To simply say “protestors good, government bad” in Turkey is a symptom of the Blair delusion, that in civil conflicts there are guys with white hats and guys with black hats, and that the West’s role is to ride into town and kill the guys in the black hats. That is what “liberal intervention” means. The main aim of my second autobiographical book, “The Catholic Orangemen of Togo”, was to explain through the truth of the Sierra Leone experience how very, very wrong this is.
In fact civil conflicts are usually horribly complex, anent a variety of very bad people all trying to gain or retain power, none of them from an altruistic desire to make the world a better place. There may be ordinary people on the streets with that altruistic desire, being used and manipulated by these men; but it is not the ordinary altruistic people on the streets who ever come to power. Ever.
In Turkey the heavy crushing of a rainbow of protests in Istanbul has been going on for at least a month now. A week ago I was discussing it with my publisher, whose son lives in the city. A fortnight ago I was in Istanbul myself.
The Turkish people I was with were natural Erdogan supporters, and what struck me very forcibly was the fact that he has sickened many of his own natural allies by the rampant corruption in Turkey at present. Almost everyone I met spoke to me about corruption, and Turkey being Turkey, everyone seemed to know a very great deal of detail about how corruption was organised in various building and development projects and who was getting what. It therefore is hardly surprising that the spark which caused this conflict to flare to a new level was ignited by a corrupt deal to build a shopping centre on a park. The desecration of something lovely for money could be a metaphor for late Erdogan government.
The park is very small beer compared to the massive corruption involved in the appalling and megalomaniac Bosphorus canal project. Everyone talked to me about that one. The mainstream media, who never seem to know what is happening anywhere, seem to have missed that a major cause of the underlying unrest in Istanbul was the government’s announcement eight weeks ago that the Bosphorus canal is going ahead.
People are also incensed by the new proposal that would ban the sale of alcohol within 100 metres of any mosque or holy site, ie anywhere within central Istanbul. That would throw thousands of people out of work, damage the crucial tourist trade and is rightly seen as a symptom of reprehensible mounting religious intolerance that endangers Turkish society.
So there are plenty of legitimate reasons to protest, and the appalling crushing of protest is the best of them
But – and this is what it is never in the interest of Western politicians to understand – Government bad does not equal protestors good. A very high proportion – more than the British public realise by a very long way – of those protesting in the streets are off the scale far right nationalists of a kind that make the BNP look cuddly and Nigel Farage look like Tony Benn. Kemalism – the worship of Ataturk and a very unpleasant form of military dominated nationalism – remains very strong indeed in Istanbul. Ataturk has a very strong claim, ahead of Mussolini, to be viewed as the inventor of modern fascism
For every secular liberal in Istanbul there are two secular ultra-nationalist militarists. To westerners they stress the secular bit and try to hide the rest, and this works on the uncurious (being uncurious is a required attribute to get employed by the mainstream media). Of course there are decent, liberal, environmentalist protestors and the media will have no difficulty, now they have finally noticed something is happening, in filling our screens with beautiful young women who fit that description, to interview. But that is not all of what is going on here.
There certainly was no more freedom in Turkey before the AKP came to power. Government for decades had been either by the Kemalist military in dictatorship or occasionally by civilian governments they tolerated and controlled. People suddenly have short memories if they think protest was generally tolerated pre-Erdogan, and policy towards the Kurds was massively more vicious.
The military elite dominated society and through corruption they dominated commerce and the economy. The interests of a protected and generally fascist urban upper middle class were the only interests that counted at all. The slightest threat to those interests brought a military coup – again, and again, and again. Religion was barely tolerated, and they allied closely with Israel and the United States.
When Erdogan first came to power it was the best thing that had happened to Turkey for decades. The forgotten people of the Anatolian villages, and the lower middle class of the cities, had a voice and a position in the state for the first time. In individual towns and villages, the military and their clients who had exercised absolute authority had their power suddenly diminished. I witnessed this and it was a new dawn, and it felt joyous.
Then of course Erdogan gradually got sucked in to power, to money, to NATO, to the corruption of his Black Sea mafia and to arrogance. It all went very wrong, as it always seems to. That is where we are now.
Yes of course I want those pretty, genuinely liberal environmentalist girls in the park to take power. But they won’t. Look at the hard-eyed fascists behind them. Look at the western politicians licking their lips thinking about the chance to get a nice very right wing, anti-Muslim and pro-Israel government into power.
