[DavidHm]

Around 2010 I was speaking with a Turkish friend. I expressed my admiration towards the fact that the Turkish military has multiple times intervened to stop the country from becoming religiously-governed. She (while not being religious) did not fully agree, as she thought democracy was more important.

Fast forward a few years and she has completely turned around and regrets her former opinions.

This doesn't really prove what is the correct approach, but I think speaks about the fact that we often make decisions based on some vague ideals as opposed to practical and realistic outcomes - and we are sometimes wrong.

[ptaipale]

Indeed. We have disapproved the military coups in Turkey over the past decades, but now that there hasn't been one in recent times, we see a religious leadership do purges in the military, the judiciary, and the executive, and then the press, and there's going to be authoritarian rule.