"Constitutional Court overstepped its authority with headscarf ruling...
[CROSS READER] Constitutional Court overstepped its authority with headscarf ruling
Turkey's top court last week annulled a package of constitutional amendments that would lift the country's decades-old headscarf ban on university campuses -- a move that dealt a serious blow to the hopes of thousands of covered students who have for years dreamt of the day when they would be allowed to receive higher education without being required to take off their headscarves....[MONDAY TALK] ‘Constitutional changes necessary to solve chronic problems'
Kurdish intellectual Tarık Ziya Ekinci has said as long as the Turkish military continues to play a powerful role in politics, the Kurdish problem cannot be solved, also suggesting that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) needs to change the Constitution to deal with the country's long-standing problems.Judge me, judge me not
The justices of the Constitutional Court are full of surprises: While expecting a verdict on the "headscarf issue," we never anticipated that it would usurp Parliament's right to legislate. Many political observers who also know how the court works put their chips on four different verdicts, but the Constitutional Court has chosen the fifth alternative: An all-out showdown with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Parliament.Duty of politics: taking Turkey out of crisis
With its recent decision, the Constitutional Court has created a new constitutional rule that will make the political system non-operational, a "system" that fulfills its tasks smoothly and is supposed to be formed by pieces that create harmony. The judiciary's domination over Parliament will require a redesign and a rebuilding of all the system's components. If the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is subsequently closed down, the judiciary will have acquired a position by which it will be able to dominate the executive branch as well.When will the bureaucratic sultanate of Ankara be abolished?
It is pretty obvious that militant secularists are waging a jihad against democracy, liberty and the rule of law. With an illiberal notion of secularism, Turkey's transformation into a democratic, pluralistic and prosperous country is being dragged to a halt.
Washington and conspiracy theories
Turkey is a proud country that strongly values its national sovereignty. Yet paradoxically, most Turks seem to lack self-esteem when it comes to Washington's power over Turkish domestic politics.This, just like the 367 crisis, can be overcome
About one year ago, we were discussing the Constitutional Court's "367 decision," which made the presence of 367 deputies in Parliament mandatory when the body convenes to elect the president.Declaration of war
When the AK Party won a second time and secured a greater share of the national vote, we thought to ourselves: "Now everything will be fine. Stability will continue and the economy will improve while well-being increases."If closed down, AKP won't take to streets, FM implies
The ruling party is moving on a strong basis of legitimacy, and it will obey the Constitutional Court's verdict on the closure case against it, the foreign minister said Friday, implying that evenOnce unassailable Erdogan slips into precarious position
Turkey's prime minister once spent time in jail for being an alleged Islamist subversive. Now Recep Tayyip Erdogan, until recently one of Europe's most unassailable...Headscarf ruling puts Erdogan at risk
The Turkish prime minister is in a precarious political position after suffering a stinging legal rebuff to one of his most cherished policiesConfused AKP cautious to Toptan's proposals
Disappointed by the top court's decision to annul the constitutional amendments lifting the headscarf ban in universities, the ruling party has thus far been cautious toward proposals aimed at reducingMcCarthyist oligarchy
Even though no one has been left puzzled by the unconstitutional decision of the Constitutional Court on freedom of dress at universities on secularist grounds, it is still very disturbing, as respect for the law in the country is fast diminishing thanks to partisan and political verdicts of the upper courts.Losers’ paradise
The verdict of the Constitutional Court simply means that it will be impossible for the Turkish Parliament to attempt any substantial reform on issues holding Turkey hostage from social progress, such as how to reinterpret secularism and deal with demands for cultural and political autonomy based on ethnic identity.Religious freedom in Turkey? by BİLAL SAMBUR
Recent remarks by Foreign Minister Ali Babacan at the European Parliament, pointing to some troubles with regard to the enjoyment of religious freedoms in Turkey, stirred reaction from some certain circles.What Is Behind Islamism in Turkey? - OhmyNews International
[Opinion] A look at the probable effects of the growth of Islamism in TurkeyThe protests in Turkey by thousands of Muslims attacking the constitutional court for blocking government moves to allow college students to wear Muslim headscarves was somehow predictable."
Is Turkey on a slippery slope leading to a military/judicial coup.
At the end of last week Turkey’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, handed down a judgment which will annul the Justice and Development Party (AKP) led governments ‘headscarf law,’ which was passed in February of this year; and would have enabled young women to wear headscarfs when attending university. I find this very worrying as it may be the first step on a slippery slope leading to a military/judicial coup. The Constitutional Court claimed that it made its judgment because the ‘headscarf law’ violated the Turkish constitution, which stipulates that Turkey must be a secular State. Although I see no evidence of this and the Courts judgment has been controversial; and has been challenged by leading authorities in Turkish jurisprudence.
Yusuf Kanlı: Compromise culture
Is it not interesting? Those who claim they are “Muslim democrats” are busy pondering what revanchist moves they could undertake to punish the judges of the Constitutional Court, to revamp the Constitution and bend laws to save the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) from closure and how to resist the “secularist imposition” on the “will of the nation.”At the same time, again in the same circles or among the “liberals” – who share the same anti-military, anti-establishment and anti-nationalist jargon of the “Muslim democrats” – there are talks about a letter alleged to have been sent by the military commander of the country to some “Kemalist, secularist” and “intellectual”No representation without diversity
Çınar KİPERWhich party is pivotal in ending the crisis?
Everyone is wondering what the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) roadmap will be. There is currently no clear plan, and the AK Party will remain silent for a while and wait for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP) to step in.Duking it out on Turkey in The Wall Street Journal
By Patricia H. Kushlis
Wouldn’t it be a relief if The Wall Street Journal re-employed Hugh Pope, its former veteran Istanbul bureau chief, and ditched Michael Rubin’s biased, undistinguished, unenlightening, off-the-wall albeit occasional diatribes on Turkey?
On Friday, Rubin called the country’s prime minister Tayyip Erdogan a dictator ala Vladimir Putin and demanded Erdogan’s ouster. This under an inflammatory headline “Turkey’s Putin Deserves to Go.” Now I usually don’t read WSJ Op Eds because they’re too often over-the-top but there’s so little information and even less analysis on Turkey in the American media and the WSJ is far too influential to ignore completely that I did read this one.
In good part Rubin’s June 6 Op Ed was a retort to a previous one The Journal had run by former US Ambassador Mark Parris who criticized the State Department for ignoring Turkey’s impending Constitutional crisis and failing to try to avert it.
Can the Constitutional Court change the Constitution? by ZÜHTÜ ARSLAN
The Constitutional Court recently announced its expected decision. The written statement is very short, with just two sentences. The statement reads: "Articles 1 and 2 of Law no. 5735 dated Feb. 9, 2008 that makes amendments to the Turkish Constitution have been annulled considering provisions of articles 2, 4 and 148 of the same Constitution.