TURKEY JUST HAD ELECTIONS, AND WE HAVE SURPRISING RESULTS.
I WILL TELL YOU WHAT THAT MEANS IN A SECOND.
LET ME GIVE YOU
CONTEXT FIRST.
RIGHT NOW THE PRESIDENT OF TURKEY IS ERDOGAN,
USED TO BE THE PRIME MINISTER.
TURKEY HAS A PARLIAMENTARY
SYSTEM WHERE THE PRIME MINISTER IS MORE POWERFUL.
ERDOGAN
WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE THAT BECAUSE HE IS NOT THE PRIME
MINISTER ANYMORE, HE IS THE PRESIDENT.
IN ORDER TO DO THAT
NEEDS MORE SOLID MAJORITIES IN PARLIAMENT FOR HIS PARTY SO THEY
CAN CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION AND SAY WE DID NOT MEAN THE PRIME
MINISTER, WE MEANT THE PRESIDENT HAS ALL THE POWER.
HE WOULD LIKE TO STAY
IN POWER LONGER BECAUSE GOD KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU GET
OUT OF POWER AND PEOPLE FIND OUT WHAT HE ACTUALLY DID.
ONE WAY TO
FIND OUT WOULD BE TO HAVE A STRONG MEDIA, THAT IS EXACTLY
WHY HE HAS CRUSHED THE MEDIA IN TURKEY.
I WILL GET TO THAT IN A
SECOND AS WELL.
THE PROBLEM FOR ERDOGAN IS THAT THE LAST
ELECTIONS IN JUNE DID NOT WORK OUT SO WELL FOR HIM AND HIS
PARTY.
IT TURNS OUT THAT AKP, HIS PARTY, LOST A LOT OF SEATS.
THEY NO LONGER HELD A MAJORITY BY THEMSELVES.
A PARTY THAT IS
CONSIDERED MORE LEFTIST AND PRO-KURDISH PICKED UP A LOT OF
SEATS, AND A SECOND PARTY PICKED UP SEATS.
ERDOGAN'S PARTY IS
MORE CONSERVATIVE, I AM PUTTING IT MILDLY THERE.
SO HE CALLED FOR
A NEW ELECTION AND THE BAD NEWS IS THAT THEY ARE POLLING AT THE
SAME PLACE AS THE JUNE ELECTION, IT LOOKS LIKE THEY WILL NOT HAVE
THEIR MAJORITY, THEN THEY HAVE THE ELECTION AND SURPRISE, IT
TURNS OUT THAT ERDOGAN'S PARTY HAS THE MAJORITY BACK.
THAT IS QUITE A SURPRISE.
NOW A LOT OF PEOPLE IN TURKEY ARE
WONDERING HOW THE POLLING WAS SO WRONG.
THERE IS SOME CHANCE THAT
THE POLLING WASN'T WRONG.
OF COURSE THE GOVERNMENT ENTITY
CHARGED WITH TELLING YOU WHAT THE POLLING RESULTS WERE, THEIR
WEBSITE WAS DOWN RIGHT AFTER THE ELECTION.
AND IT CONTINUED TO BE
DOWN FOR A LONG TIME.
GOLLY GEE, THAT TRICKY WEBSITE.
WAIT A
MINUTE, IF THEIR WEBSITE IS DOWN, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE
VOTE PERCENTAGES WERE?
ACTUALLY IN THIS ELECTION THEY ANNOUNCED
WHO WON QUICKER THAN ANY ELECTION, AND CERTAINLY THAN IN
THE LAST ELECTION.
SO THEY IMMEDIATELY KNOW WHO WON,
THEY JUST COULDN'T SHOW YOU ANY OF THE VOTES.
HUFFINGTON POST EXPLAINS --
I GUESS THE POLLSTERS ARE STUNNED BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T
EXPECT THAT PERHAPS WHAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY THOUGHT IN A DEMOCRACY
MIGHT NOT MATTER.
YOU REMEMBER IN A PREVIOUS ELECTION, AKP HAD
HAD A MYSTERIOUS GIANT NATIONAL BLACKOUT IN ALL THESE DIFFERENT
CITIES AT THE SAME TIME DURING THE ELECTIONS.
I SAY AKP HAD
DONE THAT BECAUSE THEY WERE IN CHARGE, THEY WERE THE
GOVERNMENT, AND WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE GIANT BLACKOUT THAT HAPPENED
IN ALL THESE PLACES WERE LATER THEY TALLIED THE VOTES AND THEY
HAD GAINED A TREMENDOUS NUMBER OF VOTES IN THOSE AREAS, HIGHER
THAN EARLIER PERCENTAGES, THEY SAID WE HAD THAT BLACKOUT
BECAUSE A CAT WALKED INTO A GENERATOR AND CAUSED THE BLACKOUT.
