The crackdown in Turkey–by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan–which has now been extended to a three month state-of-emergency it must be said is a foolish and dangerous move. The arresting of people who are ‘against’ Erdogan’s rule are in fact exercising their democratic right in a liberal-democracy. More to the point, history has shown that cracking down on those that are against the ruler, whether actual or perceived, generates disastrous consequences for a country.  History is littered with catastrophic examples of political machinations that are driven by power; and are veiled in ‘installing security.’ These antics eventually shatter the social fabric of societies whether they are liberal-democracies or otherwise, some worth mentioning are:

Pol Pot in his desire to take Cambodia back to ‘Year Zero’ plunged the country into continuous ruin for decades;

the Army ruling Myanmar with an ‘iron fist’ stifled positive progress and social cohesion in the country for decades;

China‘s ruler Mao Zedong’s ‘Hundred Flowers Bloom’ campaign destroyed the intellectual elite of China, and fractured the education system for at least two decades after this time; and a significant reason Nazi German troops were able to invade Russia so robustly and gain as much territory as they did in such a short time, was due in large part to Joseph Stalin’s paranoia about who was ‘against him’ in the military.  What did he do?  Stalin purged the elite command of Russia‘s armed forces–executing approximately 700 officers–which inevitably allowed German troops to advance relatively unhindered, and those that fought German troops were essentially leaderless and routed with ease.

The above is essentially, what happens when political paranoia overrides political intellect, and it will end in tears for the people of Turkey–as it has done for many a nation-state in history.