Turkey's Presidential Takeover?

[Syt]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/03/recep-tayyep-erdogan-turkey-food

Erdogan's meals tested for poison amid security fears

Turkish president's personal doctor says 'It's usually not through bullets that prominent figures are being assassinated these days'

Every meal that goes before the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is rigorously tested both at home and abroad for fear of assassination, his personal doctor said.

And now a special food analysis laboratory will be built at Erdogan's controversial presidential palace to make sure all his food is safe to eat, Cevdet Erdol told the Hurriyet newspaper on Tuesday.

"It's usually not through bullets that prominent figures are being assassinated these days," Erdol said.

Currently, samples of the president's food are analysed in laboratories in both Ankara and Istanbul and during his visits abroad, he said.

Erdogan's opponents accuse him of increasing megalomania, and the authorities of setting up a cult of personality around the man who has ruled Turkey either as president or prime minister since 2003.

Erdogan's 1,150-room palace, which opened last year on the outskirts of Ankara, has been condemned by critics as an absurd extravagance that shows he is slipping further towards authoritarian rule.

Erdol said a fully equipped lab will soon be built at the grandiose complex, where every dish will be inspected by medically qualified professionals. There is also a five-member emergency team on duty at the heavily guarded palace 24 hours a day, analysing everything he eats and drink to guard against radiation, chemical materials and bacteria.

"Fortunately, we have not had any serious incidents so far," Erdol said, adding that the food was bought only from trusted sources.

Turkey's eighth president, Turgut Ozal, survived an assassination attempt in 1988 when a rightwing gunman shot him at a party congress. Family members have long believed that Ozal, who died in office in 1993 of an unknown cause, was poisoned, but a court in 2012 ruled out the possibility.

Five-time prime minister Bulent Ecevit, who died in 2006, survived nine assassination attempts, most notably in the western city of Izmir and New York, where bullets narrowly missed him.

In 2006 the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died from radioactive poisoning in London, three weeks after he drank tea infused with polonium-210 at a luxury hotel.

Erdogan in January appointed Ibrahim Saracoglu, a professor of biochemistry and microbiology known for his research on the healing effects of plants, as one of his advisers.

[KRonn]

I wonder if this is mainly another way for him to gain more power under the guise of needing to clamp down more due to these additional security threats.

[alfred russel]

Here is the question I have after reading about history.

Back in the day before there were enough advances to make scientific testing possible,many powerful men employed commoners to eat their food to ensure it wasn't poisoned.

But I've never heard of powerful men employing commoners to sleep with their women to ensure the absence of STDs. What's up with that?

[grumbler]

Here is the question I have after reading about history.

Back in the day before there were enough advances to make scientific testing possible,many powerful men employed commoners to eat their food to ensure it wasn't poisoned.

But I've never heard of powerful men employing commoners to sleep with their women to ensure the absence of STDs. What's up with that?

I think having commoners sleep with your women ensures the presence of STDs rather than their absence. 

[Malthus]

Here is the question I have after reading about history.

Back in the day before there were enough advances to make scientific testing possible,many powerful men employed commoners to eat their food to ensure it wasn't poisoned.

But I've never heard of powerful men employing commoners to sleep with their women to ensure the absence of STDs. What's up with that?

Cathrine the Great apparently had an employee try out potential lovers ... 

[Syt]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33042284

Turkey ruling AKP 'may lose majority'



Turkey's governing AK party appears on course to lose its parliamentary majority, early projections suggest.

They also suggest the pro-Kurdish HDP is set to cross the 10% threshold, securing seats for the first time.

With 90% of the vote counted, the AKP had 42% of the vote, according to Turkish TV stations.

If confirmed, the result would end the AKP's 13-year single-party rule, and upset President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's plans to boost his office's powers.

President Erdogan, who first came to power as prime minister in 2003, has been seeking a two-thirds majority to turn Turkey into a presidential republic.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul says Sunday's election was the biggest electoral challenge for the AKP since it came to power, with economic growth stalling.

According to the TV projections, Mr Erdogan's Justice and Development Party's share of the vote would translate into 263 seats in the 550-seat parliament, followed by the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) would get 11.6% - 75 seats.

An unnamed AKP official told Reuters news agency: "We expect a minority government and early election."

Turkey's current Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had earlier told reporters: "Whatever [the people's] will, it is a will that must be respected by everyone.''

HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas complained as he voted that the election campaign "was not a fair and equal race". Four people died in an explosion at a party rally last Friday.

But he added: "Hopefully we will wake up to a new and freer Turkey on 8 June."

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, chairman of the CHP, echoed Mr Demirtas and called the campaign period "unequal". He promised however to "continue to work with a sense of responsibility".The result may have ramifications beyond Turkey's borders.

The country is a vital Nato member in a volatile Middle East and a rare mix of Islam and democracy, our correspondent says.

If true, this is obviously the work of a foreign conspiracy against Turkey.

[Zanza]

Good.

[Queequeg]

AKP getting 41%.

[Habbaku]

[Valmy]

Well that is encouraging news. I guess whatever Erdogan's intentions are they will be made clear soon.

Obviously Turkey is in much better shape than Hungary 

[Martinus]

If true, this is obviously the work of a foreign conspiracy against Turkey.

Also, if true, it means Turkey is not as bad as it seemed - the ability of the ruling party (no matter how nasty) to lose power in peaceful democratic elections means the system is working.

[Valmy]

Also, if true, it means Turkey is not as bad as it seemed - the ability of the ruling party (no matter how nasty) to lose power in peaceful democratic elections means the system is working.

Raz was right!

[Liep]

If true, this is obviously the work of a foreign conspiracy against Turkey.

Also, if true, it means Turkey is not as bad as it seemed - the ability of the ruling party (no matter how nasty) to lose power in peaceful democratic elections means the system is working.

Swedish election observers was threatened and forced to leave voting stations earlier today. So only somewhat peaceful. What they had observed earlier was widespread fraud and voter intimidation. So only somewhat democratic.

[Valmy]

Well nobody is perfect Liep.

[Liep]

Well nobody is perfect Liep.

I'm just trying to illustrate that "better than Hungary" might not be the best of compliments.