President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey
There is no doubt that it is possible to build a throne of bayonets but whether one would be able to sit on it for long is a different matter.
Several democracies around the world are mere parodies of a true democracy and as far as leaders of such democracies are concerned, it is not about the people but about themselves. Rogue democracies abound around the world. You will find them mostly in Africa, South America, Asia and the Middle East. You sometimes find them in Europe.
For example, Turkey, a key NATO ally, has detained tens of thousands of teachers, lawyers, students, judges and other officials amid a crackdown on dissent by the government of President Erdogan after the failed coup of 2016.
The Ministry of Justice reported that at least 169,000 state workers, soldiers or others have been suspended or dismissed from government jobs in the crackdown.
Among those incarcerated is Andrew Brunson, a North Carolina evangelical pastor. He was seized in 2016 on charges of espionage and “committing crimes on behalf of terror groups without being a member.” Although he has been released from prison, he remains under house arrest and is expected to face trial next month.
50-year-old Brunson has lived in Turkey for 23 years, running the small Resurrection Church in the western city of Izmir. In a bizarre development, the Erdogan-linked Daily Sabah newspaper reported last month that a prominent member of Brunson’s congregation had shared PKK links on social media.
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