Turkey Won’t Have an Islamist President… Yet
May 6, 2007, 9:40 am |
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By Andrew L. Jaffee
I had feared that Turkey’s constitutional crisis over electing a new (Islamist) president may have led to military (secular) intervention. It seems my fears have been allayed, short-term:
Turkey’s parliament has failed for a second time to elect the Islamist-rooted governing party’s candidate for president, Abdullah Gul.
Mr Gul, the only nominee, withdrew his candidacy after the vote was rendered invalid by an opposition boycott.
But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (AKP), with his “autocratic tendencies,” has not given up his dream of steadily moving Turkey away from its secular roots, planted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and towards Islamist “ideals:”
He said he wanted the president to serve up to two five-year terms, instead of one seven-year term, and for parliament’s term to last four years instead of five.
Why not ask that the president serve for life? One man, one vote, once…
Related: Islam, Turkey, Elections, Constitution, Law
May 12th, 2007 at 10:22 am
[…] Turkey’s constitutional crisis over electing a new (Islamist) president has stirred passions. “…More than a million moderate Muslims in five marches protested the bid of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to take over the presidency of the republic.” A Turkish pundit, İbrahim Karagül, found a link on my blog netwmd.com entitled, “Will Turkey Have an Islamist President?” by Michael Rubin. Karagül blogged Rubin’s article in a piece called, “Ak Parti’ye neocon tuzağı!,” which roughly translates to “AKP neocon trap!” Thousands of Turkish readers read Rubin’s article, which I hope is a sign that political discourse is alive and well in Turkey. Unfortunately, several readers zeroed in on the fact that Rubin is Jewish. As usual, the “Zionists” were accused of interfering in Turkey’s politics (see reader comments, e.g., “you are disgusting” and “Fuck you and fuck israil”). Rather than extrapolating Turkish public opinion based on some wacky comment-trolls, I decided to see if I could find out what’s going on in the Turkish mind. I found an opinion poll from the Pew Research Center, “Can Secular Democracy Survive in Turkey?” …Pew surveys find that Turks believe Islam is playing a larger role in the nation’s political life, and a majority worries that religion’s influence may be harmful. There also are growing doubts among Turks about democracy’s viability there. … […]
May 13th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
[…] Turkey’s constitutional crisis over electing a new (Islamist) president has stirred passions. “…More than a million moderate Muslims in five marches protested the bid of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to take over the presidency of the republic.” A Turkish pundit, İbrahim Karagül, found a link on my blog netwmd.com entitled, “Will Turkey Have an Islamist President?” by Michael Rubin. Karagül blogged Rubin’s article in a piece called, “Ak Parti’ye neocon tuzağı!,” which roughly translates to “AKP neocon trap/decoy!” Thousands of Turks read Rubin’s article, which I hope is a sign that political discourse is alive and well in Turkey. Unfortunately, several readers zeroed in on the fact that Rubin is Jewish. As usual, the “Zionists” were accused of interfering in Turkey’s politics (see reader comments, e.g., “you are disgusting” and “Fuck you and fuck israil”). Rather than extrapolating Turkish public opinion based on some wacky comment-trolls, I decided to see if I could find out what’s going on in the Turkish mind. I found an opinion poll from the Pew Research Center, “Can Secular Democracy Survive in Turkey?” …Pew surveys find that Turks believe Islam is playing a larger role in the nation’s political life, and a majority worries that religion’s influence may be harmful. There also are growing doubts among Turks about democracy’s viability there. … […]