, the paper's lawyer and several columnists were detained, some following raids at their homes, Cumhuriyet reported on its website. Police had warrants for the detentions of 16 staff members, the paper said.
The detentions at the left-leaning and pro-secular Cumhuriyet — one of Turkey's oldest newspapers — come amid accusations by opposition parties and human rights groups that Turkey's government is using the state of emergency imposed following a failed military coup in July to clamp down not only on the alleged coup plotters but on all government critics.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4712044-turkey-detains-opposition-newspaper-editor-writers.html#.1258-stage-hero1-3

IMO, Turkey is now a dictatorship in all but name.

That is what he has always wanted, IMO.

Turkish opposition paper "won't give in" after detentions
ISTANBUL (AP) — 1 November 2016
An opposition newspaper in Turkey is remaining defiant a day after the detention of its chief editor and at least 12 senior staff. Tuesday's edition of Cumhuriyet newspaper — one of Turkey's oldest — ran the headline: "We won't give in." Tuesday's columns of two of its detained writers were left blank.
The Istanbul prosecutor's office says the detentions followed an investigation into the left-leaning and secularist paper's alleged support to the movement led by U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen — accused by the government of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt — and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party. The paper rejects the accusations.

The detentions drew widespread international criticism, including from the United States and the European Union.

Turkey detains 11 pro-Kurdish MPs, including party co-chairs November 04, 2016
ISTANBUL (AP) — Authorities in Turkey detained 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers early Friday as part of ongoing terror-related investigations, including both party co-chairs and other senior officials, the Interior Ministry said.

People's Democratic Party, or HDP, co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag as well as other prominent figures such as Sirri Sureyya Onder and Idris Baluken were among those detained, according to the ministry's statement.

The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with co-chair Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: "Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant." State-run Anadolu Agency reported co-chair Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/world/4727196-turkey-detains-11-pro-kurdish-mps-including-party.html#.1258-stage-hero1-11

Kurds march against Erdogan in Germany and France
Published: 05 Nov 2016 20:21
Several thousand Kurds marched in the western Germany city of Cologne on Saturday in support of pro-Kurdish politicians jailed in Turkey the previous day.
http://www.thelocal.de/20161105/kurds-march-against-erdogan-in-germany-and-france

Luxembourg FM: Turkish crackdown reminiscent of Nazi methods
BERLIN (AP) November 07, 2016 — Luxembourg's foreign minister accused Turkish authorities on Monday of using methods reminiscent of those employed by Nazis in a crackdown following July's coup attempt. In a German radio interview, Jean Asselborn suggested that Turkey's strong economic ties with the European Union could be used to exert pressure on Ankara over human rights issues.
Turkey brushed off the accusation, arguing that the movement led by a U.S.-based cleric whom the government accuses of masterminding the failed coup is worse than the Nazis. It insisted it would not be deterred from its efforts to go after cleric Fethullah Gulen's network of followers.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4735794-luxembourg-fm-turkish-crackdown-reminiscent-nazi-m.html#.1258-stage-hero1-6

In a German radio interview, Jean Asselborn suggested that Turkey's strong economic ties with the European Union could be used to exert pressure on Ankara over human rights issues.

Yeah, right, Erdogan will be shaking in his shoes if he's pressurised by the EU. Have they somehow forgotten that the EU is PAYING him to keep at least some of Merkel's party guests out of Europe?

The EU gave Erdogan a winning hand.

20,000 anti-Turkish govt protesters demonstrate in Cologne. November 12, 2016
BERLIN (AP) — About 20,000 protesters demonstrated Saturday in the western German city of Cologne against the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The rally in an industrial area along the Rhine River brought together pro-Kurdish demonstrators and members of the Alevi religious minority protesting Erdogan's crackdown after a failed coup attempt in Turkey this summer.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4750210-20000-anti-turkish-govt-protesters-demonstrate-col.html#.1258-stage-hero1-5

Well, it's certainly safer than demonstrating in Turkey....present day Turkey being in NATO is the stuff of nightmares.

EU, US have little leverage as Turkish democracy backslides
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Since quashing a July coup attempt, Turkey's president has used extraordinary powers from a state of emergency to arrest and purge thousands of opponents. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also vowed to back public demands to reinstate the death penalty and suggested submitting Turkey's long-sought goal of European Union membership to a referendum.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/us/4773496-eu-us-leverage-turkish-democracy-backslides.html#.4475922-stage-mostviewed1-5
............
Turkey abandons child marriage bill following outrage
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's government on Tuesday scrapped a proposal that critics said would have allowed men accused of sexually abusing underage girls to go free if they were married to their victims.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4775744-turkey-abandons-child-marriage-bill-outrage.html#.1258-stage-hero1-2

Merkel was mad to do so much crawling to Erdogan in the first place, IMO - but it's sadly not her only catastrophically wrong decision.

I am sure Turkish seven year olds will be relieved to know it will be a couple of years more before they're married....

Sigh...... 

Turkish leader threatens to open migrant floodgate to Europe

BRUSSELS (AP) — November 25, 2016 Turkey threatened Friday to open the migrant floodgates if the European Union halts its membership talks, as criticism grows of Ankara's heavy-handed response to a failed military coup.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's warning — the latest in a series of heated speeches about Europe from top Turkish officials — came a day after EU lawmakers called for a freeze on the talks over the post-coup arrests, dismissals and jailing of tens of thousands of people.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4783740-turkish-leader-threatens-to-open-migrant-floodgate.html#.1258-stage-hero1-8

Unfortunately, that was all too predictable.

Turkish PM seeks support for expanded powers for Erdogan

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) December 01, 2016 — Turkey's prime minister on Thursday moved closer to an agreement with the country's nationalist party over constitutional reforms that would usher in a system expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim's government is seeking the support of Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, for a vote in parliament that would pave the way for a referendum giving the largely ceremonial presidency full executive powers.

Opposition parties have opposed a presidential system, since they fear it would allow Erdogan to rule unchecked. But MHP leader Devlet Bahceli has switched positions and recently voiced his party's support.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4798806-turkish-pm-seeks-support-expanded-powers-erdogan.html#.1258-stage-hero1-3

No wonder Erdogan got rid of Ahmet Davutoğlu. LL