Suleyman Demirel Quotes

Whatever may be the immediate gains and losses, the dangers to our safety arising from political suppression are always greater than the dangers to that safety arising from political freedom.

Freedom in the Arab world is synonymous with disorder.

We do not believe in government through the voting booth. The Spanish national will was never freely expressed through the ballot box.

We have a war dictator who was not elected, he snuck in. so he punishes people that threaten him in any way, or even say something he doesn't like. It has no resemblance to democracy.

A state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure.

Because if you lived, as I did, several years under Nazi totalitarianism, and then 20 years in communist totalitarianism, you would certainly realize how precious freedom is, and how easy it is to lose your freedom.

Whatever the immediate gains and losses, the dangers to our safety arising from political suppression are always greater than the dangers to the safety resulting from political freedom. Suppression is always foolish. Freedom is always wise.

A State infinitely worse than that which the most inflamed Zealot, the most violent Republican or Enthusiast even pretended to dread before the Rebellion commenced.

Governments that use violence to stop democratic development will not earn themselves respite forever. They will pay an increasingly high price for actions which they can no longer hide from the world with ease, and will find themselves on the wrong side of history.

It's not a democracy here, it's the Middle East.

Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of the Party - though they are quite numerous - is no freedom at all.

This is probably my last free statement through our news media, where the radio and television are already under the heel of the ruling political party of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe. One would have thought radio and television were enough as propaganda tools.

Authoritarianism provides a kind of negative stability. Democracy creates space to do a lot of things, sometimes bad things, dangerous things.

Why is machine government a greater affront to democracy than a government of leaderless individualists prone to petty rivalry and endless bickering?

There are men—now in power in this country—who do not respect dissent, who cannot cope with turmoil, and who believe that the people of America are ready to support repression so long as it is done with a quiet voice and a business suit.

The era of individualism, liberalism and democracy, of humanitarianism and freedom, is nearing its end. The masses will accept with resignation the victory of the Caesars, the strong men, and will obey them. Life will descend to a level of general uniformity, a new kind of primitivism, and the world will be better for it.....

No truly sophisticated proponent of repression would be stupid enough to shatter the facade of democratic institutions.

Democracy has generally failed in Africa because to much power, too often, was concentrated in the hands of too few.

Zaire's one-party system is the most elaborate form of democracy

Socio-economic hardship breeds not only repression to force people to live with hardship, but also resistance, often in turn provoking repression in initial rounds, but in subsequent rounds quite possibly forcing dictatorial regimes to give in, partially or thoroughly, and to concede democratic reforms. This is another way, twisted as it may look, in which structural adjustment may indeed lead up to democratization.

We are sliding down into the mire of a democracy ...

Turkey is called as a secular democracy. Turkey is neither secular nor a democracy.

The government that has imprisoned more journalists than any other in the world was democratically elected.

The eradication of the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing less than an abolition of democracy and a guarantee that Arabs will continue living under authoritarian and corrupt regimes.

Our city finds itself in an uncomfortable place: on the frontline between freedom and auto_cracy.