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NO TURKISH DELIGHT  

spunkycumfun 63M/69F
29519 posts
10/7/2016 1:27 pm
NO TURKISH DELIGHT





I heard some very shocking news this week as part of my job. I was going to do a blog post about panda bears tonight but panda bears can fucking wait. Instead I'm going to blog about Turkey, the country not the bird!

As a university politics lecturer, I teach a large number of international students on my courses. This academic year, there are students from Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Thailand, Turkey, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam and of course the UK.

It’s like the United Nations but without the conflict. When coming across people from different countries, you realise the differences but you also realise that we have far more in common than we have in difference. We all want to survive and have access to food and clean water; we want shelter and a home; we all want a job to look after our families and friends; we want to feel secure and be respected; and we want to be ourselves however culturally and socially defined.

International students are very important to universities here in the UK and probably elsewhere in the West because they are charged massive fees. International students pay three times that UK/European Union students pay and get exactly the same for their money. They are a cash cow for universities, but yet a target for governments, like the UK’s government, wanting to curb immigration.

Enough of the context; I’ll now cut to the chase. My university has an agreement with the Turkish Ministry of Interior for senior Turkish government officials to come over and study here. In the last ten years the Ministry has sent over 40 civil servants to study here. I’ve just been told that all bar two are now in prison awaiting trial!

There was an attempted coup d'état in Turkey this July. The coup spectacularly failed - another golden rule of politics, if you’re going to have a coup make sure you win otherwise there’ll be terrible reprisals.

After the failed coup, the Turkish President, Recep Erdoğan, ordered a purge of the Turkish state to root out the conspirators and supporters of the coup. That is why nearly all my former Turkish students are in jail.

The increasingly autocratic Turkish President has gone on record as admiring Hitler for running an effective government. Just as he admires Putin, no doubt Trump will admire Erdoğan! Why is the world taking a bad turn towards demagoguery and nationalism?

In Turkey, according to reports, up to 50,000 Turkish people - soldiers, judges, civil servants, university lecturers, school teachers etc - have been rounded up and imprisoned.

Monitors of Amnesty International, an international body dedicated to promoting human rights and protecting the rights of those people opposing tyrannical regimes, aren’t allowed access to Turkey. Amnesty International, after receiving harrowing accounts from sources in Turkey, claim that these people are being imprisoned without charge and without legal representation and that they are being tortured.

These people have no chance of a fair trial - this is Turkey - and if, but more likely when, imprisoned will face appalling conditions - think Midnight Express!

I don’t believe that my former students as civil servants conspired, though they may have supported the ideals behind the coup. The coup was fronted by the military, and almost certainly orchestrated by the Turkish dissident, Fethullah Gülen, holed up in America.

My former students were arrested because they were Western-educated with ideas about democracy, human rights and the rule of law. They were arrested for being liberal in an increasingly illiberal state. And I feel a little responsible!

Do you like Turkish Delight?
What do you do when you’re powerless to change things?


I feel totally powerless with this situation. I’d love to go to Turkey and campaign for the release of my former students. But I realise that my intervention may be counter-productive.

I feel totally powerless because I can’t raise this issue here with any expectation that the UK government will take it seriously. The West is dependent on Turkey as an ally in its proclaimed war against terrorism and as an ally against Russian power.





spunkycumfun 63M/69F
41171 posts
10/7/2016 1:31 pm

Istanbul is beautiful city. Here's the Blue Mosque.

[image]


FIRTINA06 42M
103 posts
10/7/2016 1:48 pm

Turkey is safer than your country...UK BR-EXİT


spunkycumfun 63M/69F
41171 posts
10/7/2016 1:52 pm

    Quoting FIRTINA06:
    Turkey is safer than your country...UK BR-EXİT
You are crazy believing that!


FIRTINA06 42M
103 posts
10/7/2016 1:55 pm

You have modified the policy..england prime minister .Theresa Mary May...Hillary will became prime minister of usa...

hopefully, Turkey is the first country to strike you...

we'll be waiting....


redrockrascal 65M
23580 posts
10/7/2016 3:33 pm

When people are educated they are less likely to be controlled by an oppressive government. In the US we under-fund education so the ignorant can easily be controlled by fear. Just look at how our elections go, facts and intelligent dialog are hard to find. Sad story about your students.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.


sweet_VM 65F
81699 posts
10/7/2016 3:44 pm

Do you like Turkish Delight? sure do. Last time I had this was over in the middle East.
What do you do when you’re powerless to change things? Run!!!! hugssssss V Wow Spunky didn't know this.. You would make a sexy Prof by the way!