We should all be concerned at what is happening in Turkey. We should all call for an end to violent repression. But to wish the overthrow of a democratically elected government, and its replacement – by what exactly? – is a very, very foolish reaction.
Actually I very much prefer secular government too. I detest theological government. But I detest Kemalism too. My major point is the Western medias lazy identification of Kemalists with European liberalism
I find that hard to believe that you prefer secular government. You don’t seem to have the qualities of an individual who is a proponent of secularism. On the contrary, you are dead set in your own point of view.
you are able to imply racism on my part without even bothering to ask about the source material. That shows an intellectual laziness. and worse qualities.
Which is pretty fine with theological government =) A natural fit,i suppose.
Dear All,
Police brutality in Turkey has reached one of the highest level today, but no one knows because it is not in Istanbul. It is in Anatolia. It is in Tunceli and Antakya. So no one can see them. Thanks to twitter & facebook, we can see. The aim of the voilence was Alevi population today. Because Alevis are not sunni muslims like Erdogan. Erdogan wants them to go Mosque for praying instead of their own holly place. If they do not obey that it may be ok, Erdogan may be ignore them for a while. But if they started to claim their rights and to be recognized as they did today, Turkish police could kill/torture them. Craig you know Tunceli right, You know history very well.
So how can you say Erdogan has created a difference?
Today, a person was killed by police. His name was Abdullah Cömert, he was in Hatay. And his autopsy was completed a few hours ago, the reason of the dead is “two hits to head”.
Do you really talk about for the sake of democracy?
Because you say nothing about this voilence and Erdogan’s responsibilities about it.
Craig & Habbabkuk (La Vita È Bella!) please go on your misleading efforts about this movement by keeping here busy with your views about Turkish history. Please do not mention the real¤t incidents. Please do not bother. You can keep misleading when people are dying, literally dying.
@ Habbabkuk (La Vita È Bella!)
“Do you think this generation is guilty because of the incidents, 100 or 30 years ago happened?”
—–
sorry about the typing mistake I wanted to say 80 years instead of 30. Since Ataturk’s period was 80 years ago.
@ Habbabkuk (La Vita È Bella!) & Craig
I think neither this topic nor you are talking Turkey. Because you say nothing about reality of censorship, police brutality, Erdogan’s totalitarian acts in Turkey. Did you deign to watch my sharings? What is your comments about Nuray Mert’s speech? Do you think she is a Kemalist too, so that’s why she does not support the Erdogan?
I ask your opinion about current government’s real acts but you ignored my comments. So if you want to criticize Ataturk go ahead, I do not think he is untouchable. But please do not pretend you are objective observers, who care about the reality of Turkey and talking Turkey. You ignore to see other features that do not back up your position.
Craig
I do not like Kemalism, as well. I ensure you that Erdogan has the same attitudes. If you want to see how, you may watch this;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4uOvHW9UvU
@ Oske :
I simply do not know enough about Turkey and its politics to post in the manner you’d probably wish me too.
It is unjustified and unfair to claim that I have a “position” or that I am trying to “mislead” people; I have not and I am not.
Please remember that my first post queried the “over 50% of the electorate voted for Hitler” comment.
Habbabkuk (La Vita È Bella!)
4 Jun, 2013 – 9:04 pm
@ Villager :
” We have crossed swords often enough for you to know that in addition to possessing impressive intellectual fire-power and superb critical faculties I am also quite fearless.”
LOL Habba, yes i do appreciate your personal ability for being self-deprecating and self-laudatory, all at once.
Dear Habbabkuk (La Vita È Bella!),
I didn’t mean to offend you. I think those conversation going on is nothing but misleading because peope are dying now and we are discussing 100-80 years past. By the way you may not intentionally cause a misleading but I can not say the same thing for Craig.
I am not a native speaker, so sometimes I need to explain my opinion twice. I mentioned %50 because Craig stated the election rates above. And when I mentioned the Hitler, I meant because he was elected, it shouldn’t make him perfect, and his demands&acts fair. So, an elected leader could transform into a dictator once he gets enough power.
