Human Rights Watch Warns of 'Authoritarian Drift' in Turkey

[CountDeMoney]

Wegmans is not just some supermarket.

We have them in VA too--and I agree, they're a supermarket where they mark everything up 30% and push overpriced crap at you from "boutique" market stalls or whatever fuck they use. I've been in one once, and I'll stick to Food Lion.

How positively common of you, Otto.  Whatever will the members of Club Antebellum think?

[Ed Anger]

Its no Jungle Jim's.

[Berkut]

I can understand a restaurant demanding that customers eat its food a certain way, especially ones with a name to protect.  If some idiot goes to a fancy steakhouse, orders a well-done steak with A1 sauce, and then tells other people that this restaurant was alright but nothing special, the brand name takes a hit.  And sometimes people really don't know what's good for them, you see that every time someone talks about liking deep dish pizza or supermarket sushi.

Doh

[Habbaku]

Meanwhile...

http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/Greek-Orthodox-Bishop-calls-on-Erdogan-to-denounce-Islam-and-be-baptised

Greek Orthodox Bishop, Metropolit Seraphim of Piraeus has caused controversy by urging Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to convert to Orthodoxy with Russian President Vladimir Putin as his godfather. And no, it's not a joke.

In a 37-page letter to Erdogan written in Greek, Metropolit Seraphim asks the Turkish leader to denounce his Islamic faith and be baptised in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

"If you want to save yourself and your family you should convert to Greek Orthodox Church, the only real faith," Seraphim writes, reports Keep Talking Greece.

"We propose and we advise you to come to the arms of the Greek Orthodox Church before the end of your life on earth.

"Otherwise, you will unfortunately find yourself, your family and your people in the same place where Allah, Muhammad and his followers are, ie. in the place of suffering, eternal and unending hell."

He calls on Erdogan to "repent, cry, be humble and believe in Christ," and claims that "the Holy Trinity of God will open the arms for you".

If Erdogan is to heed the Metropolit's advice, he says that the Orthodox faithful on earth and in heaven will rejoice and "the angels in heaven after your enter the true Church!"

In the extensive letter, the Bishop also analyses Greece's 400 years under Ottoman rule, the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey's recent history and the country's efforts to join the European Union.

Despite concluding his letter with "honour, respect and honest brother love", it contains a number of remarks in which he insults the Koran, the Prophet Muhammad, and describes Islam as a sect rather than a religion.

To read the letter in full, visit the Holy Metropolis of Piraeus' official website http://www.imp.gr/

[Duque de Bragança]

 

Best part is having Putin as godfather.

[Syt]

Crackdown on Christians coming in 5, 4, 3, 2, ....

[DGuller]

I don't think they do that kind of thing in Turkey.

[CountDeMoney]

Why not, we have. Putin is the Godfather now.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Wegmans is not just some supermarket.

We have them in VA too--and I agree, they're a supermarket where they mark everything up 30% and push overpriced crap at you from "boutique" market stalls or whatever fuck they use. I've been in one once, and I'll stick to Food Lion.

How positively common of you, Otto.  Whatever will the members of Club Antebellum think?

Don't get me wrong, I'm no man of the people; but let's also be serious--groceries are a commodity. These froo froo upscale supermarkets are a scam.

[Zanza]

'WE NEED GERMANY,' SAYS TURKISH MINISTER TO BEMUSEMENT FROM GERMAN POLITICIANS

Turkey has called on Germany for help in reviving its economy, following months of tension between the two countries.

Relations between Ankara and Berlin became particularly strained after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of adopting "Nazi measures" in March over restrictions on campaigning for a referendum on Turkey moving away from the parliamentary system. German authorities canceled rallies designed to woo Turkish voters ahead of the referendum on April 16.

Merkel criticized Erdoğan for his "unjustifiable" and "misplaced" comments which "broke every taboo, without consideration for the suffering of those who were persecuted and murdered [by the Nazis]." She threatened to bar Turkish ministers from visiting Germany if they did not comply with the country's laws.

But in comments widely discussed in German media, Turkey's Deputy Minister Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek said it is time for the two countries to set aside their differences.

"I think that the time must come to return to normality in our relations," Şimşek told German newspaper Bild Monday, adding that Turkey was reliant on Germany for economic success. Germany is Turkey's most important trading partner, with trade between the two countries amounting to €37 billion in 2015.

Şimşek said that finance ministers of the G20 countries had discussed how to get the Turkish economy back on its feet at a meeting in Washington D.C. last week.

"We need Germany for that," he told Bild.

Germany and Turkey are also tied together by a European Union deal to share responsibility for the refugee crisis. The deal, which came into force in March 2016 and was negotiated in exchange for economic aid and visa-free travel opportunities for Turkish citizens within the Schengen zone, has drastically stemmed the flow of refugees into Europe.

Şimşek's plea for German support was met with skepticism in the German parliament, according to German newspaper Tagesspiegel . MP Özcan Mutlu, of Germany's Green Party, said Şimşek showed "great audacity by pretending that nothing has happened," referring to the imprisonment of German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel in Istanbul and the fact that Turkey has denied entry to 17 German citizens in the past few years.

http://www.newsweek.com/turkey-germany-need-erdogan-economic-help-589402

Fuck off.

[The Larch]

Should have thought that before going full retard.

[mongers]

Should the thread be retitled something along the lines of "One party rule in Turkey" ?

[Ed Anger]

Should the thread be retitled something along the lines of "One party rule in Turkey" ?

Fast and the Furious: Authoritarian Drift

[Admiral Yi]

The Istanbul Bourse is up 760% since Erdogan took office.

[Tonitrus]

The Istanbul Bourse is up 760% since Erdogan took office.

Ed Anger's Bourse is also probably up 760%.