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Comment by jondubois | Hacker News Reader

And to think that Turkey was considered for EU membership - That's definitely off the table now. It's a testament as to how quickly Turkey has declined.

Even without EU membership, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Turkish people will try to relocate to Europe and elsewhere. This would be a massive brain and capital drain for Turkey - Especially given that this is a country which was considered safe and progressive not so long ago...

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That may be bad for both Turkey and the countries they flee to. Turkey was/is a democracy. The people of Turkey created the current political environment. If they go elsewhere, they will be influencing politics beyond Turkey, maybe in similar ways.

There is a distinct separation between the people who made the country as it is now and the people who couldn't prevent them. As for your concern; the lacking prevention of the now felt almost-dictatorship is a strong evidence of the lack of politics involvement of the group which is against this kind of Turkey now.

So your concern is right, if the people who made this country this way gets to flee; it's not if the people who couldn't stop this country be this way gets to flee.

Not necessarily. For example, Erdogan is currently more popular among Turks in Germany than in Turkey, 60% vs 50%[http://www.dw.com/en/i-stand-behind-erdogan-an-afternoon-in-...].

They can try... they revoked a lot of people's ability to travel.

I don't think that was ever very serious, just a carrot waved about in the hope they wouldn't go in the direction they have.

Will they still get visa free travel to the EU? Seems like they have a big enough stick with all the refugees.

no, and i seriously doubt they were every going to. the list of conditions to be met was long.

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