The struggle for Turkey

[sania]

So it is going to be a tight rope walk for AKP,
between Secularism & Islamism..!

[voltaire]

I don't actually think the AKP want a theocratic state. Or at least, their voters don't, so they couldn't institute it even if they wanted one.



V

[Al-khiyal]

August 14, 2007 -- The Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul today pledged to uphold the country's secular constitution if parliament elects him president.

"Protection of secularism is one of my basic principles. Nobody should worry about this," Mr Gul told a televised news conference, adding that he would be a president for all Turks.

Mr Gul, who sparked unease among Turkey's military with an earlier bid for the presidency, said he would also press ahead with the country's EU membership bid.

Earlier, Mr Gul revealed that he had held talks with the leader of the far-right Nationalist Action party (MHP), Devlet Bahceli, although he did not say whether the MHP would back his bid.

Mr Gul's attempt to win the presidency earlier in the year triggered a political crisis in Turkey, forcing the government to hold early parliamentary elections.

The president is considered to be the commander in chief of the armed forces and the fiercely secular military - Nato's second-biggest standing army - had publicly declared its opposition to Mr Gul.

Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development party (AK party) decided to once again nominate Gul for president last night.

But his decision immediately ignited protests from parties that accuse Mr Gul of having an agenda to scrap the secular traditions of the predominantly Muslim nation.

"This is an imposition by the Justice and Development party on the parliament," Onur Oymen, deputy chairman of the secularist Republican People's party said today. "We find this wrong."

Turkey's main opposition party, the secularist CHP, also condemned the decision, saying it did not support Mr Gul's candidacy and would not attend parliament during the presidential elections.

The CHP deputy chairman, Mustafa Ozyurek, added that the party would boycott receptions and foreign trips if Mr Gul was elected president.

Elections for the presidency are due to start in parliament in just over a week's time. Mr Gul's nomination appeared to be a move to please grassroot supporters of the AK party.

The Republican People's party now lacks enough seats to block Mr Gul's way to the presidential palace.

Mr Gul has also said that the MHP has pledged to attend the voting process in the legislature, enabling the AK party to achieve the necessary number of members to hold the vote.

The AK party won a majority of seats in July 22 elections, but it did not secure the two-thirds needed to approve a presidential candidate alone during the first two rounds of parliamentary voting.

Mr Gul is almost certain to be elected by a simple majority in the third round of voting on August 28 if parliament secures the necessary number of voters.

Today, Deniz Baykal, the leader of the Republican People's party, said Mr Gul's Islamist past and his thoughts presented a threat to the secular regime.

The job of president is critical to overall control of the state as the incumbent has the power to veto legislative bills and government appointments.

Selahattin Demirtas, a member of the small, pro-Kurdish Democratic Society party, also pledged to attend the voting process but said Mr Gul's nomination was not wise.

"The nomination of someone who had caused crisis is likely to lead to a new crisis," Mr Demirtas said.

Mr Gul's wife wears a headscarf, which many secular Turks regard as a symbol of political Islam and cite as a reason why he should not become president.

Turkish presidential hopeful will 'stay secular' if elected

[amalgamate]

The Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul today pledged to uphold the country's secular constitution if parliament elects him president.

'Abdullah' and 'secular' don't seem to flow too well together in one sentence...

this dude pledges to keep Turkey secular too if nominated. humph.

[voltaire]

Secular, democratic states are a good thing. I'm glad Gul doesn't want to turn Turkey into a theocracy - it would destroy the country. He also understands (unlike the army and CHP apparently) that it's perfectly possible within secular systems to be openly religious but to reject theocratic government. In that sense, it never really was about "secular versus religious" in the way that was portrayed in much of the western press.



V

[Al-khiyal]

August 24, 2007 -- Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister, today failed for a second time to win sufficient parliamentary support to be elected president.

Mr Gul, accused by secularists of harbouring an Islamist agenda, fell short of the two-thirds majority he needed in the second round of voting.

But he remains by far the favourite candidate and is likely to succeed in the third round next week, when only a majority of parliamentary votes is required.

Mr Gul, who has insisted he will not undermine Turkey's secular constitution, received 337 votes, 30 short of the total he needed. Sebahattin Cakmakoglu of the Nationalist Action party, received 71 votes, while the third candidate, the state minister Tayfun Icli of the small Democratic Left party, got 14 votes.

The results were broadly similar to those of the first round of voting on Monday, and mean that the deep unrest caused by Mr Gul's nomination for president by the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will drag on for at least another week.

The crisis has already seen the military - which has ousted four governments since 1960 - threaten to intervene to uphold the constitution.

Mr Gul was forced to abandon his initial bid to become president, but he was renominated by Mr Erdogan as the candidate of the Justice and Development party (AKP) after its success in last month's early general election.

The main opposition Republican People's party fears that Turkey's secular principles and laws will be under threat with the offices of both the prime minister and the president in the hands of figures with Islamist backgrounds.

Mr Gul and Mr Erdogan have said they are moderates, citing their support for reforms in Turkey's bid to join the EU.

A respected diplomat, Mr Gul began Turkey's EU accession talks. He was also briefly the Turkish prime minister when the AKP came to power in 2002.

Although largely ceremonial, the job of president is critical to overall control of the state. The president holds the power to veto legislation and appoints high-level officials, including ambassadors and the chief judges in Turkey's top courts.

Turkish parliament deadlocked over president

[Al-khiyal]

August 28, 2007 -- Turkey's staunchly secular armed forces said yesterday that secularism in the country was under attack by "centres of evil", in a strong warning a day ahead of the expected election to the presidency of Abdullah Gul, a former Islamist.

General Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the military, said in a note on the armed forces' website that "our nation has been watching the behaviour of centres of evil, who systematically try to corrode the secular nature of the Turkish Republic. Nefarious plans emerge in different forms every day." He warned: "The military will keep its determination to guard social, democratic and secular Turkey."

The statement recalled a military warning issued in April, at the height of the debate about Mr Gul's bid for the presidency. In April, the military said it was concerned about the future of Turkey's secular traditions and hinted that it might intervene to guard them.

Mr Gul, the foreign minister, is likely to be Turkey's 11th president after a third round of voting in parliament today. He withdrew a bid earlier this year in the face of mounting criticism from the secular opposition, which was backed by the military and the country's top court. Huge crowds took to the streets to demand that he revoke his candidacy.

The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan called early general elections in July to defuse the tensions and the ruling party won a resounding victory, which most analysts here interpreted as the people's support for Mr Gul's candidacy.

Mr Gul renewed his presidential bid after the elections. In the first two rounds of voting, he failed to get support from the required two-thirds of the parliament, but he will need only a simple majority in the third round today.

Armed forces issue warning on eve of Turkish presidential vote