Turkish Politics & Internal Affairs

[SouI]

You still have not explained how Lebanon can beat the Ottoman Empire.

I think that is self-explanatory? Ottoman Empire's population ranged between 10 to 15 million during most of its existence.

Lebanon's population is around 7.5 million with immigrants.

But the thing is that Lebanon's population is gathered in a very small piece of land.

On the other hand Ottoman Empire's population was spred across far more land than the USA has today.

Population density is important when it comes to wars and conquests.

Lebanon has about 2.000.000 people fit for military service. Ottoman Empire on the other hand, due to extreme poverty all across its land and its extremele terrible living conditions and lack of access to basic healthcare etc, not really many people were fit for military service when it comes to ratio. Biggest ottoman armies never surpassed a few hundred thousands and even at the dawn of facing the risk of eradication at the beginning of 20th century with almost highest ever population counts the ottoman army stood at around 700k.

Biggest ever military until the elimination of the Ottoman Empire was under the command of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with a count of over 2.5 million. That was the Turkish Independence army, but that army included very young and very old people too.

So even if Ottoman Empire ever actually had such an army itself, under that condition Lebanese army count would still surpass that of the Ottoman Empire with very old and very young people.

And again this army would have been spred out all across more land than the USA has today, while the bigger, far better trained lebanese army with far advanced weaponry (I mean I know I know.. we are talking about the fvcking lebanon here.. but in comparison to what ottomans had in their armament, what lebanon has today IS superior!) is actually located in a very small land. Lebanon could easily start a conquest and it would be a massacre for the empire!

Aight, I think it is time for some disclaimers as apparently many low iq friends we have here have comprehensing problems:

-As many has suggested comparing old countries with new ones is just stupid because the new ones no matter how weak and small they may be today will still almost always be superior to old ones no matter how powerful they were back in the past.




-As I said before I am not the one comparing them, I just wanted to help out some of our delusional members here who did that comparison themselves.




-Lebanon.. As obvious as it must be, it was just a random choice of a small country from the region. I have no connection with lebanon, couldnt give two fvcks about lebanon, have no interest in lebanon or anything lebanese(sorry to lebanese people here!). I had actually first picked our northern cyprus of today as one country that could beat ottoman empire, but then I realized not many people here could actually understand the point in such an exaggerated example and would instead be stuck on the irrelevant part of "how can northern cyprus even beat ottomans?!?! ", so I changed it to lebanon instead which I hoped would make it easier for people to finally grasp the point here.

But of course the very smart people showed up and again asked that same question, actually having made me explain how it would be possible for today's lebanon to beat ottomans which itself was never the point here.

But I still explained it just so their delusions would be dispelled.



-If you still have a very hard time trying to grasp the logic here then just swap lebanon with syria. If your brain is still having a hard time then change it with Iraq, if still not clear change it with KSA, and then Egypt, and then Israel.. and then finally with Turkey.

If your brain still refuses the fact that modern countries, especially a country like Turkey, would rekt the shit out of Ottoman Empire millions of times over and over with not much of an effort, then all I can say is May Allah Help you...

 

[Nein]

I think that is self-explanatory? Ottoman Empire's population ranged between 10 to 15 million during most of its existence.

Lebanon's population is around 7.5 million with immigrants.

But the thing is that Lebanon's population is gathered in a very small piece of land.

On the other hand Ottoman Empire's population was spred across far more land than the USA has today.

Population density is important when it comes to wars and conquests.

Lebanon has about 2.000.000 people fit for military service. Ottoman Empire on the other hand, due to extreme poverty all across its land and its extremele terrible living conditions and lack of access to basic healthcare etc, not really many people were fit for military service when it comes to ratio. Biggest ottoman armies never surpassed a few hundred thousands and even at the dawn of facing the risk of eradication at the beginning of 20th century with almost highest ever population counts the ottoman army stood at around 700k.

Biggest ever military until the elimination of the Ottoman Empire was under the command of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with a count of over 2.5 million. That was the Turkish Independence army, but that army included very young and very old people too.

So even if Ottoman Empire ever actually had such an army itself, under that condition Lebanese army count would still surpass that of the Ottoman Empire with very old and very young people.

And again this army would have been spred out all across more land than the USA has today, while the bigger, far better trained lebanese army with far advanced weaponry (I mean I know I know.. we are talking about the fvcking lebanon here.. but in comparison to what ottomans had in their armament, what lebanon has today IS superior!) is actually located in a very small land. Lebanon could easily start a conquest and it would be a massacre for the empire!

Aight, I think it is time for some disclaimers as apparently many low iq friends we have here have comprehensing problems:

-As many has suggested comparing old countries with new ones is just stupid because the new ones no matter how weak and small they may be today will still almost always be superior to old ones no matter how powerful they were back in the past.




-As I said before I am not the one comparing them, I just wanted to help out some of our delusional members here who did that comparison themselves.




-Lebanon.. As obvious as it must be, it was just a random choice of a small country from the region. I have no connection with lebanon, couldnt give two fvcks about lebanon, have no interest in lebanon or anything lebanese(sorry to lebanese people here!). I had actually first picked our northern cyprus of today as one country that could beat ottoman empire, but then I realized not many people here could actually understand the point in such an exaggerated example and would instead be stuck on the irrelevant part of "how can northern cyprus even beat ottomans?!?! ", so I changed it to lebanon instead which I hoped would make it easier for people to finally grasp the point here.

But of course the very smart people showed up and again asked that same question, actually having made me explain how it would be possible for today's lebanon to beat ottomans which itself was never the point here.

But I still explained it just so their delusions would be dispelled.



-If you still have a very hard time trying to grasp the logic here then just swap lebanon with syria. If your brain is still having a hard time then change it with Iraq, if still not clear change it with KSA, and then Egypt, and then Israel.. and then finally with Turkey.

If your brain still refuses the fact that modern countries, especially a country like Turkey, would rekt the shit out of Ottoman Empire millions of times over and over with not much of an effort, then all I can say is May Allah Help you...

Turkey has the benefit of modern technology of course it would destroy the Ottomans or the Romans.

Ottomans or the Romans dont have the advantages of today tech not to mention todays mortality rates especially in Turkey is much better than the Ottomans of course.

The reason why past empires are seen back all the time with Nostalgia is due to them being strong and how some countries like Turkey want to emulate even surpass it.

Hence why especially among Turks and Muslims a lot of them day dream of the Ottomans and the various Islamic Empires with nostalgia.


You get some with the Gokturks or Atilla too.

It is normal for people who want a strong state to look at the past and try to surpass what their ancestors achieved.

I dont mind for some nostalgia because Turks looking back at their past helps the generation to work hard and bring back those times of glory.

But I strictly dont believe in reviving dead states especially when you have some fools who say I want to bring back the Ottoman Empire back.

 

[SouI]

I dont mind for some nostalgia because Turks looking back at their past helps the generation to work hard and bring back those times of glory.

I have heard this argument countless times that this policy of a prideful past would have a multiplier impact on per capita productivity and as such on GDP per capita etc, yet to actually see an evidence suggesting it.

But meh that is ok by me.

 

[Nein]

I have heard this argument countless times that this policy of a prideful past would have a multiplier impact on per capita productivity and as such on GDP per capita etc, yet to actually see an evidence suggesting it.

But meh that is ok by me.

Gdp of countries before the industrial revolution is not that big.

Where talking about conquests of huge swathes of land.

 

[Yankee-stani]

I wish the Turks the best in removing the Arabs and Kurds sepratists in your lands and the bastard AKP govt in the near future screw the Pakistanis who like Erdogan I say Turks get rid of Erdogan the watermellon seller ASAP

 

[Yankee-stani]

Gdp of countries before the industrial revolution is not that big.

Where talking about conquests of huge swathes of land.

I think Turkey has good shot at being a influential nation but seriously wish you guys stop the love affair with NATO and the Arabs and hope to get Erdogan out that guy is bringing Turkey down f..ck his speeches

 

[SouI]

How long do you think it takes time to introduce Sharia in Turkey? I think 15-20 years. It is necessary to hold a referendum in Turkey for the introduction of Sharia law and that more than 50 percent of the population vote. And soon it will be done, Inshallah. People who are accustomed to stealing hate Sharia, because Sharia chops off their hands, so for thieves Sharia is wildness. People accustomed to drunkenness hate Sharia because they are not used to getting lashes for it.
People accustomed to do adultery hate Sharia, because according to Sharia they can beat and drive out of the city, which is also wild for those who are used to fornication. Shari'a wildness is the same for libertines who are used to walking half-naked and used to seeing half-dressed women, wildness for them when a woman closes beauty, because then he does not get access to adultery, so the desire to have free access to a woman is hidden under the slogan of freedom .
Sharia is also a wildness for rasovschikov, accustomed to give debts and other means at interest, to endlessly tear off the skin of people through loans and endless debts from interest. Sharia is also wildness for murderers, since the killer is used to killing and paying off prison, for the killer is wildness the very idea that he will be executed for murder.
Sharia is wildness as well for drug dealers, who are used to making money by breaking people's lives, for drug dealers, wildness is being executed for breaking other people's destinies, which they used to call just a high.
Sharia is also wildness for liars, as it is wildness for liars to be beaten for lying.
It is also Sharia savagery for corrupt officials who are accustomed to stealing from the state’s treasury, for them savagery to be killed for illegal enrichment. Sharia is wildness for Christianity, because priests who are used to making big money on the church business lose their parishioners to Islam. Sharia is wildness for the Jews, because it forbids the Jews to do evil with the goyim justifying it with religion and God's chosen people. Sharia is wildness for the capitalist imperialists, who are accustomed to the social pyramid at which 1% own 99% of the wealth of the land and the rights of the one who has more power and money, for them wildness to be equal with everyone, and equally share wealth with the people.
Sharia is wildness for politicians, accustomed to create lawlessness and not to bear responsibility for it, for them wildness when some imam with a turban on his head on the basis of sharia makes him an estimated penalty.
And finally, the Ottoman Empire is wild for the kafir and the hypocrite, because behind the real hatred of the Ottoman Empire is hatred of the Sharia who ruled the Ottoman Empire.

@KediKesenFare any thoughts on this opinion piece? Do you think this will really happen?

 

[Fenasi Kerim]

How long do you think it takes time to introduce Sharia in Turkey? I think 15-20 years. It is necessary to hold a referendum in Turkey for the introduction of Sharia law and that more than 50 percent of the population vote. And soon it will be done, Inshallah. People who are accustomed to stealing hate Sharia, because Sharia chops off their hands, so for thieves Sharia is wildness. People accustomed to drunkenness hate Sharia because they are not used to getting lashes for it.
People accustomed to do adultery hate Sharia, because according to Sharia they can beat and drive out of the city, which is also wild for those who are used to fornication. Shari'a wildness is the same for libertines who are used to walking half-naked and used to seeing half-dressed women, wildness for them when a woman closes beauty, because then he does not get access to adultery, so the desire to have free access to a woman is hidden under the slogan of freedom .
Sharia is also a wildness for rasovschikov, accustomed to give debts and other means at interest, to endlessly tear off the skin of people through loans and endless debts from interest. Sharia is also wildness for murderers, since the killer is used to killing and paying off prison, for the killer is wildness the very idea that he will be executed for murder.
Sharia is wildness as well for drug dealers, who are used to making money by breaking people's lives, for drug dealers, wildness is being executed for breaking other people's destinies, which they used to call just a high.
Sharia is also wildness for liars, as it is wildness for liars to be beaten for lying.
It is also Sharia savagery for corrupt officials who are accustomed to stealing from the state’s treasury, for them savagery to be killed for illegal enrichment. Sharia is wildness for Christianity, because priests who are used to making big money on the church business lose their parishioners to Islam. Sharia is wildness for the Jews, because it forbids the Jews to do evil with the goyim justifying it with religion and God's chosen people. Sharia is wildness for the capitalist imperialists, who are accustomed to the social pyramid at which 1% own 99% of the wealth of the land and the rights of the one who has more power and money, for them wildness to be equal with everyone, and equally share wealth with the people.
Sharia is wildness for politicians, accustomed to create lawlessness and not to bear responsibility for it, for them wildness when some imam with a turban on his head on the basis of sharia makes him an estimated penalty.
And finally, the Ottoman Empire is wild for the kafir and the hypocrite, because behind the real hatred of the Ottoman Empire is hatred of the Sharia who ruled the Ottoman Empire.

We don’t want shariah, if you do move to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, whichever form you prefer? Why don’t you because it’s not the shariah of your liking, what’s to say one in Turkey will be?

@cabatli_53 troll

 

[Taskforce]

Kapak olsa bu gerek.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1084438435182583814

 

[Yankee-stani]

Turkey on Sunday commemorated the seventh death anniversary of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' founding father Rauf Denktaş, who passed away in 2012.

"I remember the founding President of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and pioneer of Cyprus cause Rauf Denktaş, at seventh anniversary of his death with respect and mercy," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter.

Turkish Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying: "We respectfully commemorate the late Rauf Raif Denktaş, the founding president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, on the seventh anniversary of his passing away."

The ministry said Denktaş had devoted his entire life to the Turkish Cypriots' "dignified struggle for survival and freedom, defended the cause of the Turkish Cypriot people for rights, equality and liberty, in unity of mind and spirit with the Turkish motherland."

Denktaş will always "retain his exceptional place in our hearts and minds, as a leader who left his mark on history," it added.

"We will continue to fully support the resolute struggle of Turkish Cypriots, inspired by the late Denktaş, to achieve a just and lasting solution on the Island," it concluded.

The Eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974 when a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by violence against the island's Turks, and Ankara's intervention as a guarantor power.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which was declared on Nov. 15, 1983, is currently recognized only by Turkey as an independent state

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[Yankee-stani]

ANKARA

The annual volume of disclosed mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transaction in Turkey rose year-on-year, despite challenging economic conditions reducing the appetite for deal-making in 2018, an audit and consulting firm said on Monday.

The transaction volume surged 17 percent year-on-year in 2018 to reach $12 billion thanks to the material contribution of a "handful of big-ticket transactions," especially by foreign strategic investors, according to Deloitte Turkey's report.

"Out of 256 deals, 115 had a disclosed value adding up to $9.2 billion," the report said.

Foreign investors, by cherry-picking M&A opportunities across sectors, made the highest contribution since 2015, generating 63 percent of the total annual deal volume, the report noted.

"Total annual deal volume of foreign investors was c. $7.6 billion (including estimates for undisclosed values), doubling the level in 2016 and representing a y-o-y growth of 38 percent mainly due to a couple of sizeable deals," the report added.

Turkish investors constituted 37 percent of total M&A volume with $4.4 billion last year.

The total number of deals dropped to 256 last year, down 13 percent from the previous year.

The number of deals sealed by foreign investors was 74, down slightly from 70 deals in 2017.

Turkish investors in 2018 were involved in 182 deals -- 71 percent of the total annual deal number -- down 19 percent annually.

The acquisition of Denizbank by Emirates NBD Bank (regulatory approval and closing procedures still ongoing) was the largest transaction of the year with $3.2 billion, representing 27 percent of the total annual deal volume.

European investors once again sealed the highest number of deals among foreign investors and generated 49 percent of foreign investors’ deal activity, while the UAE, Denmark and Taiwan had the largest deal volume last year.

 

[Tshering22]

I don't get it; why doesn't Turkey just make northern Cyprus as a sovereign state of Turkey itself rather than calling it Turkish Cyprus?

Wouldn't it be better to make it like a Turkish off-shore territory?

 

[Yankee-stani]

I don't get it; why doesn't Turkey just make northern Cyprus as a sovereign state of Turkey itself rather than calling it Turkish Cyprus?

Wouldn't it be better to make it like a Turkish off-shore territory?

Its considered by the Turks a sovereign state as the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" since like 1983 but the "International Community" considers it to be occupied by Turkey and sees the Greek "Republic of Cyprus" as the rightful state I think Pakistan and Bangladesh had ties with the TRNC but in the 80s due to US pressure had to give up ties

 

[Yankee-stani]

“The USA is not able to understand or see who its true friends are.”

-- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, 16 August 2018, in response to a question about President Trump’s recent comments on Turkey

Contrary to my expectations, developments continue in the right direction.

By now, everyone is familiar with the mid-December conversation between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump that resulted in Trump’s handing over security responsibilities in northeastern Syria to Ankara.

The following weeks have seen some tweaking to Trump’s original decision to exit as soon as possible. The main reason is that Turkish officials want a planned U.S. withdrawal in order to limit the opportunities that other actors, namely the Damascus regime, Russia, or the PKK/PYD/YPG itself, might have to tilt the situation to their advantage. Turkey’s request is eminently logical and any rational U.S. policy maker should see that.

Syria is not the only positive development, however. Immediately after the New Year, delegations from the U.S. began to stream into Ankara. After the first group arrived, we soon learned that members of the delegation took testimony from key Gulenists in Turkish custody, and that the Turkish government shared large amounts of crucial evidence related to the defeated July 2016 Gulenist coup attempt.

Normally, this would be a routine development in a judicial process, and may not lead to any sort of legal move towards extraditing Fethullah Gulen to Turkey. But this is a vital development in light of what has not happened in the past two and a half years. Basic evidence-gathering is the most overt signal so far indicating that judicial processes against Gulen might be on the horizon, and is by far the most important step that the U.S. government has taken in regard to the many Gulenists implicated in the coup attempt and sheltering in the U.S. At this point we can only continue to observe and hope that court proceedings regarding Gulen’s extradition will be initiated posthaste.



Trump takes the initiative

These recent developments give the impression that Trump has wrested control over policy decisions concerning Turkey’s region away from the military, National Security Advisor John Bolton, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Until December, Trump had displayed no influence over these issues, and Bolton’s influence had pushed U.S. foreign policy in even more aggressive directions.

But suddenly Trump took the initiative away from the military brass and Bolton. During Trump’s conversation with Erdogan, Bolton was reportedly at his side. Trump overruled the arch hawk and 'America-firster' Bolton, and gave orders to start the withdrawal. Now, Bolton is on his way to Ankara (after a stopover in Israel) to carry out negotiations concerning the U.S. pullout. Bolton is certainly incensed about this turn of events, and as soon as he arrived in Israel, began contradicting Trump concerning the PKK. This means that Bolton’s every move and statement should be scrutinized intensely. Bolton’s visit should also be entertaining if we get to observe some of the political theater. In anticipation, the Turkish weather is turning frosty.



Obama’s foreign policy catastrophe

The irony is that it is the Trump Administration making decisions that the Obama Administration should have made years ago. Even though Trump’s predecessor had six months after the coup attempt to take the appropriate legal actions against Gulen and his cult, absolutely nothing was done. The only thing that President Obama accomplished in regard to Turkish-American relations during the waning months of his Presidency was to convince the Turkish population’s vast majority that either he did not care about the fact that a figure responsible for killing hundreds of Turkish citizens resided in the U.S., or he tacitly supported that person. Either way, Obama’s memory will be forever cursed by most Turkish people even though he began his Presidency by traveling to Istanbul and Ankara, and once enjoyed great popularity in the country.

Consequently, with every passing day, the Obama Administration’s policies towards Turkey and its region during 2012-2016 appear increasingly disastrous and misguided. There is no question that Trump has trouble staying focused, is beset by myriad domestic political and legal problems, displays little concrete knowledge on any particular issue, and frequently resorts to fabrications in order to present his version of the world. But in relation to Turkey, his current choices (and ignoring, especially, his purposeful attempt to cripple Turkey’s economy last summer) seem enlightened in comparison to those preferred by his predecessor.

The question that historians and political scientists interested in Turkish-American relations will have to grapple with is exactly why Obama’s policy choices towards Turkey were so completely wrongheaded: was is it bad information? Prejudice? Fear? Disorganization? If Hillary Clinton could understand that the U.S. needed to work with Turkey on regional problems (refer to her autobiography Hard Choices), why could Barack Obama not understand the same reality? Though Hillary Clinton recommended the correct path, the ultimate decisions were not hers to make.



A problem deeper than information

But blaming bad information seems difficult when it comes to U.S. policy. The U.S. has state-of-art information collection capacities, from spy satellites, to access to most of the world’s digital information streams, to its state intelligence institutions such as the Central Intelligence Agency and diplomatic institutions such as the State Department. Imagining that a lack of information caused the Obama Administration to blunder so badly is not easy.

Instead, I would suggest that the available information’s interpretation is where fatal mistakes were made. And I do mean “fatal”, because the policy decisions made by Barack Obama’s administration towards Syria and Turkey in 2012-2014 eventually cost hundreds of thousands of lives. My suspicion is that the officials charged with evaluating the available information and then formulating policy simply did not have the education, the background, the experience, or the analytical capability to ascertain what the correct policies should be.

Certainly if those officials were reading or watching U.S. media coverage of Turkey and Syria in those years, they would have had little understanding of the situation’s essence or the issues involved; the international press was only marginally better. For those officials to understand, at that juncture, what U.S. policy towards Turkey needed to be was not simply a matter of having a strong grasp on what U.S. interests were. A solid understanding of the socio-political transformation taking place in Turkey, in all of its dimensions, and in the broader region was also necessary. Without that greater perspective, they could not approach the information in their possession with clear-sightedness. Somewhere in the cloud of information and officials that produced Obama’s foreign policy decisions, monstrous errors occurred.

Until late last year, President Trump’s administration displayed the same behavior. For that reason, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, during the knowingly provoked August attack on Turkey’s economy, stated with palpable exasperation that the U.S. did not have the ability to discern who their true friends were. The last month, on the other hand, has witnessed sudden, positive developments. Have U.S. officials finally grasped some fundamental realities that previously eluded their awareness? Has the Trump Administration finally seen the obvious, that a democratic NATO ally should be the logical choice to trust on regional security matters? Can the Trump Administration recognize the Gulenist malady plaguing relations between the two states and take the correct actions?

Hopefully, we will soon witness positive answers to these questions.



* Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu Agency.

 

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