Friday, May 15, 2015

Turkey Watch

Bloomberg Business reports as mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, famously described democracy as
A train that takes you to your destination, and then you get off.
The Daily Beast reports Turkish President Erdogan appears to believe he has reached his destination and it's time to disembark from the democracy train. He is campaigning hard for a parliamentary majority large enough to institute constitutional changes that will give him unspecified but clearly increased presidential powers.

Having moved into a palace with 1100 rooms, Erdogan is accused of having sultanic delusions, only marginally better than satanic ones. Polls suggest the electorate will not give the President what he seeks, we'll know in early June as elections happen then.