Nick Ashdown
@nickashdown.bsky.social
Canadian journalist/writer in Brussels writing mostly about Turkey. New Lines Magazine, LA Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement, Foreign Policy, Globe & Mail, etc.
Selected clippings: https://nickashdown.weebly.com/selected-published-works
Selected clippings: https://nickashdown.weebly.com/selected-published-works
Dug up this old quote from 2016 after CHP voted to lift parliamentary immunities...CHP should have listened, but so should DEM today. The second they cross the regime, they'll be thrown to the dogs, and they may have few friends left after this lackluster support for the non-Kurdish opposition.
November 24, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Dug up this old quote from 2016 after CHP voted to lift parliamentary immunities...CHP should have listened, but so should DEM today. The second they cross the regime, they'll be thrown to the dogs, and they may have few friends left after this lackluster support for the non-Kurdish opposition.
DEM does speak out against the government's assault on the country's most popular political party and politician, but that's about it, and to be fair, the CHP also went little further than lip service after the HDP's leadership was arrested.
November 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM
DEM does speak out against the government's assault on the country's most popular political party and politician, but that's about it, and to be fair, the CHP also went little further than lip service after the HDP's leadership was arrested.
See for example:
TİP MP says a total of 4836 workers have died at work, in Turkey, during the current labour minister's tenure.
That's almost 5000 since May 2023 elections. That's a massacre
That's almost 5000 since May 2023 elections. That's a massacre
◼️ Sera Kadıgil’den Bakan Vedat Işıkhan’a: "Bu ülkede sadece 9 ayda 1.300 kişi öldü. Her gün 6 işçi ölüyor. Ölümlerin haber değeri bile kalmadı. 3 yılda 4 bin 836 insan siz Bakanken öldü. Bunun tamamından siz ve sizi atayan Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan sorumlusunuz."
kisadalga.net/haber/gundem...
kisadalga.net/haber/gundem...
November 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
See for example:
Not to mention the fall in the USD and the fact that gold recently surpassed US Treasuries in global central bank reserves.
November 10, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Not to mention the fall in the USD and the fact that gold recently surpassed US Treasuries in global central bank reserves.
Imagine an EU-wide government shut down in its 6th week leading to serious disruption of air traffic. We would not hear the end of it in Anglophone media.
Look forward to more grand declations about how Europeans must emulate an America whose government is in the sixth week of shutdown and now can't provide safe air travel
November 9, 2025 at 10:42 PM
I wrote about more similarities between the US and Turkey here, specifically the Us vs. Them, war-like rhetoric:
Following the Kirk murder, I noticed the constant use of ‘they’: “They killed him,” “They are at war with us,” etc. It reminded me of Erdoğan’s use of ‘bunlar,’ and the brutal nature of Turkish politics, especially the feverish period from 2015-16, which I’ve long wanted to write about.
They
On dehumanizing rhetoric in Trump's America and Erdoğan's Turkey
open.substack.com
October 26, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I wrote about more similarities between the US and Turkey here, specifically the Us vs. Them, war-like rhetoric:
And what happens to the economy when people are afraid to tell the truth?
"Behind the scenes, many said they were horrified at the direction Erdogan was leading the economy, but were unable to warn their clients because their institutions bar them from scrutinizing his policies."
"Behind the scenes, many said they were horrified at the direction Erdogan was leading the economy, but were unable to warn their clients because their institutions bar them from scrutinizing his policies."
A Big Chill Has Silenced Turkey’s Market Analysts
Every market analyst in Turkey knows who Mert Ulker is: He’s the expert who was fired as research chief at one of the country’s biggest brokerages for publishing speculation that President Recep Tayyi...
www.bloomberg.com
October 26, 2025 at 2:37 PM
And what happens to the economy when people are afraid to tell the truth?
"Behind the scenes, many said they were horrified at the direction Erdogan was leading the economy, but were unable to warn their clients because their institutions bar them from scrutinizing his policies."
"Behind the scenes, many said they were horrified at the direction Erdogan was leading the economy, but were unable to warn their clients because their institutions bar them from scrutinizing his policies."
This is exactly how the Turkey's Erdoğan dictatorship succeeded in remaking all mainstream media into regime media.
Not mainly by overt censorship. Mostly by making it clear that media firms clearly communicating the truth about regime actions would be targeted by selective/perverted 'regulation'.
Not mainly by overt censorship. Mostly by making it clear that media firms clearly communicating the truth about regime actions would be targeted by selective/perverted 'regulation'.
Another disturbing example of how Trump silences dissent: "the chief content officer for our parent company... stated in a meeting that we should not run articles that could draw the attention of the Trump White House and have them try to shut us down." www.politico.com/news/magazin...
October 26, 2025 at 2:34 PM
There were stories of spouses reporting on each other, social media trolls reporting their targets to the authorities who may actually respond, children arrested for FB posts. The government even set up a hotline so people could more easily inform on their fellow citizens.
October 26, 2025 at 2:14 PM
There were stories of spouses reporting on each other, social media trolls reporting their targets to the authorities who may actually respond, children arrested for FB posts. The government even set up a hotline so people could more easily inform on their fellow citizens.
even *government supporters* often insist on not being identified. The climate of fear and suspicion envelops everyone, and government allies often fall out of favour or even become enemies. And it's not just the government people fear - it's their neighbours, employers, even family members.
October 26, 2025 at 2:14 PM
even *government supporters* often insist on not being identified. The climate of fear and suspicion envelops everyone, and government allies often fall out of favour or even become enemies. And it's not just the government people fear - it's their neighbours, employers, even family members.