Governments in crisis and especially a government like
Turkey with a long history of shadowy conspiracy are terrified by social
networking.
In the past agents on the ground had to circulate money to
stir up strife. Today, the enemies of the state and other state actors can sit
thousands of miles away and work to build networks of dissent and unrest.
You can attempt to put up firewalls and build a surveillance
network. This will stifle the curiosity of some, but the hardcore activists
(and their international backers) will just go deeper underground.
If the government turns the light out (so to speak) it just
makes people want to see all the more. It makes them curious and leads to
deviousness. Ultimately it leads to subversion because people no longer trust
the government and find joy in discovering workarounds.
Unless Erdogan is willing to use massive force to back up
such an action...as they do in China... then it will likely backfire. Turkey
has too much on the line. Although it has all but given up EU membership, it is
still part of NATO and a key player in East-West relations and trade.
Erdogan doesn't want any more domestic crises. But at the
same time I'm sure he feels like unseen forces are moving against him and he
would be correct.
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