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Tuesday, February 12, 2019

I lost my country. Let me help you save yours

I lost my country. Let me help you save yours
Turkish writer Ece Temelkuran sets out in How to Lose a Country the path from democracy to dictatorship

Ece Temelkuran

The fighter jets are breaking the dark sky into giant geometric pieces as if the air were a solid object. It’s July 15th, 2016; the night of the attempted coup in Turkey. I am piling pillows up against the trembling windows. I guess they’ve just dropped a bomb on the bridge, but I can’t see any fire. People are talking on social media about the bombardment of the parliament building. “Is this it?” I ask myself. “Is tonight the Reichstag fire for what remains of Turkish democracy and my country?” On TV, a few dozen soldiers are barricading the Bosporus bridge, shouting at the startled civilians: “Go home! This is a military takeover!”

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