Good Friday 2017 Musings
By the time we come out of this Easter Weekend, Turkey’s historic referendum will have been completed.
A Evet (yes) will be disastrous for democracy in the country.
Hayir (no) must win.
A victory will dissolve the position of Prime Minister, and give current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the role of both head of state and head of government. It’ll give him sweeping powers to enact laws without consulting the Grand Assembly and the opposition cannot scrutinise Government ministers.
A basic how-to in forming a dictatorship.
The plans are rejected by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s Republican People’s Party, the party of the great Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Atatürk built a forward thinking, outward looking secular democracy. The wars of the late 19th and early 20th Century had destroyed The Ottoman Empire and “The Sick Man of Europe” finally died.
It could’ve easily turned into a broken, failed state like modern Afghanistan, but under Atatürk it evolved into a powerful nation. Erdoğan wishes to kill the Kemalist dream. Erdoğan wants to destroy democracy and live like an Ottoman Sultan.
Elif Şafak has in a video of Newsnight said similar things.
However, there has been some controversy over the President’s victories in the past, so who knows what we will wake up to after Easter.
I’ve been watching film lately to review and enjoy.
Is it just me have the portion sizes of popcorn and drink gotten progressively smaller over the last five years and the prices have stayed the same. I’ve noticed before but now it’s not even funny anymore.
Also, the Newham Showcase is an absolutely amazing cinema, yet it’s impossible to get to without a car. What a shame. The seats are nice, the food is the best and it doesn’t smell of nachos.
It is the 105th anniversary of the sinking of The Titanic.
The ship probably was unsinkable, they should have just headbutted the iceberg. Then they’d have probably been fine. A common misconception is poor people were left to die. The poor people were furthest away from the lifeboats. They wouldn’t have made it to the deck in time.
I’ve also heard that they lit a flare, but a nearby boat thought it was fireworks for a party.
Either way, I hope such a tragic loss of life never gets repeated.