✢ ✍🏼journo ✢ authoritarian tech ✢ https://t.co/pne9H91Hqq ✢ https://t.co/EBCtW0nQET ✢ All views my own; ✢ RTs are not endorsements
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May 17, 2023 • 56 tweets • 21 min read
Time to start a new 🧵 ahead of the second round of elections scheduled for May 28.
Kicking off the thread with this new campaign video released by presidential candidate @kilicdarogluk and @jamesinturkey's take on it. #TurkeyElections #Secim2023
Highly recommend watching this video () by journalsit @nevsinmengu discussing election night and what went wrong. Few takeaways:
CHP algorithm was wrong (esp as the party did not have observers at 20k polling stations);+
May 9, 2023 • 34 tweets • 21 min read
Starting a 🧵on the upcoming elections in #Turkey scheduled for May 14.
Will be adding articles, podcasts, and interviews I find useful for the international audience watching the elections from afar.
First up, some of the stories we have published at @globalvoices
May 14 will go down in the history of the Turkish Republic as one of the most important elections to date. globalvoices.org/2023/04/06/in-…
Mar 3, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
So long awaited opposition candidate has just been announced. #Kilicdaroglu will race against #Erdogan. Meanwhile, the table of six - a coalition of opposition parties - no more. At least not in its current form as IYI party breaks ranks.
The head of Iyi Party Meral Aksener also called on mayors of Istanbul and Ankara to run against Erdogan in the upcoming election and announced the party won't support Kilicdaroglu's candidacy.
Mar 2, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Unless Erdogan can restore his image as the caring and effective reis, the era of Erdogan as a feared and respected leader in Turkey is over. Those who love Erdogan love him a bit less; those who fear him fear him even less. By @SonerCagaptay
foreignaffairs.com/turkey/turkeys…
Perhaps any government would have struggled to address such a disaster swiftly and comprehensively. But by any standard, the Erdogan government’s initial response was slow and haphazard.
Feb 11, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
In pictures, this story from Diyarbakir is about a team of rescuers who were able to save a dog and its two puppies from a rubble 124 hours after the earthquake gazeteduvar.com.tr/diyarbakirda-e…
an 83 year old woman being pulled out of the rubble alive 125 hours later in Malatya
The building in the photo is making rounds on social media. It belongs to the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects. The organization has been warning for years the authorities in Turkey about the lack of preparedness for earthquakes.
In 2019, in a statement issued to mark the 20th anniversary of the Izmit earthquake, the Union said the government had abandoned earthquake preparedness in the name of profit. dw.com/en/istanbul-un…
Feb 10, 2023 • 11 tweets • 7 min read
Dear friends near and abroad. In the past few days, I have been getting Q's about ways to support those affected by the earthquake in #Turkey now and long term. The list of orgs/initiaitves below, is where I have donated to myself as well as shared by friends. 🧵
1. ahbap.org/disasters-turk… - set up by Turkish rock star, they have done an incredible job helping those in need ever since its foundation in 2017; 2. umuthareketi.izmir.bel.tr - set up by Izmir Municipality the webpage offers different items you can donate to; [in English]
Feb 9, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
These words are so powerful and so true: "The country was a construction site. It has become a cemetery."
Excellent piece on what went wrong in Turkey under AKP rule by @aysegul_sert for @TheAtlantic theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
📢instead of focusing on shoring up the country it has worked to crush secularism and democracy and turn everything into a symbol of its own rule.
Mar 14, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Любой хорошо сконструированный деструктивный мем умеет уничтожать реальность в умах его носителей. Он — не средство осмыслить реальность. Он — средство ее отторгнуть.
Человек — существо коллективное, и он очень часто не знает, что он видит, до тех пор, пока ему не сказали, что именно он видит.
Mar 14, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Experts say a recent wave of pro-Putin disinformation is consistent with the work of Russia’s Internet Research Agency, a network of paid trolls who attempted to influence the 2016 presidential election.
An analysis of the accounts’ activity by the Clemson Media Forensics Hub and ProPublica found they posted at defined times consistent with the IRA workday, were created in the same time frame and posted similar or identical text, photos and videos across accounts and platforms.