Should we say this, X governmet has received the %80 of all votes, so sure they have right to do whatever they want, without thinking needs of minorities. Can we say minorities are worthless because there are only 1.000 of them? Since the socialists are %3, we can ignore their demands. I am fed up with the numbers because Erdogan threatened the nation by saying this “if there are 100.000 protestors, I could put 1.000.000 people against them.” And now there are civillians on the the streets hunting down the protestors with police.(I can provide videos, if you want to see with your own eyes) How can a Prime minister say that? he should calm down the crowds, not encourage a civil war. Since this point of view is driven from number based political thinking, I am sick of numbers. I don’t want a civil war I just want freedom of speech. I don’t care about numbers, there would be millions or hundreds. Small numbers shouldn’t make a group worthless, as well as their lives to. I respect human life that could be one, or thousands. Because that one person could be you, your sister, mother etc. That’s all.
Please try to understand me, people are dying in Turkey because of police brutality. And I afraid, Erdogan will not get off his high horse. And more people will die.
I just highly recomend you to watch this video, you may get my point and see last decade of Turkey more clearly, as it describes the general attitude of this government and militarism in Turkey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4uOvHW9UvU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuray_mert
Anony
“If this author is going to be this much of a dishonest person, i don’t see much reason to hang around.
I’m still laughing at how he twisted my words, and took them out of context.”
Yes it was obvious how Craig misinterpreted your words re Izmir and transplanted them upon the Armenians. He should have corrected himself but for some reason he rarely acknowledges this sort of thing.
Please don’t be put off by that. There are others like me i assure you who value your participation even if they have not commented. This is early days and i for one am grateful for your efforts in patient argument through which i have learned about very important events in a special kinda Islamic country at a critical time of a clash of cultures around the globe.
Dear all,
fascist dictator Erdogan is killing/poisining/crippling people with chemicals.
The woman in the video says, “This gas is not Pepper gas, it would be agent orange*. Because there are many unconsious people who can not remember, who they are, where they are without any head insult. They show anger, we call it agitation. I am a doctor, I am an autopsy expert. We, all health personnel here, are suspicious that this is not pepper gas.”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=465585896852359&set=vb.488868027834788&type=2&theater
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange#Health_effects
“Yes it was obvious how Craig misinterpreted your words re Izmir and transplanted them upon the Armenians. He should have corrected himself but for some reason he rarely acknowledges this sort of thing.”
If this is in support of Anony’s contention that Kemal Ataturk had no responsibility for the ethnic cleansing of Armenians, and that this all happened before he was in any position of importance, then I would refer you to the eye-witness testimony of many people, including George Horton, the Consul-General of the United States in the Near East; The following is an abridged summary of notable events in the destruction of Smyrna described in Horton’s account:
Turkish soldiers cordoned off the Armenian quarter during the massacre. Armed Turks massacred Armenians and looted the Armenian quarter.
After their systemic massacre Turkish soldiers, in smart uniforms, set fire to Armenian buildings using tins of petroleum and flaming rags soaked in flammable liquids.
To supplement the devastation, small bombs were planted by the soldiers under paving slabs around the Christian parts of the city to take down walls. One of the bombs was planted near the American Consulate and another at the American Girl’s School.
The fire was started on 13 September. The last Greek soldiers had evacuated Smyrna on 8 September. The Turkish Army was in full control of Smyrna from 9 September. All Christians remaining in the city who evaded massacre stayed within their homes, fearing for their lives. The burning of the homes forced Christians in to the streets. This was personally witnessed by Horton.
The fire was initiated at one edge of the Armenian quarter when a strong wind was blowing toward the Christian part of town and away from the Muslim part of town. Citizens of the Muslim quarter were not involved in the catastrophe. The Muslim quarter celebrated the arrival of the Turkish Army.
Turkish soldiers guided the fire through the modern Greek and European section of Smyrna by pouring flammable liquids into the streets. These were poured in front of the American Consulate to guide the fire, as witnessed by C. Clafun David, the Chairman of the Disaster Relief Committee of the Red Cross (Constantinople Chapter) and others who were standing at the door of the Consulate. Mr Davis testified that he put his hands in the mud where the flammable liquid was poured and indicated that it smelled like mixed petroleum and gasoline. The soldiers that were observed doing this had started from the quay and proceeded towards the fire, thus ensuring the rapid and controlled spread of the fire.
Dr Alexander Maclachlan, the president of the American College, together with a sergeant of the American Marines, was stripped and beaten with clubs by Turkish soldiers. In addition, a squad of American Marines was fired on.
