Everyone sort of figured he would once he won his rigged elections again. Gods I hope we don’t let him join the EU.

Huge democratic deficit and do they really follow European customs and values?

“European customs and values” is a bit hard to define I feel. The eastern European states are quite different from the rest. Poland and Sweden are in stark contrast to one another, as is even Sweden and Germany.

I’d like to say that the EU is quite strongly in favour of democracies, which Turkey definitely isn’t. I’ve a dear friend who basically didn’t dare discuss politics because of the potential fallout that could have on his job and living situation. He’s since moved away from Turkey and his life has improved dramatically.

It’s difficult for me as a Swede to reconcile the fact that speaking out against the state could land me in hot water. Like I can call our PM a bag of dicks, and make poop-caricatures of any parliament member all day if I wanted to, and it wouldn’t necessarily have any fallout beyond burning some bridges with people.

Turkey’s also heavily religious conservative, and as a gay person that doesn’t sit well with me. That extends to all currently-in-the-EU countries that match that description as well, though.