“[Erdogan] seems to understand that to get any kind of international investment to Turkey, he will need to project an image of positive relations with the U.S.”

“The more authoritarian Turkey becomes and the more it strays away from democratic values, it is only going to continue to play a spoiler role in multilateral institutions that are aimed at safeguarding democratic principles around the world.”

“But as soon as the government discovered the app, of course, it also began to monitor and police those discussion rooms, and flooded the app with its own supporters to try to dominate the conversation.”

“The deterioration of the U.S.-Turkish alliance in recent years helped facilitate President Biden’s decision to recognize the genocide, in that it removed a political obstacle to the recognition.”

“Turkey’s biggest problem right now is that there is no real meritocracy. There is no due process. There is no rule of law.”

“For many people in the region, Erdogan represents a pious Muslim populist leader who defies a secularist, pro-Western establishment in Turkey and who defends Muslims on the international stage. This image earns him a lot of street cred.”

“Because it was such a new app, and I guess the government censors were not yet on the app, it was this sort of free space where the students and faculty could talk to thousands of people who downloaded the app… All of that died down.”