Posted by Iran-Najod on April 20, 2007, 2:23 am, in reply to "Will Turkey turn into another Iran (minus the revolution)" This is a quote from NYT, yestrday: --Previous Message--
134.198.235.74
Turkey has an ultra-secular military which has created a couple of coups already to overthrow "too religious" governments. I think Mr. Sezer's speech to the military was a signal to the AK not to elect (or even propose) Erdoğan. It was also a signal to the military - he was telling them that it will be up to them if an Islamist is elected.
A 65-year-old woman who had come from İzmir, a town in western Tukey was annoyed at what she saw as the new state laxness allowing state workers to take time off for prayer on Fridays.
I go to the post office on Friday, and I can't see a single person at their des," she said, sounding indignant.
[Ecem Karanfil, a Turkish high school girl]'s friend said she sensed something suspicious in the attractive new design of religion textbooks being given out in their high school. "I am wondering why," she said..."
: ISTANBUL - "Will he or won't
: he?" That is the question that
: has gripped Turkey for the last
: several weeks.
:
: In early May, Turkey's parliament
: will elect the country's new
: president – a ceremonial though
: powerful and highly symbolic
: position – and the leading candidate
: is the current prime minister, Recep
: Tayyip Erdogan.
:
: Although the prime minister holds
: more power, the presidency is in
: many ways a more prestigious
: position. Seen by many Turks as the
: guardian of the country's secular
: system, the president can veto laws,
: appoint key officials, and is
: commander-in-chief of the armed
: forces.
:
: Mr. Erdogan has not yet confirmed
: that he will seek the presidency,
: but his party, the Islamist-rooted
: Justice and Development Party (AKP),
: has a solid majority in parliament
: that would guarantee his successful
: election.
:
: The prospect of the religious-minded
: AKP controlling both parliament and
: the presidency, however, has put
: Turkey's secular establishment,
: especially the military, on edge and
: has had led to an outcry from a
: large segment of the public, which
: fears that the delicate balance
: between religion and state in Turkey
: could be threatened.
:
: Secularist protesters rally
: This past weekend, an estimated
: 370,000 protesters gathered in
: Turkey's capital, Ankara, for a
: rally against the possibility of an
: Erdogan presidency. Waving Turkish
: flags and carrying pictures of
: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, modern
: Turkey's secularizing founder, the
: crowd chanted slogans such as
: "Turkey is secular and will
: stay secular" and "We
: don't want an imam in the
: presidential palace."
:
: Mehmet Erhun, an Istanbul
: businessman, and his two uncles made
: the five-hour drive to Ankara for
: the rally, the first demonstration
: he has attended in 30 years.
:
: "I was there to make a message
: that this guy can be president, but
: he has to take the pressure off the
: nation. If he keeps polarizing in
: terms of secularization, then things
: can get out of control," says
: Mr. Erhun.
:
: "In Turkey, the general public
: is usually silent. We are obedient
: people, unless things get to a
: limit. And this is a limit," he
: adds.
:
: With Erdogan's potential candidacy
: already causing so much tension,
: several Turkish analysts have
: suggested that he step aside and let
: a more consensual candidate come
: forward.
:
: "When the country faces so many
: problems and needs so many reforms,
: why do we need all this needless
: polarization?" says Sahin
: Alpay, a political scientist at
: Istanbul's Bahcesehir University.
:
: "We need a candidate that AKP
: supports, but that also wouldn't
: antagonize the military-civilian
: establishment," he said.
:
: Erdogan is a polarizing figure
: Though charismatic and popular with
: his electorate, Erdogan is very much
: a lightning rod in Turkish politics.
: While the country's president is
: expected to a kind of elder
: statesmen who sits above the
: political fray, the
: straight-shooting Erdogan is seen by
: many as too deeply involved in party
: politics to play that kind of role.
:
: Secularists, meanwhile, still
: remember his efforts a few years ago
: to make adultery a crime and to
: rejigger Turkey's educational system
: to accommodate graduates of
: religious schools. For many of them,
: the idea of Erdogan's head-scarfed
: wife residing in the presidential
: palace is too much to bear.
:
: "Are you aware of the danger?
: Clocks will be turned back 100 years
: on May 16," the secularist
: Cumhurriyet newspaper recently
: wrote, referring to the date when
: the new president will be sworn in.
:
: While not referring specifically to
: Erdogan, the current president,
: arch-secularist Ahmet Necdet Sezer,
: said in a recent speech, "The
: political regime in Turkey has never
: faced dangers to that extent since
: the establishment of the
: republic."
:
: "For the first time, the
: pillars of the secular republic are
: being openly questioned," Mr.
: Sezer, a former judge, said.
:
: Though often described as a
: figurehead, the Turkish president is
: much more than that.
:
: "It has become a guardian
: position, because it represents the
: state structure as set up by
: Ataturk," says Hugh Pope, an
: Istanbul-based senior analyst with
: the International Crisis Group, a
: research and advocacy organization.
:
: For now, Erdogan is keeping his
: cards close to his chest. A surprise
: candidate may be put forward, but
: many experts here believe he will
: run.
:
: One of the secularists' worries is
: that once Erdogan is ensconced in
: the presidential palace, the AKP
: will use its parliamentary power to
: create a system where the president
: has even more power, something the
: party has talked about doing before.
:
: But legal and political experts
: believe the way to avoid recurring
: tension over who is to become
: president is to actually take away
: some of the Turkish president's
: extraordinary powers and restore the
: position to that of a figurehead.
:
: "The best thing for this
: country would be to put an end to
: this strange hybrid form of
: government where you have a
: parliament and a very powerful
: president who is not popularly
: elected and not accountable to
: anyone," says Mr. Alpay.
:
: "It doesn't fit in a
: parliamentary system."
:
:
:
Message Thread:
« Back to thread