Scrutable

The country, not the bird. But Erdoğan is now restricting their choices to reduce the risk of losing the presidency.

The main alternative, Ekrem Imamoğlu has, by extraordinary coincidence (BBC), been arrested on corruption charges just days before being selected as a candidate. And with even more coincidence, the day before he was stripped of his degree, which is a requirement to stand for high office. Just to make sure.

Turkey is not yet Venezuela, where Maduro recently "won" reelection only by fiddling the count, rather than the sufficient method previously of preventing good opponents from standing. Maduro has so destroyed the economy that even the weak candidates allowed to stand would beat him. And apparently did, by a huge margin, according to and some actual data the opposition succeeded in collecting. Erdoğan's party lost its majority in recent parliamentary elections, and so rules only in coalition, iirc. Erdoğan's thus sees a risk that a popular candidate might defeat him for president, and so is now is escalating the dictatorial tactics distorting the media to the traditional next stage of preventing good opponents from standing. Imamoğlu, mayor of Istanbul, has that popularity.

sh.t like this just reminds me that NATO and the EU really need mechanisms to kick out members as well as admit them.

Turkey should not be a member of NATO.
Hungary should not be a member of the EU.

NATO is a military alliance, I don’t think there needs to be a democratic principle joining the members. Agree Hungary should be ostracised from the EU though.

Isn’t there a ‘better inside the tent pissing out’ argument for letting Hungary stay in rather than fall into Russia’s orbit? Also throwing them out would weaken a pro-EU opposition’s offer that a vote for them would mean speedy resumption of full EU benefits. The EU should definitely keep marginalising Hungary for as long as it pursues Orbanism though.