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Originally posted by Lev
that is the most funny thing I have ever heard. Turkey= true democracy??? Oppressing its minorities you call democracy?
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Democracy = tyranny by majority. When we in the west praise "democracy", we are actually referring to a very limitied form of democracy restrained by a comprehensive libertarian bill of rights.
Most minority civil rights would never have been granted if all we had was simple democracy. Majorities opposed desegregation; majorities opposed gay rights, etc etc... If we lived in a pure democracy homosexuality would still be illegal because the majority of america are straight christians who consider it a sin worthy of eternal damnation. I'm not sure you'd be allowed to practice any other religion, if not for the counter-democratic consitution. The white majority surely would never have allowed interracial relationships if not for judges forcing this country to accept it.
Pure democracy can be as bad as any dictatorship. That's exactly why the Sunni's in Iraq are resisting this new "democracy" because they do not wish to live under the rule of the majority Shia population. "Democracy" in Iraq also means it would become a strict islamic state like Iran, because that is what the majority of the population wants.
Turkey can be a true democracy, regardless of any human rights violations, as long as the votes are counted and the representatives fairly elected. An elected government with popular support can do whatever it wants to whomever they wish while still technically being democratic.