Horton, The Blight of Asia, pp. 74–75
http://www.pahh.com/horton/
Ataturk apologists cannot even claim his ignorance, because just like Western warships that passively watched from its quay, (and even struck up band music to drown the screams of those being slaughtered from upsetting their sailors), he sat watching all this for several days from a friend’s villa in the hills.
Macky –
Aren’t you conflating two separate events? The sack of İzmir’s Greek and Armenian quarters, with the warships of three nations standing idly by and (except for the US) doing very little to aid the refugees, occurred in the immediate aftermath of the attempted Greek invasion of Anatolia, a process not generally remembered for its restraint and humanity either. One reason for Kemal’s persistent popularity was that he stopped the invasion near Ankara, deep in the heartland of the country, and probably prevented it becoming some kind of Greek suzerainty. This had to be, and was, total war. This was in 1922, and yes, Kemal was in command of the renascent Turkish forces.
The event known as the Armenian genocide/ massacre/ whatever was in 1915, and was instituted by the Young Turk Talaat under the nominal aegis of the Ottoman administration. Completely different affair.
@ Oske,
Don’t worry, you didn’t offend me. You obviously believe deeply what you write, but to repeat myself, I don’t know enough to take a position on today’s events (apart from the banal statement that violence either by demonstrators or against them are not generally welcome). Take care.
Macky, I was talking about world war 1 events in 1915. Ataturk didn’t have any power over central government then.
If you are going to say that in Izmir, Ataturk was responsible. I’m willing to listen to that and have a discussion in which I will provide what i read on the matter.
If Ataturk and the government then, was responsible, then there should be official apologies for that.
But to use that incident, which is still an issue of contention*, as a brush to smear all of the movement… Then to claim fascism,It’s really ignorant. And shows that how we were put under a suppressive regime of government who used this kind of propaganda to make itself seem benign to the west.
There are many people who fell for Erdogan’s pr people in the west. Because it was convenient.
*Because one testimony from one party doesn’t make the case.
If Craig is going to claim fascism on my words, then he should look at his fellow ambassador who wrote about the Izmir Fire in his book. I didn’t make it up, so he should be ready for the backlash for implying anything without asking for a source and twisting my words.
@Macky,
“”George Horton was a man of letters and United States Consul in Greece and Turkey at a time of social and political change. He writes of the re-taking of Smyrna by the Turkish army in September 1922. His account, however, goes beyond the blame and events to a demonization of Muslims, in general, and of Turks, in particular. In several of his novels, written more than two decades before the events of September 1922, he had already identified the Turk as the stock-in-trade villain of Western civilization. In his account of Smyrna, he writes not as historian, but as publicist.”[6]”
by Brian Coleman on Horton:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Horton
I see you’re high as Tayyip, calling Capulists (Çapulcu) & Atatürk as fascist.
This is not about a park anymore, this is about being against fascism as well as media censorship and police terror.
http://youtu.be/7ZgkTV9bUhE
I’m presently unable to give a considered respond as I would like to some Posters, as I am traveling & so am off-line for most of the day, however I do have a few minutes now to provide the following links which may addressed some of the points being put to me;
http://www.armenian-genocide.org/kemal.html
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n17/perry-anderson/kemalism
http://www.amazon.com/American-Accounts-Documenting-Destruction-September/dp/0892415924
http://www.enotes.com/ataturk-mustafa-kemal-pasha-reference/ataturk-mustafa-kemal-pasha
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20857578
@Anony, please confirm that this is not the same Brian Coleman that you have cited;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Coleman
Still conflating, I see, Macky.
Two words: Bomber Harris.
We ALL do atrocities. But Kemal didn’t do 1915. He was fighting the Allies in Gallipoli.
And won.
Macky the first site, brings up Greek defeat in Smyrna just to talk about the fire again. Which is just like i said, there are counter accounts on the fire. But if there’s involvement of Turkish official, there should be apologies.
the second link, there isn’t anything to do with fire?
Third link, is an account i have no info on. We can talk about it.
4th link, what does that have to do with Izmir?
On the 5th link, it says Ataturk is innocent but criticizes his policies regarding the issue. Were we talking of his policies or his involvement? Yes, Ataturk never took steps to recognize the armenian genocide. Does that mean he was involved it it? Even that link says, it can only imply a policy fault for not recognizing the genocide.Nothing more.
