Bhutto assassinated

[hi_im_god]

Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

See,it depends on what you think a Democracy is.If there is no free press,or limited free speech then the people only can select politicians based on what their Government allows them to see and hear.I mean they can vote,but how would they be informed voters ? Their choices will be based on what? What the Government wants them to know.If you aren't free to gain information,then your vote will be based on opinions crafted by 1)the dominant religion,or 2)the information the government wants you to use when forming an opinion.Is that really a free vote? No,not if the voters are voting with very limited information.Whatever information you have obtained about the Armenian Genocide is information that would far exceed that of Turk Citizens.They don't know very much about it.They aren't allowed to know about it.If you don't have a free press,then that's not a free vote.

i'm not sure how restricting access to information on the armenian genocide or youtube video's contrary to the national legend about kemal ataturk winds up being interpreted as the reason a secular military establishment candidate lost to an islamist.

it took us 90 years from our founding to mention in our constitution that owning other people as property wasn't allowed. it was another 50 years after that before lacking a penis was no longer a good reason to stop you from voting. it was another 45 years after that before there was actual enforcement of voting rights for people other than caucasians in states where that seemed like a bad idea.

turkey is 90 years into an experiment where a complete autocracy has been introducing the idea that people should govern themselves.

people in established democracies sometimes imagine what they were born into happened overnight. it didn't. and it won't happen that way elsewhere.

turkey will need to deal with it's past. it'll probably struggle with the armenian genocide the same way we still struggle with the aftermath of slavery in our society.

but they remain the best example of a secular democratic islamic society. i think you're premature in writing off that experiment. and i don't share your pessimism.