Become a blog watcher sweet_vm


Nola7011 67M
1021 posts
10/7/2016 4:06 pm

Fuck that shit. Do we not have enough unsolved problems here in America?

People are strange when you're a stranger."


kzoopair 73M/71F
25831 posts
10/7/2016 4:28 pm

Do you like Turkish Delight?
Yes, I do.

What do you do when you’re powerless to change things?
Well, when I really feel powerless I yell at the TV or throw the newspaper. Neither one does anything useful for imprisoned Turks, though. Authoritarianism is the same whether it's Mussolini's fascism or Stalin's perversion ofBolshevism. You can tell how fearful the reigning power is by the ferocity of their reactions. As painful as it seems to say it, this is a fight the Turks themselves have to fight. Even if the EU or America were willing to confront Erdogan, it's not our fight. You can speak up, send money, lend moral support and offer asylum, but it's Turks who have to stand up and change it.

Become a member now and get a free tote bag.


pal334 69M  
45821 posts
10/7/2016 5:42 pm

Do you like Turkish Delight? I don't think I have ever had it


What do you do when you’re powerless to change things? I think there is always a way to express desires for change. Of course it may be minimal, but it is something. I have had trouble over the years understanding why a population will allow an individual or party oppress them. The military consists of men who have parents. If those parents are at the fore front of a protest, do you think that their own children will kill them? That is of course a simple example. If a population allows themselves to be subjected like this and their young children to be mistreated, in my opinion, they deserve what they have. After all they are they majority.


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lok4fun500 M
51906 posts
10/7/2016 5:55 pm

I love turkish delight BUT chocolate coated is even better....BUT....I stopped eating right now because of my blood sugars.....you can have my portions!


NaughtyInSO 113F
9755 posts
10/7/2016 8:16 pm

Do you like Turkish Delight? I used to indulge in rahat locum when I was younger.

What do you do when you’re powerless to change things? I rant and eat a lot of chocolate.

Visit my blog It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World of NaughtyInSO, leave a comment, become a watcher.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LIVE AND LET LIVE Be happy!
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Furbal1972 51M
18571 posts
10/7/2016 8:28 pm

Do I like Turkish Delight? I'm not sure. I probably would, but most Americans really don't know what it actually is.

Turkey is another place where I am powerless. .. It is true.. Don't start a coup unless you know you're going to pull it off. This coup seems to have been rather disorganized. .. Either they tried before they were ready or (as has been rumored here) Erdoğan planned it himself so he could get emergency powers.

We have someone he wants too. A cleric that has been in exile for many years. .. But we're not going to arrest him. They have no proof that he was involved and from what is known of the guy he would discourage that sort of thing.

Read my diary Journal of a Taxi Driver for taxi stories and pictures of flowers and trees.


FIRTINA06 42M
103 posts
10/8/2016 12:12 am

TERORRİST:your country politicians

You drew a map in 15 years...but remember, this is the map we draw of the world's most enduring this for years, you're looking at 2000-3000 Turkish delight in the taste..


FIRTINA06 42M
103 posts
10/8/2016 12:12 am

8 NOVEMBER BEGİNNİNG OF END


FIRTINA06 42M
103 posts
10/8/2016 12:24 am

Hey idiots swearing from...discuss


Annie_34 65T
5945 posts
10/8/2016 12:48 am

Bonjour Spunky
Je n'ai jamais été en Turquie
Et je ne sais pas ce que je réagirais si un coup d'état se passait en France , je sais seleument que quand Napoléon III a fait le sien plusieurs milliers d'Occitan on été déportés
♥ Poton ♥ Bisou ♥ Annie ♥


Hello Spunky
I have never been to Turkey
And I do not know what I would react if a coup was going on in France, I only know that when Napoleon III made his several thousand of Occitans were deported
♥ Kiss ♥ Annie ♥


Notre vie est un voyage-♦-Dans l'hiver et dans la nuit
Nous cherchons notre passage-♦-Dans le ciel où rien ne luit .