HOW DID THAT CAT CAUSE A BLACKOUT IN DIFFERENT PARTS
OF TURKEY?
LIKE THAT WEBSITE GOING DOWN, THAT MYSTERY WILL NEVER BE
SOLVED, I GUESS.
PART OF THE REASON THOSE MYSTERIES WON'T BE SOLVED IS
BECAUSE OF THINGS LIKE THIS --
THIS
IS NOT THE FIRST TIME ERDOGAN AND HIS PARTY HAVE
DONE THIS, THEY HAVE SYSTEMATICALLY CRUSHED THE MEDIA
IN TURKEY.
WE EVEN HAVE LEAKS WHEN THEY ARE ON THE PHONE
TALKING TO NEWSPAPERS AND TV STATIONS ASKING HOW DARE YOU
HAVE ANYONE WRITE AGAINST US?
THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES.
IN
ONE SAD CASE, THE PERSON RUNNING A NEWSPAPER, ONE OF THE
LEADING NEWSPAPERS IN TURKEY, IS CRYING ON THE PHONE WITH
ERDOGAN SAYING, I AM SO SORRY FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE, I WILL GET
BACK IN LINE.
SO LOOK AT THIS, A LITTLE TEAR GAS ON A COUPLE
REMAINING PUBLICATIONS THAT WERE NOT UNDER SUFFICIENT CONTROL,
AND VOIL¿, THEY FIRE ALL THEIR STAFF WHO OPPOSED ERDOGAN.
ONE
OF THE THINGS HE DID WAS SAY THE PKK, THE KURDISH TERRORIST GROUP
IN TURKEY, THEY ARE COMING FOR YOU.
AND THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN
SAVE TURKEY IS SUPPORTING A STRONG FATHER FIGURE LIKE ME.
WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS MOVIE BEFORE?
RUSSIA, ISRAEL, DICK
CHENEY -- AND MANY OTHER PLACES IN HISTORY AS WELL.
THEY ARE
ATTACKING US, WE HAVE TO GO GET THE OTHERS.
THERE WAS A SERIES
OF BOMBINGS, SOME OF WHICH MYSTERIOUSLY HAD NO SECURITY AT
THOSE PLACES AT ALL.
LET ME GIVE YOU A COUPLE QUOTES ABOUT THAT ONE BOMBING THAT
HAPPENED AT A PRO-KURDISH PEACE RALLY --
DID THE GOVERNMENT DO IT?
I DON'T KNOW.
THAT IS A HEAVY
CHARGE, YOU WOULD HAVE TO HAVE A LOT OF EVIDENCE TO PROVE IT.
WHEN THE GOVERNMENT SPEAKERS WERE AT RALLIES, THEY HAD
TREMENDOUS SECURITY.
AT PRO-PEACE RALLIES WITH KURDS AND
LEFTISTS WHO DON'T SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT, THEY HAVE NO
SECURITY, VERY LITTLE SECURITY, AND AMBULANCES ARE BLOCKED FROM
GOING TO HELP THE VICTIMS.
FOR THOSE UNFAMILIAR THE REGION, ISIS FIGHTS THE KURDS IN
IRAQ AND SYRIA.
THE KURDS MAYBE HATE ISIS MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE.
THE IDEA THAT ISIS AND PKK, A KURDISH GROUP, GOT TOGETHER TO
DO BOMBINGS OF PEACE RALLIES IN TURKEY, WELL, THAT DOES STRAIN
THE IMAGINATION.
THOSE ARE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT THEY ARE
SAYING ARE IN CAHOOTS AND WORKING AGAINST THE ERDOGAN
GOVERNMENT, THEY ALSO SAY THAT MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS THAT DON'T
AGREE WITH THEM ARE WORKING WITH WESTERN GOVERNMENTS IN A PLOY
AGAINST THEM, AND ARE TERRORISTS.
IT DOES NOT HAVE TO
MAKE SENSE, THEY JUST HAVE TO DECLARE IT.
THIS ELECTION HAS
BEEN DECLARED FOR AKP AND ERDOGAN'S PARTY, THEY SAY THEY
HAVE THE MAJORITY.
SO NO MATTER WHAT THE POLLS SAID AND WHAT THE
TURKISH PEOPLE WANTED, THEY ARE THE ONES IN CHARGE, AKP IS.
WHO
WILL CHALLENGE THEM?
THE MEDIA?
THEY HAVE BEEN OBLITERATED.
ANYONE WHO MIGHT HAVE OPPOSED ERDOGAN AND THE MILITARY HAS BEEN
ARRESTED LONG TIME AGO.
SO HERE WE ARE.
DEMOCRACY IN TURKEY, IT
WAS ONE OF THE SHINING JEWELS OF THAT REGION.