Actually, the anniversary was yesterday… Adnan Menderes Adnan Menderes (Turkish pronunciation: [ad?nan mende??es]? 1899 ? 17 September 1961) was the first democratically elected political leader in Turkish history. He served as prime minister between 1950?1960. He was one of the founders of the Democratic Party (DP) in 1946, the fourth legal opposition party of Turkey. He … Read more
DT’s notarious journalist Con Coughlin [check out the Criticism section there] penned down an explicit lie about AKP and Iran. Supposedly Iran donated AK Party 25 million dollars! Even our wild secularists could not imagine that. He doesn’t name any of his sources or provide the reader with any tangible proof. But he can make … Read more
The rhetoric turns into harsh and somewhat insulting in both sides but No front is certainly more agressive and frustrated. They play the victim side which is a frequent cultural code to turn to. Three CHP women claimed to be beaten by AKP followers yesterday. The No media used their claim but today we learn … Read more
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* The myth of consensus. Some oppose to the changes stating that changes were not made through consensus. As if any constitution was ever made by consensus in Turkey. In fact, a major constitutional change led by a ruling government which was at least elected is a first in Turkish history…
* If AKP was able to cooperate with CHP, MHP and BDP, would there be better changes? I don’t think so. Turkish opposition is far behind AKP in terms of democratic reforms. They are more interested in maintaining status quo through which they have a chance of existence.
* In abstract, all proposed changes point out a more democration situation. So why the opposition?
* Major opposition to changes is about the status of high judiciary and military judiciary system. At present state, they are closed circuit institutions, guardians of Kemalist ideology and a continuous obstacle to EU process. The proposed changes opens up the criteria to become a member of these institutions. They were instituted like this by the military coup d’etat regime so that they would be guard the proposed political and judicial system. Now AKP means to change it and I certainly support that…
* Thus “Independent judiciary” is a big lie. Existing judiciary system was built under military tutelage and is certainly not independent.
Unfortunately, I could not find an English translation of proposed changes. I am working on it. You can find a documents where all changes in Turkish are listed. Besides, AKP set up a website again only in Turkish about the changes here. I will declare my official position on referendum soon… The list of constitutional … Read more
ŞAHİN ALPAY – Referendum to further consolidate democracy The military in Turkey staged a coup d?état on Sept. 12, 1980, held power for nearly three years and adopted a highly authoritarian constitution that reinforced the tutelary powers of the military and judiciary over democracy before allowing elections and the reintroduction of multi-party politics. Turkey’s Prime … Read more
Turkish NGOs defend Ergenekon investigation with report from Hurriyet Dailynews The legitimacy of the Ergenekon case has now been defended on a point-by-point basis by two civil society organizations that published a report Thursday supporting the investigation. complete report can be accessed here. politics roundup: Bulwark polemic in Turkish politics (!) TESEV?s Kurban: Solving Kurdish … Read more
This popular humor magazine cover that is supposedly criticising PM Erdoğan’s pro-Arab stance is racist. That’s why I cannot take their and many other media personnel’s anti-AKP standing seriously. This cover once again demonstrates their level of political intelligence…. A friendfeed discussion here.
but of course there are many who oppose the constitutional changes just because they are made by AKP. we will see more drama in near future but for the moment let me hail a more democratic constitution…
Lawmakers of the ruling Justice and Development Party celebrate after the official results were announced at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, early Friday, May 7, 2010. Turkey’s parliament has narrowly passed a series of fiercely contested constitutional amendments that the opposition parties argue they will give the Islamic-rooted government too much power over the judiciary. The president is now widely expected to submit the measures to a referendum this summer since the 336 votes in favor of the amendments on Friday were short of the 367 required votes in the 550-seat assembly to adopt the proposals outright.? Read more » (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
Any suggestions and comments are of course welcome. Here is a formula (!): Having one strong, charismatic leader (RTE), who had proved his administrative capacity as a mayor of Istanbul, who is surrounded by credible advisors (whom he listens to whenever he cares), who is surrounded by loyal, low profile and but politics savvy cabinet … Read more
Helene Flautre: How the EU Has Impeded Judicial Reform from Turkish Politics in Action by Ragan Updegraff Helen Flautre, Co-Chairwoman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee Assessing the status of accession negotiations in an op/ed published in Today’s Zaman, Helene Flautre strongly criticizes the European Council’s failure to release the results of the European Commission’s … Read more
Nothing really secret about what he said, but it is the fact that a secret meeting of generals can easily be wiretapped by some… Content of what he said here in Turkish. AK party hits back against Turkish judiciary euronews Ihan Cihaner is accused of belonging to Ergenekon ? a right-wing group investigators claim is … Read more