I don’t know if that Brian Coleman is in that wikipedia link.
What about this one?
“Justin McCarthy argues that George Horton under-reported to his superiors the atrocities committed by the Greek forces against the Turkish civilian population during the Greek occupation of Izmir between 1919–1922:
The reporting of the events at Aydin poin up the danger of trusting the reports of prejudiced sources, especially Americans, without careful consideration. The American consul at Izmir in 1919, Horton, was intensively pro-Greek, so much that members of the American, as well as the Turkish, communities at Izmir complained of his prejudices to the State Department (U.S. 867.00/302, John Manola [of New York] to Lansing, received 11 July 1919). Horton’s reports of Aydin were a distillation of reports from the Greeks (U.S. 867.00/288, Horton to American Mission, Paris, Smyrna, 2 July 1919). However, in the face of overwhelming evidence from American and British observers, he was forced to retract his charges of atrocities by the Turks and stated ‘During the Occupation of the Turks after the Greeks had retreated, the Christian population was protected by one British officer and two French officer and by Turkish regular troops of the old 57th division, who are well disciplined and bow to foreign flags [my emphasis]’ (U.S. 867.00/295, Horton to American Embassy, Paris, Smyrna, 6 july 1919). He would still not admit, despite unanimous evidence of the Allied representatives on the scene, that Greeks attacked Turks. He blamed all the troubles in Aydin Vilâyeti on the Turks, and as instigators, the Italians. […] Horton’s book, The Blight of Asia (Indianapolis, 1926) is a study of the victory of prejudice on reason. In it, he describes the Turks as ‘the lowest of the Mohammedans intellectually, with none, or at least few, of the graces and accomplishment of civilization, with no cultural history’ (p. 209) and ‘the only branch of the Mohammaden faith which has never made any contribution to the progress of civilization’ (p. 255).”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Horton
Horton has two accounts of bias leveled against him.
Even if I’m wrong or right in all this, does it really have anything to do with a guy who smears and labels the movement as the bad guys? Or claims that i somehow implied “Armenians killed themselves” ?
The movement has many aspects in it. You can’t downplay it by ignoring Erdogan’s political career and magnifying the perceived faults of his opposition.
The funny thing, even today the foreign press doesn’t translate his speeches or his political background to western languages.
Recently, government/erdogan appointed judges, absolved the murderers of Sivas fire, which ” resulted in the killing of 37 people, mostly Alevi intellectuals.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivas_massacre
And Erdogan applauded that decision. Do you see that here? far-right burned a building full of people, then far right appointed judges absolved it. Now somehow Erdogan just recently(!) became anti-people. That’s so funny, i can’t laugh.
No. Because it isn’t convenient for guys like Craig here to see it. I would give more examples of Erdogan which would put him in shame for going 80 years past to just find faults with the movements but he isn’t gonna care.
“The “Progressive” Kemalist secular state-building ideology in part was the child of Bolshevik, proto-facist and radicalist influences. ”
This is from the 3rd links book summary. And it’s funny.Classical hit piece of a book.
I’m pretty sure that Kemal wasn’t Bolshevik.
@ Habbabkuk (La Vita È Bella!)
I do not know where you live but I wish none of you would live in a country that is being ruled by a dictator.
Another example of Erdogan’s dicatorship;
Police is taking people from their house because of their twits about Erdogan and supporting protests. Big Brother is watching us.
http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/twitterda_polise_kendinize_yakisani_yapin_dedi_evi_basildi-1136363
And of course I believe what I am writing. I am not writing about history. You can find many source of historians from both sides. Debating on old stuff does not save my people’s life today. We can discuss it after everything settled down.
Craig’s aim here is misleading people by showing this movement as a Kemalist movement. Obviosly, Craig is a big fan of Erdogan and/or Fetullah Gulen or he is a person, who is engaged by Erdogan/Fettullah Gulen for the purpose of lobby. It’s quite likely that Craig’s purpose to write this article is malevolent disinformation, because this movement has nothing about Kemalism.
I am not a Kemalist and I am in this movement. As I said before this movement is not about politics it is about democracy. Therefore all kind of groups including muslims, christians, Armenians, Greeks (we have small population of Armanians and Greeks), Kurds, Turks, socialists, leftists, nationalists, anarchists, feminists, gays, kemalists, apolitics etc. take place in this movement. If you want to see, You can find and see their actions/writings/twits/speechs resisisting side by side.
