Top court rules Turkish president poll invalid

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Top court rules Turkish president poll invalid

27 minutes ago

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's Constitutional Court on Tuesday declared
invalid the first round of a controversial presidential election.

The court upheld an appeal from the secularist opposition that wants
to stop the ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party's presidential candidate,
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, becoming head of state.

"A decision was taken to stop the process," Hasim Kilic, deputy head
of the top court, told a news conference. The court's rulings are
binding and cannot be appealed against.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan could now propose a different candidate
for the top job, but most analysts say he is more likely to postpone
the presidential poll and call a snap parliamentary election to help
defuse tensions.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070501/wl_nm/turkey_court_decision_dc

[Kagemusha]

1. I was just reading recently about how this effort was likely to fail. Oops.

Someone made a boo-boo there. Not like I understand the vagaries of Turkish law either. Or if vagaries matter.

[Igel]

2. Good. I don't trust Gul.

I think that if he's prez there'd be a huge influx of Islamist and Islamist fellow-travelers appointed to all sorts of institutions. As of now the Parliament's let 700+ nominations languish rather than have the current secularist prez reject (pro-)Islamis candidates or appoint secular ones.

Erdogan probably hopes that the 'obstructionist' MPs would get voted out, and MPs more sympathetic to his cause get voted in. Must punish those that don't submit.

[happyslug]

3. Worse, People who know how to run an Economy.

That is the problem with the opposition to the AK, the AK has managed to DROP the inflation rate from 60% to just 9.8 %. Wages are still stagnant, but with inflation under control the Government has started to address the issue of low wages.

Report from 1999 about Turkey's 60% inflation rate:
http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0999/9909110.html

Report from January 2007 about Turkey's prediction of just 5.1% inflation rate (and its 9.8% rat in 2006, a HUGE improvement over when the opposition parties ran Turkey):
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/01/29/turkey_predicts_51_percent_inflation/

My point is the concern of the "Secular Opposition" is that the AK has shown it is MORE COMPETENT THEN THEY WERE in running the economy. Thus the Opposition has to RUN WITH THE ISLAMIC LINE, for it has nothing else to go on.

[Igel]

8. Yes, the AK has.

But it's also turned the other way as groups in Istanbul enforce their version of shari'a, closing restaurants and harrassing women that were dressed like uncovered meat. The AK is purely democratic, at least to a point. The point's in doubt, but we do many things based on things that are in doubt. That there are so many posts open that the AK apparently does not want secularists to hold is causes for concern. Talk of the current courts being the offspring of the 1960 coup doesn't sit well either: The opposition that's set up is "AK, pro-democracy; secularists pro-coup, pro-dictatorship."

A lot of Islamist parties have learned from Hamas: Be all things to all people. Feed them, and demand fealty in return. Clothe them, and demand they support you. Now, this isn't all that hard in a lot of countries: In the last 30 years we've seen an upsurge in literacy and upward mobility among peasants, but with the upward mobility also came geographical mobility as more moved into cities. But they haven't given up their peasant outlooks. Erdogan nailed it precisely: The court decision was that of the secular elites. Now that the religious polloi are around, do they go with majoritarian democracy, as the MMA in Pakistan, Ikhwan in Egypt, GSPC in Algeria, and AK in Turkey want? Or do they go with a liberal democracy?

It's possible to have a great economy and be utterly fascist and totalitarian at heart. The question is, Is it worth giving up poverty in exchange for what may well quickly progress to a theocracy? Is it possible to have neither poverty nor theocracy?

I will admit that my views are colored by my past. I joined a church a couple of years after it was formed by schism. The pastor was very kind, very gentle, very tolerant. His daughters were in shock: They said it was completely unlike their father--he could be kind and nice, but look out ... except they'd been "looking out" for a few years. A good 15 years after he "converted" to being nice, he lapsed--the daughter that still lived at home said he'd lapsed in private at least 5 years before. He'd been suppressing his intolerance in public "to give people an opportunity to repent voluntarily", and their window of opportunity closed fully in 1990. He started to act as his daughters said he'd been before, and later in private, and within 41 year over 30% of the congregation left, myself being among the first. Two years later, the associate pastor left, taking over half of the remaining congregation, joyous at leaving, with him. I talked to some of the others; they were wedded to the organization, and felt no great loss when the pastor died. For 15 years the pastor put forward his best face. Erdogan (and his party's) been "converted" from being a shari'a-sucking pro-Islamic-theocracy supporter to be a kind, compassionate Muslim for far less time, with far, far more at stake, and they "converted" just when it became obvious their methods weren't working.