Pour laisser un message cliquer ici Boite aux lettres secrete Annie
Sommaire du blog Annie la Pute


spunkycumfun 63M/69F
41171 posts
10/8/2016 2:27 am

    Quoting FIRTINA06:
    You have modified the policy..england prime minister .Theresa Mary May...Hillary will became prime minister of usa...

    hopefully, Turkey is the first country to strike you...

    we'll be waiting....

I don't think Hillary Clinton will be the next Prime Minister but I do think she will be the next President of the US.
There is no prospect of war between Britain and Turkey - we're both in Nato!


FIRTINA06 42M
103 posts
10/8/2016 2:34 pm

NATO BİG LİE ...


citizen4722 66M  
74582 posts
10/9/2016 8:45 am

Do you like Turkish Delight? Yes (one of my favourite sweets)
What do you do when you’re powerless to change things? Pray!


spunkycumfun 63M/69F
41171 posts
10/9/2016 12:56 pm

    Quoting FIRTINA06:
    8 NOVEMBER BEGİNNİNG OF END
I admire your opposition. Are you an Erdoğan supporter?


spunkycumfun 63M/69F
41171 posts
10/12/2016 11:56 am

    Quoting redrockrascal:
    When people are educated they are less likely to be controlled by an oppressive government. In the US we under-fund education so the ignorant can easily be controlled by fear. Just look at how our elections go, facts and intelligent dialog are hard to find. Sad story about your students.
Sadly I think you're right. An educated and informed people are often a threat to those in power.


spunkycumfun 63M/69F
41171 posts
10/12/2016 11:58 am

    Quoting sweet_VM:
    Do you like Turkish Delight? sure do. Last time I had this was over in the middle East.
    What do you do when you’re powerless to change things? Run!!!! hugssssss V Wow Spunky didn't know this.. You would make a sexy Prof by the way!
I love Turkish Delight too! But I'm still thinking of my students languishing in a Turkish prison, so I'll only eat Turkish Delight after they've been released!


spunkycumfun 63M/69F
41171 posts
10/12/2016 12:03 pm

    Quoting Nola7011:
    Fuck that shit. Do we not have enough unsolved problems here in America?
I'm not American so I'm not just interested in American problems. These people imprisoned in Turkey were my students. I'm going to be interested in their fate!


spunkycumfun 63M/69F
41171 posts
10/12/2016 12:08 pm

    Quoting kzoopair:
    Do you like Turkish Delight?
    Yes, I do.

    What do you do when you’re powerless to change things?
    Well, when I really feel powerless I yell at the TV or throw the newspaper. Neither one does anything useful for imprisoned Turks, though. Authoritarianism is the same whether it's Mussolini's fascism or Stalin's perversion ofBolshevism. You can tell how fearful the reigning power is by the ferocity of their reactions. As painful as it seems to say it, this is a fight the Turks themselves have to fight. Even if the EU or America were willing to confront Erdogan, it's not our fight. You can speak up, send money, lend moral support and offer asylum, but it's Turks who have to stand up and change it.
I fear you're right that the he only effective solution to the problems in Turkey lies with its people. You read about bad things but when you know people caught up in bad things just makes me sad!
I only got politicised when I went to Zimbabwe. I had read about poverty - and I mean abject poverty - but when you see it first hand that's when I finally got politics!


spunkycumfun 63M/69F
41171 posts
10/12/2016 12:16 pm

    Quoting joisygirl:
    Do you like Turkish Delight? Yes dear I do. This was the first trip to the UK that I walked right past Thorntons and didn't go in and buy some. I especially like Fruit Jellies and Special Toffee too! I've lost another three pounds this week, so I guess passing up the sweets continues to pay off.

    What do you do when you’re powerless to change things? Eat Fruit Jellies and Special Toffee or sweets in general.

    I don't know why so many countries wish to be exclusionary now and I don't know to what lengths any of them will go to achieve their goals. It's a scary time. I'm very sorry to hear your distressing news.
I think you like your sweets - sorry, I meant candy!
The person who told me - one of the two out of 40 not imprisoned - the news about my Turkish students being imprisoned, I fear, has also been imprisoned. He was just about to go back to Turkey and I asked him to email me on his return. I've had no email from him!


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