When Verum woke up today, she didn’t ask for five more minutes of sleep. Today, she hopped out of bed and rushed into the day with excitement. Verum had an important task to perform this beautiful morning – she had to make pancakes for her friends!
Humming a song as she mixed the batter, Verum skipped and twirled all over the room. She called out, “Orak, Orak! Could you summon some Maple syrup from Canada? We’ll need it for the pancakes.”
In the middle of all this hustle and bustle, Verum’s crystal ball also began twirling round and round. Verum sat next to it and tried to understand the news. As she made her way back to the pancakes, Verum rolled her eyes.
Orak noticed that look. He said, “What happened? Why has it gotten you into a tizzy?”
“Have you heard of what’s happening in Turkey?” said Verum with a serious look, “The country under President Recep Tayyib Erdogan has supposedly taken a turn towards authoritarianism. There are different forms of government systems in the world: democratic, military, etc. And authoritarian is one of the forms. In an authoritarian government, citizens have to forcefully obey authority.”
“What are you saying?” said Scorch.
“Hold on, let me explain it better,” said Verum, “It all begins with a man named Osman Kavala. Kavala is a businessperson who donated money for the welfare of others and is also an activist. But he was arrested by the government about four years ago. The authorities charged him with funding nationwide protests in 2013 and a failed coup in 2016.”
“A coup is a sudden, violent seizure of power; it is pronounced as ‘koo’,” added a helpful Felix.
“Bingo! Now, on 18th October, the ambassadors of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand, and the United States released a joint statement,” said Verum, “They called for a quick and just resolution to Kavala’s case and demanded his urgent release.”
An ambassador is a high-ranking diplomat who acts as an official representative of their country in a foreign country.
“How did Erdogan take it?” said Orak.
“He threatened to expel these ambassadors of these countries,” said Verum, “After this announcement, a diplomatic storm began brewing around Turkey. Seven of these ambassadors represent Turkey’s allies. Expelling them would create a deep rift with the West, leading to an economic disaster for Turkey.”
“That sounds so serious,” said Scorch.
“Yeah, but he later stepped back from this threat after the ten embassies (the ambassadors’ offices) released identical statements,” said Verum, “Disaster averted.”