Stephen Lendman

Tyrants operate their own way, eliminating whatever interferes with their iron-fisted rule - Erdogan one of the region’s worst, a tinpot despot in a part of the world ruled by dictators.

Anyone supporting freedom fighting Kurds he calls “terrorists” are considered enemies of the state, subject to prosecution, imprisonment or assassination.

He’s waging no-holds-barred war on his Kurdish citizens, massacring civilians, burning hundreds to death vindictively, desperate people taking shelter in basements succumbing to his viciousness. US and other Western leaders ignore his worst crimes. EU ones cut a deal to turn Turkey into a refugee dumping ground, a giant concentration camp denying their fundamental rights - sealing their borders, expelling desperate people, turning their back on human need they bear responsibility for causing complicit with Washington.

Erdogan intends stealing much of the EU bribe offered for his own regime and personal use, including waging war on Turkish, Iraqi and Syrian Kurds.

He wants opposition parliament members stripped of their immunity, leaving them vulnerable to prosecution and imprisonment for criticizing his policies.

Mainly he wants pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party of Turkey (HDP) MPs targeted, saying “I no longer see as legitimate political actors the members of a party which is operating as a branch of a terrorist organization” - freedom fighting Kurds wanting fundamental rights he denies them.

On Saturday, a blast in central Istanbul killed at least five, wounded dozens more, the death toll likely to rise - the third major act of violence in Turkey this year. Two others rocked Ankara, the nation’s capital.

Kurdish “terrorists” are always blamed, true or false. Erdogan uses these incidents to his advantage - solidifying iron-fisted rule, waging war on fundamental freedoms, eliminating them altogether, turning Turkey into a full-blown dictatorship.

Western leaders ignore his worst crimes, in bed with the devil in dealing with him.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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