I don't trust Gul because I don't trust Erdogan.

[happyslug]

9. The problem with the Turks, is the Secular opposition is WORSE.

This is like the comment about Poland in 1939, who do you ally with, Hitler or Stalin? With one of the other Poland was DOOMED (Poland than made the mistake of going with neither and ended up first under Hitler then under Stalin's "Careful care").

THus the issue if you were a Turk do you go with the honest Party that knows how to run a Economy, but also have strong desire to upgrade Islam in Turkey, or do you go with a Secular elite who is corrupt to the core (and who will bankrupt the country before they crack down on their Corporate friends)? It is a bad choice, made worse by the fact Parliamentary elections do NOT have to be called for More than once every six years (Unlike the US where we can undo the damage within two Years).

Also remember it took Hitler 6 years (1933-1939(to go from being elected to going to War. During that 6 years Hitler borrow money from over seas to stabilize his economy and then moved against the Jews (Through not the Death Camps that would only start in 1942). If Hitler had NOT been given dictatorial power in 1934, he would have been up for election no later than 1940. The Dictatorial power was in the Wiemar Constitution and in 1834 given to Hitler AND Hindenburg (and had been exercised by Hindenburg in previous years). Hitler took this power to new ends. The AK is NOT in a position to do the same. Unlike the German Army when it came to Hitler, the Turkish army will be hostile to the AK. If the economy starts to decline, the AK will take the blame (unlike Hitler who blamed the Jews).
Thus you have checks on the power of the AK. The strongest Check is it is NOT expected for the AK to win more than 50% of the vote (Most believe AK will just do slightly better than the 34% it did in the last election).

My point is the AK, if it wins the election, is NOT in a position to radically change the Policy of Kemel and embrace Islam. I so see the AK making Islam more important but as a whole just work on the edges of the Church-State divide, not a full scale attack on the separation of Church and State. Such an attack AK would need to have MORE than 50% of the Vote, something that is unlikely.

[Eugene]

4. Turkey's Erdogan seeks early polls to end standoff

Source: Reuters

Turkey's Erdogan seeks early polls to end standoff

By Hidir Goktas and Gareth Jones
Tue May 1, 6:37 PM ET

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said
on Tuesday his Islamist-rooted government would seek early
national elections on either June 24 or July 1 to resolve a
standoff with the country's secular elite.

Erdogan's decision set the stage for a test of wills at the polls
with the secularists, including the military that had threatened
to intervene in the standoff over a presidential vote and sees
itself as the guarantor of Turkey's secular system.

The secularist opposition has been demanding early national
elections but Erdogan's ruling AK Party, which has presided over
nearly five years of robust economic growth, is widely expected
to win. The standoff has rattled Turkey's financial markets.

The opposition's boycott of the presidential vote in parliament
prompted Erdogan to seek early national elections because it left
the AK Party short of the required quorum to get its candidate,
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, elected.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070501/wl_nm/turkey_president_voting_dc

[Heidi]

5. Kick.

:kick:

[Pharaoh]

6. Turkey poll halted over Islamic fears

Source: ://www.telegraph.co.uk/


Turkey poll halted over Islamic fears
By Amberin Zaman in Istanbul
Last Updated: 1:52am BST 02/05/2007



Turkey lurched deeper into political crisis last night after a court halted the country's presidential election.


Police and demonstrators engaged in bitter clashes during an unofficial May Day march in Istanbul yesterday. About 700 arrests were made


The constitutional court annulled the first round vote of the ruling party's candidate, Abdullah Gul, amid fears that he wanted to take the country in a pro-Islamic direction. The court ruled that not enough MPs took part in the vote last Friday for it to be valid.

The decision, which comes as a blow to the country's Islamic-leaning government, looks likely to force an early general election.

The military sees itself as the guarantor of the secular state and has ousted four governments in the past 50 years, most recently in 1997 when it acted against a cabinet which included Mr Gül.

A spokesman for Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, said last night that he was considering holding a general election "as soon as possible" following the court's decision.



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/02/wturkey02.xml

[Orrin_73]

7. That is not good

The AKP is in no way a fundamentalist party. AKP was better then their predecessors who were corrupt. The AKP brought the inflation down, reduced the budget deficit and in 5 years doubled the gdp of Turkey. Abdullah Gul would make a good president. As a Turk I support him.