Sinan Bruce

[Gönül Tol @gonultol]

Erdoğan seems determined to leave as little as possible to chance in 2028. He has removed the opposition’s most popular leader, thrown the main opposition CHP into turmoil, and is reportedly seeking a possible US dollar swap line that could boost reserves and market confidence. Add a NATO summit with Trump in attendance and the stage could hardly be set more perfectly for Erdoğan.https://t.co/xyYzW57M7H

[cage kennylz @goztepenefreti]

biri direkt mutlak butlanoğlu yaptı başlığı, alma mater kısmına bakın mimiklerim ağrıyor

[Cihan Tugal @CihanTugal]

The Turkish AKP government is effectively shutting down the main opposition party (CHP). Why is the West silent about this?
To appreciate the paradox, keep in mind that the CHP is a mainstream, West-aligned party, which was poised to win the next elections. The overall picture was deceptively similar to that in Hungary, where the West closely watched the elections as if it were a matter of life and death.

But there is a key difference under the surface. The AKP switched from “economic nationalism” in the summer of 2023 to mainstream economics. It toned down its criticism of the West. Not incidentally, Erdoğan met with Trump right before the attack on the CHP. Simultaneously, the pro-business finance minister Şimşek was holding meetings in Britain, and foreign minister Fidan was meeting the German prime minister.

Western authorities do not love the AKP and would prefer to work with a more secular party. They know that they are playing with fire when they work with the AKP, since it can switch to “economic nationalism” anytime. But just like in the case of Fidesz, they also know that even such experiments will remain within the fold. Western businesses might even benefit from the ecological deregulation and low-wage work. These two elements are essential parts of the alleged “nationalism” of parties like Fidesz and the AKP, which protect domestic capitalists but not nature and labor. The AKP also plays “anti-Western” and “anti-Isreal” cards on occasion, but might still be the West’s best bet on streamlining anti-imperialist feelings in the country and keeping them under a largely toothless cultural umbrella.
Parties like the CHP, despite their overall neoliberal stance, come with their own risks for the West. Lacking Erdoğan’s ruthless authoritarianism, the CHP might not be able to enforce labor discipline, which would mean interrupted trade of cheap goods for European consumers and loss of profits for global conglomerates. The CHP has a (weak) left wing, which might, in situations of systemic chaos, push the party towards anti-imperialism or an economic nationalism more protective of the people and the environment than its business-aligned AKP/Fidesz versions. (Some in the American establishment still cannot forgive the CHP’s coalition with a minority AKP faction to block cooperation during Bush’s invasion of Iraq, despite Erdoğan’s directives to cooperate with the US).

So, the West ultimately picks business and diplomatic stability over liberal-democratic principles and contributes to the decline of democracy worldwide.
You can be certain that some of the authoritarian tactics used in Turkey today will be tried out in the West tomorrow.

[Bürküt. @HurriyetUlan]

Cumhuriyet tarihinin en utanç verici fotoğrafı.

[Cumhuriyet @cumhuriyetgzt1]

CHP Genel Markezi'ne müdahale sonrası TBMM'ye yürüyen Özel Özel ve yanındaki partililer, yağmura aldırış etmeden yürümeye devam etti

[ismail @smileaktrk1]

senin o ellerinden öperim abim benim.

[Sinan Bruce @BruceSinan]

@awawawhoami Literally İsmet İnönü

[Selim Koru @SelimKoru]

Turkey's opposition thought that it had been losing relatively free and fair elections all these years. That history is now being revised.
More people are wondering: what if Kılıçdaroğlu was compromised all along?

[ibrahim Haskoloğlu @haskologlu]

🔴#SONDAKİKA | ÖZGÜR ÖZEL KONUŞUYOR:

"Size bizim suçumuzu söylüyorum.

Bizim suçumuz kurulduğu günden beri ilk kez AK Parti'yi yenmek. Bizim suçumuz bu.

Biz AK Parti'nin kara düzenine çomak soktuk.

CHP'nin en kısa genelbaşkanı olacak diyenler 1 Nisan'da en büyük yerel seçim başarısını orada gördüler."

[Bloomberg @business]

A Turkish court removed the leader of the country’s main opposition party in a landmark ruling that could strengthen President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grip on power while risking political unrest and renewed market turmoil https://t.co/3uuljxGVBi

[Jonathan Berk @berkie1]

“One of the reasons so many younger people have flocked to the pro-housing “yes in my backyard” movement is because they can see perfectly clearly the way that the Marbleheads of the world have blocked their own economic prospects — & they resent it.”

- @BostonGlobe Ed. Board

[nick sogard is very cool and i like him @TheNotoriousHRT]

while we're on the topic of this. someone should shine a spotlight on Lexington and how the shut-in NIMBYs who want Massachusetts to look like Texas ruined their plan to rezone the town center and make this place an actually enjoyable place to live. fuck you Carol Sacerdote.

[Jonathan Berk @berkie1]

“We are the luckiest bastards alive,” he says of living in Marblehead. “We can’t also be the most self-interested bastards alive. They can’t be the same thing.”

[Daniel Wortel-London @dlondonwortel]

It’s not just new, it’s newspeak

[Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek) @magyarpeterMP]

I have arrived at the Sándor Palace to meet the President of Hungary.

@DrTamasSulyok is unworthy of representing the unity of the Hungarian nation. He is unfit to serve as the guardian of legality. He is not fit to serve as a moral authority or a role model.

Following the formation of the new government, Tamás Sulyok must leave office immediately.

[(• ˕ •マ.ᐟ ★ @Y40IFRQTTING]

Very tired to say this at this point but Erdoğan pioneered the style of shameless nihilist politics that Trump's GOP is recognized for, with AKP more similar to MAGA than whatever idea of Islamism westerners still have. Public displays of populist pandering and corporate looting.

[شرق‌زده sharghzadeh @sharghzadeh]

The war may be over, but we will never forget the children killed by the Epstein empire

[Ben Rhodes @brhodes]

According to NYT, Bibi convinced Trump the regime would fall and the US could end the nuclear program. Under current terms, IRGC-dominated regime in place, nuclear program ongoing, Iran's strategic position and revenue sources enhanced at huge cost to Americans.

[Ben Rhodes @brhodes]

In the best case scenario, Trump struck a deal to reopen a Strait that was open before the pointless war he started, with the IRGC demonstrating its control over the Strait and potentially extracting fees plus sanctions relief. Thousands of innocents - including hundreds of children - dead in Lebanon and Iran for no reason. U.S. troops killed and wounded. U.S. embassies and bases in the Middle East badly damaged. U.S. standing in the world obliterated. U.S. munitions badly depleted. Hundreds of billions spent. Prices up everywhere. More global economic fallout to come. Putin strengthened and enriched. Just a catastrophic situation even in the best of circumstances. A profoundly shameful episode in American history no matter what happens next.

[shooshiMooshi 🍣 @shooshiMooshi]

This is literally the “fuck you I hate you all, die” bill people used to joke about. Holy fuck