Mar 12, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Remember what #Putin said before he invaded #Ukraine about why #Russia "was forced to do so?" Well @mediazzzona gathered a list of changing reasons since Russia invaded Ukraine. zona.media/article/2022/0…
In this 🧵 I am sharing the translation:
28 minutes before the start of the war:
- people's republics of Donbas are asking for help;
- “special operation” will protect people who have been subjected to abuse & genocide by the Kyiv regime for 8 years;
- this is done to protect 🇷🇺 from those who took 🇺🇦 hostage;
Mar 4, 2022 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
Another news website blocked in Russia
TV2 editor Viktor Muchnik wrote on Facebook the website was blocked last night. The website is accessible using VPN and the team continues sharing news via its social media platforms.
Economic Crime Bill has been promised since 2016. It was shelved just a month ago amid much criticism - including from the fraud minister, Lord Agnew, who quit. Now, the invasion of Ukraine has prompted a government U-turn. bbc.com/news/uk-605799…
The legislation will:
Create a register of overseas ownership of UK land and property
Overhaul Unexplained Wealth Orders
Make it easier to prosecute anyone involved in sanctions-busting
Mar 3, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
The Russian authorities were not ready for the sanctions imposed against the country. Possibly because Putin hid the invasion plan from many of his subordinates.
A rough translation of few para agents.media/rossijskie-vla…
Many high-ranking officials-members of the Cabinet of Ministers and heads of large state-owned companies were not prepared for Putin's decision to start a war in Ukraine. One high-ranking official said that he "did not know" that it would be a full-scale invasion.
Mar 3, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Spotify said it is closing its office in Russia indefinitely. Russian users will be able to continue using the app.
In July 2021, Russian legislation signed by President Vladimir Putin has obliged foreign social media companies with more than 500,000 daily users to open local offices or be subject to restrictions as severe as outright bans. Spotify was among the companies that complied.
Mar 3, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
As commander in chief, ultimate responsibility for the invasion rests with Putin, but he has always relied on a deeply loyal entourage, many of whom also began their careers in Russia's security services.
bbc.com/news/world-eur…
The question is who has his ear, during this most fateful moment in his presidency. 1. Sergei Shoigu, Putin's long-time confidant who has parroted the Putin line of demilitarising Ukraine and protecting Russia from the West's so-called military threat.
Mar 2, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
as a Cold War historian, I fear that Russia’s invasion, regardless of its outcome, portends a new era of immense hostility with Moscow — and that this new cold war will be far worse than the first. nytimes.com/2022/03/01/opi…
That 20th-century conflict was characterized by avoidance of direct Western-Russian engagement, producing instead proxy wars in other countries. Putin’s brazenness calls this practice into question.
May 1, 2021 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Azerbaijan's Minister of Youth and Sports, Azad Rahimov dies after ongoing cancer treatment in the US acc. to @AzadliqRadiosu
His career was marred with human rights violations and corruption.
Here is a thread on his so-called achievements and murky business deals.
In April 2020, @OCCRP published an investigation into a company named SerbAz. The company reportedly brought more than 700 workers from the Balkan region to Baku for construction and renovation work of some its most prominent buildings between 2006 and 2009.
Apr 30, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Leaders of organized criminal groups, dictators who steal from their people, crooked officials, and other shady characters have become adept at hiding their millions in Western capitals.
occrp.org/en/what-is-une…
via @OCCRP
But there’s one sector where the corruption takes physical form, turning cities like London into virtual showcases of tainted foreign wealth: Real estate.
Sherlock's iconic address on Baker Street is owned by structures connected to the daughter of former Kazakhstani dictator
globalvoices.org/2021/04/29/the…
In January, when students of Turkey's prestigious Boğaziçi University launched protests against a president-appointed rector, Clubhouse was one of the places where much of the conversation about the movement was taking place.
Apr 27, 2021 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Georgians’ collective memory has been shaped by pride in their struggle for independence since 1989 and fear of existential threats. This narrative has overshadowed other domestic challenges and increased Georgia’s reliance on individual leaders. carnegieeurope.eu/2021/04/27/str…
Georgians are proud to see their country as an established democracy. Yet, thirty years on, the mainstream historical narrative still portrays the country as vulnerable and facing existential threats to its statehood.
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