Flying Turkish Airlines? Reconsider your options.

On Monday, Turkish Airlines – Turkey’s state-owned carrier – announced that it has fired 211 employees because of their political opinions and their lack of enthusiasm for Recep Tayyep Erdogan.

The official reason given is “suspected links to Fethullah Gülen” and behaviour “conflicting with the interest of our country”.

If you are planning to fly with Turkish Airlines, might I suggest that you reconsider your options. A state-owned business which mass-fires people, most of them with families to support, because they are not thought to support the state regime sufficiently avidly is not something to which we should give our money.

This is one way in which it is possible for us to show our support for democracy in Turkey.