Good cop/bad cop- "Media elements launch crusade against Gül’s presidency...
Mainstream Turkish press played "the bad cop" before the elections and now they are playing "the good cop". Influential columnists like Ertuğrul Özkök, not threatens directly any more but asks Mr. Gül to do a favor for the "nation". the PM is now accused of not keeping up his "promise" which is that there would be 'consensus' in electing the President. One of course should ask since when there was a "consensus" in presidential elections? Most of the presidents were generals and all civil presidents were chosen by their own parties, i.e. Özal, Demirel with even fewer votes than Mr. Gül will probably get, and the current President Mr. Sezer's election is a fruit of a coalition government which was formed after the February 28 coup. The establishment party, CHP, once again attempts to fetter the elections and establishment spokesmen in the press become more vocal.
There are lots of points to be discussed but this idea of consensus needs more thought. In a modern society, in a regime of representative democracy, I am not sure a type of consensus like the one propagated now for the presidential election can ever be achieved. Politics make strange bedfellows and we witness it daily but a full-scale consensus ever possible? Will CHP, the embodiment of status quo, ever agree to dismantle the higher education council (YÖK)? No. Then no more words and no more nonsense talk.
Of course, this emphasis on "consensus" is a discursive strategy by some sections of power elites. And some journalists are already in it. But then one asks to what extent they are successful in interpellating the society. So far no success. I speculate that as they increasingly fall apart from the emerging tendencies in society, they will be less effective in their discursive strategies. In the immediate aftermath of elections, some columnists produced some self-critical essays about this situation, but it seems that they are moving back to their older positions. Why? I guess there should be more look at the elite formations...
Köksal Toptan
Moderate elected Turkish speaker
A moderate conservative from Turkey's ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party, Koksal Toptan, is elected parliament Speaker.
Turkish parliament elects new speaker
Turkey's parliament elected a new speaker at the first attempt in a move that initiates the more important and potentially more divisive process of choosing the country's new president...Media elements launch crusade against Gül’s presidency
As the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has not yet announced whether it will once again nominate its former presidential candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, rumors are circulating, suggesting there is a conflict between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Gül over the presidency issue.They’ll get accustomed to the new period
Everybody will adapt and get used to the new conditions in Turkey. A country so used to living with crises; which institutionalized its relations, methods and way of doing politics according to crisis conditions, is switching to a serene and peaceful life....
Ali Bulaç: Unregistered politics
The powerful actors who made themselves known on April 27 are underlining their resolution and decisions in the light of the July 22 election.
Etyen Mahçupyan: The military wants Gül!
I, too, was seriously distressed after the July 22 elections over whether the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) would nominate Abdullah Gül or somebody else for the presidency.
Nicole Pope: Knotty issue
You may not have memorized the detailed credentials of the next speaker of parliament, Köksal Toptan, but if you follow the media at all, you should at least have garnered one vital piece of information about him: his wife does not wear a headscarf.TURKISH MEDIA TARGET BARZANI AFTER AL-MALIKI FAILS TO AGREE TO CONCRETE MEASURES AGAINST PKK - Eurasia Daily Monitor
Why Turkey is the homeland of modern Islamophobia - II
Mustafa AkyolWhy can't Gül be a candidate?
Mehmet Ali Birand
‘A new Turkish identity is emerging’
The result of the July 22 election shifted some parameters in Turkey. Many wonder how these changes will affect the country, waiting for what will happen next.
Maliki visit fails to boost hopes over PKK fight
After several cancellations, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki finally paid a visit to Turkey on Tuesday amid hopes that Iraq would eventually take concrete steps against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants operating in the country’s north.
Following Maliki’s visit
Naturally, our diplomats assess the results of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s visit to Ankara as successful, while some observers are of the opinion that this visit did not produce anything palpable besides being a statement of goodwill.Parliament may await referendum for presidential election by KAZIM BERZEG
Article 7 of the Constitution vests the authority to make laws in the Parliament and stresses that this power may not be transferred to other parties. Article 153 underlines that the Constitutional Court may not act in lieu of the lawmaker.
EU comedy
The theater play “In the Club,” written and produced by British writer Richard Bean and makes fun of Turkey's bid for European Union (EU) membership, played to a full house in its premier.Turkey’s priorities
The Parliament was opened in a very positive atmosphere. But this is not enough. Civil politics should be the sole authority.Oath-taking ceremonies
All oath-taking ceremonies, regardless of their purpose, create problems. It is a useless tradition that encourages hypocrisy.
Ankara puzzles
The presidential election fireball has fallen on politics. Now the question is whether Abdullah Gül will sustain his candidacy.
Short-term president
What would those who clamor about Abdullah Gül’s candidacy do if Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the AK Party’s candidate is Gül and Gül said:
Leave Atatürk alone!
Enough already! Stop using Atatürk as leverage in politics. Stop using Atatürk in demonstrations. We need to understand that Atatürk exploitation in politics is a bad habit of the old Turkey’s dilapidated structure and in part responsible for the delay of a democratic and law-binding state in Turkey.
Brighter Times for Turkey?
Why Is Turkey Hot?
Turkey and the European Community - JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM
