JORGE RODRIGUES SIMAO

Sultan Erdogan

Turkey's new sultan: Glenn Reynolds

The Madness of Turkey’s ‘Sultan’ Erdogan

PERSPECTIVAS - O sonho ditatorial de Erdogan - HojeMacau - 28.07.2016

“As an authoritarian leader, Erdogan maintains absolute control over the country. This is why he wants to exterminate the Hizmet Movement, the biggest obstacle on the way to build his own regime. If Turkish people choose to go with Erdogan, will that trigger chaos in Turkey? Well, systems are built into the fabric of nature. That is, while things seem to tend toward chaos, what really happens is that one system evolves into the next. In that case, we can predict that it wouldn’t be a democracy.”

Hungry for Power: Erdogan's Witch Hunt and Abuse of State Power

Aydogan Vatandas

Os militares na Turquia desempenham um papel fundamental desde a proclamação oficial da República da Turquia a 29 de Outubro de 1923, como sendo oficialmente a sucessora do Império Otomano, extinto a 1 de Novembro de 1922. O pai da nova nação foi Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, um militar que sempre foi visto como o garante dos valores fundamentais do país, como os conceitos de nação, democracia, laicismo e ordem. A Turquia, infelizmente, é um país acostumado a golpes militares. A jovem nação turca, viveu três golpes de Estado, em menos de um século de existência. O duvidoso pronunciamento militar eleva esse número para um total de cinco sublevações.

Whatever I Say

There’s an old story about compassion, detachment, and Mohammed, the prophet of Islam.

Mohammed had a neighbor who had a garbage problem.

This neighbor was a cranky old man who let his garbage pile up and spill out all around his yard.

The mess was unsightly, but Mohammed practiced tolerance and compassion.

He didn’t say anything to the annoying neighbor, for years.

DETENTION AND IMPRISONMENT

Arbitrary Detention

Detention

 The human rights movement has often concerned itself with those who have been detained for their politics or expressing their opinion. Recall the symbolism attributed to the figure of Solzhenitsyn by Kundera. The founding of Amnesty International in 1961 was prompted by its founder, the barrister Peter Benenson, reading about two Portuguese students publicly raising their glasses in a toast to freedom and then being convicted and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. The Observer newspaper carried Benenson's 'Appeal for Amnesty' under the banner headline 'The Forgotten Prisoners'. This was the culmination of years of reflection and consultation with others on issues related to persecution and imprisonment. The article included photographs of six prisoners: Constantin Noica (a Romanian philosopher), the civil rights supporter the Reverend Ashton from the United States, the Angolan poet Agostinho Neto (held by the Portuguese), Archbishop Beran of Prague, Toni Ambatielos (a trade unionist detained in Greece), and Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary (taking refuge in the US Embassy in Budapest). Other prisoners from Spain and South Africa were included in the article. The original Appeal for Amnesty had four aims: to work impartially for the release of those imprisoned for their opinions; to seek for them a fair and public trial; to enlarge the right of asylum and help political refugees to find work; and to urge effective international machinery to guarantee freedom of opinion.

Let Go of Negative Emotions

Resentments are sneaky, tricky little things.

They can convince us they’re justified.

They can dry up our hearts.

They can sabotage our happiness.

They can sabotage love.

Most of us have been at the receiving end of an injustice at some time in our lives.

Most of us know someone who’s complained of an injustice we’ve done to him or her.

Life can be a breeding ground for resentments, if we let it.