Today’s dictatorship, violence, crime against humanity of AKP government and Erdogan is obvious. You may find videos & photos that depict this reality. And This article’s biggest purpose is bluring the reality of today’s movement by engulfing people into history almost 100 years ago.
@Komodo @Anony @Ezgi
Please avoid Craig’s traps. He is bluring the reality of today by engulfing you in a debate about history. People who read this blog will choose a side if you discuss here.
However, our course is not arguable, we are fighting for freedom of speech and civil/constitutional rights. Please avoid Craig’s plots and tell our course on this movement.
Please avoid Craig’s traps. He is bluring the reality of today by engulfing you in a debate about history. People who read this blog will choose a side if you discuss here.
Point well taken. It’s about “where do we go from here?” not how we got here. I don’t want to confuse the issue, and will shut up.
Because he has his own bias to talk about. You are right.
People want fair trials and elections.
We want no or lower threshold in elections. Currently we have a %10 threshold:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'Hondt_method
More:
“I am writing this letter so that you know what is going on in Istanbul. Mass media will not tell you any of this. Not in my country at least. Please post as many as articles as you see on the Internet and spread the word.
I do not belong to a political party. I don’t believe in politics. I don’t defend any ideology and I am not on the side of any regime. Like many others in Turkey I am tired and frustrated from the polarization between Kemalist seculars and the Islamists. I don’t belong to any of them. I believe in moving away from polarization and towards a new way of relating. I know many people who are out on the streets of Istanbul share the way I think and I know we are not the only ones. We just want to live our lives with human dignity.”
http://defnesumanblogs.com/2013/06/01/what-is-happenning-in-istanbul/
And another:
“Dear Friends, I have been living in Turkey for almost 10 years and have never witnessed a protest like this one. Young people are taking to the streets and demanding change.
Over the recent months there has been a growing tension which finally erupted over the weekend in Istanbul, and spread to other cities around Turkey.
In Turkey the state is increasingly getting involved in personal affairs, from alcohol consumption to public displays of affection. These were the straws that broke the camels back, but have come on top of many years of disharmony.
This weekend, there has been an almost complete mainstream media blackout. At times …there are literally hundreds of thousands of people protesting, but the main news stations are showing cooking programs. Given that many of these stations are syndicates of news channels such as CNN, it is an absolute disgrace.
All my friends are on the streets, and are reliant on Facebook and twitter to hear what is happening and to communicate with one another. Even social media was briefly disrupted on saturday afternoon.
If you see anything in the media regarding Turkey and the riots, please share, so that the worlds attention focuses more fully on what is happening.
There has been violent protest but by all accounts the protesters are remaining largely peaceful in the wake of police brutality and indiscriminate firing of teargas and water cannon.”
This shows a little bit of the ideology of Erdogan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcT6-0Cz-RI
Also, for the arrogant(who can’t even admit his mistake and change his words) and egoistical(doesn’t acknowledge people while taking potshots at them,wrongly btw.):
Erdogan has always been a genocide-denier,(something you think as a fault for solely the opposition of Erdogan.) and thinks being born of Greek or Armenian origin is a fault.(The opposition’s head’s mother is armenian.)
Erdogan has always been that way for the last 30 years of his political career. Now, you can go repeating the same things while running in circles: Kemalists are bad, the movement is bad.
Good day.
Right now, the police is attacking again with teargas and pepper spray.
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)
4 Jun, 2013 – 12:36 pm
“I’m too lazy to look it up, but is it correct to say that Hitler received 50% of the votes at the last election before the foundation of the Third Reich?”
HB, don’t you mean; “I can’t be arsed”?
Depends on when you date the start of the Third Reich.
Election (in which Nazis received 33.09% of the vote and their future DNVP coalition allies 8.34%) : Nov. 6, 1932.
Hitler became Chancellor Jan. 30, 1933.
Reichstag Fire: Feb. 27, 1933.
Reichstag Fire Decree: Feb. 28, 1933.
Election (in which Nazis received 43.91% of the vote and their DNVP coalition allies 7.97%): Mar. 5, 1933.
Passage by Reichstag of Enabling Act: Mar. 23, 1933.