How to lose a democracy: Pa.’s Turkish community has stories to tell | Joyce M. Davis

Losing democracy is a terrible thing to experience. Ask the people who once lived in Turkey but now call Pennsylvania home. They will tell you about the descent into virtual dictatorship was hardly noticeable at first. Little lies; a bit of theft here and there … it can be rationalized or overlooked, at first.

But there always comes a point of no return, when you either face the truth or you become a part of the evil. That’s what happened in Turkey after Recep Tayyip Erdogan was first elected Prime Minister in 2002 and then President in 2014.