Turkey is a member of NATO. Erdogan was elected to office democratically by the Turkish people. Do you have a source for the assertion that he wants to "begin the caliphate with the center of it in Turkey"?I am not supportive of Erdogan, but Turkey has a right to protect its sovereignty.
Let's first stipulate that nothing discussed here really makes any difference at all. It is not much different than arguing over Football or Music taste.
Having said that, I think that saying: Erdogan was elected to office democratically by the Turkish people is ridiculous. It is leftist speak. It is verbatim what we heard about Hugo Chavez and Castro and the Sandinistas and countless other leftist slime. It was used to legitimatize the Taliban. More recently it is what Dumbo and Hillary say about The Moslem Brotherhood. And I guarantee that somewhere in the world, right this minute, someone is using that remark to legitimize Dumbo himself.
We certainly do not know any such thing as a fact. But even if it were a fact, that has never been the traditional American test of legitimacy. Rather, the question is whether this or that "ruler" is in our self-interest. I think he is not, as do many others around here. Furthermore, "< leftist du jour > was elected to office democratically by the < third world hellhole > people" is exactly what we must avoid going forward because the end result will be a legitimatized fundamentalist Islamic regime in every country they exist. Why? Because their sheeple, like our own sheeple, outnumber their rational people by orders of magnitude.
This should be obvious to all by now as we ourselves are standing on the precipice of Idiocracy right this very minute. Folks who really want to believe in the fantasy of majority rule are about to taste it for themselves here in the USA within very few coming elections when the parasites finally outvote the hosts. There's a movie out there called 'This Is The End'. Think of it as a sequel to the great 'Idiocracy'.
Those who want to use "democratically elected" as the benchmark for legitimacy should begin preparing for the death of Egypt and everywhere else. Those great monuments to early civilization, flawed as it was, survived thousands of years. But I see no way they, or us, can survive 'Democratic Islamicism'. Nor can we survive 'Democratic Socialism'. Once the "democratically elected" insurance policy is invoked, according to modern political correctness, it is time to shut down criticism and discussion.
Finally, there is a smidgen of naivete about Turkey going on in this thread. It has always been living on the razor's edge of toppling into the Islamic abyss, my entire lifetime it has been like this. They're the butt of more jokes than anyone except for Poland :-) Now, thanks to Obama probably helping this turd get "elected", this lackey's reckless shootdown and attempt to drag NATO in ( we cannot really rule out the possibility that Dumbo or Kerry whispered to the Turk to escalate this to change the subject from getting ISIS to getting Assad ), it is almost certainly going to have something occur there shortly, at least I hope so. Probably a coup, followed by the predictable labeling of the temporary military gov as a right-wing junta decried by the Western lefties. I believe that absent an overthrow we are worse off.
P.S. I'll warm up to Turkey when they give us back Constantinople. This would be a wonderful gesture of peace towards the West because as we all know, Islam is a religion of peace.
Comparing elections in Turkey to those held in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua is just pure nonsense. It is apples and oranges. So you believe that Obama was not elected legally or legitimately twice? Denial just ain't a river in Egypt.
Why? Because their sheeple, like our own sheeple, outnumber their rational people by orders of magnitude.
You get the government you deserve.
Finally, there is a smidgen of naivete about Turkey going on in this thread. It has always been living on the razor's edge of toppling into the Islamic abyss, my entire lifetime it has been like this.
I don't know how old you are, but that has not always been the case. The times I visited Turkey, it was quite secular. It is only fairly recently that it has descended in Islamic fundamentalism. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk brought Turkey into the modern world. My daughter's roomate in boarding school and college was from Turkey. She is currently running her father's business in Turkey at age 40.
P.S. I'll warm up to Turkey when they give us back Constantinople. This would be a wonderful gesture of peace towards the West because as we all know, Islam is a religion of peace.
You must be Greek.