Never forget
Our modern history with genocide began in Armenia
By Kimberly Horg-Webb
“Who remembers now the destruction of the Armenians?”
This infamous question, attributed to Adolf Hitler, is inscribed on a wall of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. A bold statement argued about by scholars, it represents millions of people of Armenian descent still fighting for recognition of the murders of their family members almost 100 years ago.
Genocide Remembrance Day, held on April 24, is a day to reflect on those who died. Between 1915 and 1923, according to historical accounts, around 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed on the orders of the Ottoman Empire.
Until the late 19th century, Armenians were living in harmony with other ethnic groups. But the Russian victory over the Ottoman Empire, which led to Russian control over a large part of Armenian territory, led to problems. Russian support of Christians within the Ottoman Empire weakened the Ottoman government’s control by leading Armenians to believe they could regain independence. Armenian Christians were subject to Islamic dhimmi laws, which granted them lesser status and fewer legal rights than Muslim Ottoman citizens had under sharia law. Resentment between the groups escalated to conflict, abuse and violence.
Armenian survivors say that they were forced from their homes by the Ottoman government through mass evacuations and murders. Rape, famine and murder became so widespread that, whether an intended goal or not, the result was to exterminate a large portion of the Armenian population.
The present-day Turkish government disputes many facts of the forced evacuation and mass deaths. Although the Turkish government does not dispute that the Ottoman government ordered the evacuation of Armenians, they reject calling it “genocide.” Instead, the Turks allege that the deaths among Armenians at the time were the result of interethnic strife, disease and famine related to the turmoil of World War I.
...
and
Turkey's Genocide Dilemma
Written by Jasper Mortimer
History surrounds the newly refurbished park where old men sit and smoke and stray dogs bark on the slopes beneath Ankara Castle. There are the massive medieval walls of the citadel, the Museum of Anatolian Civilization at the park’s southern end, and across the valley stands a column erected by the Romans in the fourth century.
But there is nothing in Hisar Park that reveals its own history, what happened there before it became a park.
Photographs of the area taken in the early 1900s, such as those published in Ankara Magazine in November 2005, show a densely built district called Hisaronu, which means “in front of the castle.”
The houses were posh – three stories high with balconies and flagpoles – and the men in the street were smartly dressed in black coats and fezzes. After all, Hisaronu was home to the city’s mohair merchants, doctors and lawyers. It was also known as the Armenian Quarter.
Two events destroyed Hisaronu in the decade 1910–1920. The first came in 1915 when the Ottoman authorities applied the policy of “deporting” Armenians to remote parts of the empire. But this did not empty the district, as Greeks and Muslims lived there as well. Then in 1917 an accidental fire sped through the wooden-clad buildings of Hisaronu and razed it.
Curiously, Hisaronu’s inhabitants never rebuilt their homes. Many of them had second homes, with gardens, on the outskirts of the city, and they may have lived there in the hard times that followed World War One. The Greek residents may have left Turkey in the exchange of populations that accompanied the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923.
But what became of the Armenians?
The census of 1914 said there were 11,646 Armenians in Ankara, but the census of 1927 recorded only 705; “so we can conclude that more than 10,000 Armenians were forced to leave Ankara in 1915,” the journalist Seden Bayat wrote in an Ankara magazine article.
Thursday (April 24) is the 93rd anniversary of what is regarded as the start of the crackdown on the Armenians. On the night of 24 April, 1915 police arrested 235 leading members of the Armenian community in Istanbul, then the capital of the Ottoman empire.
During the next seven years up to 1.5 million Armenians died, either through massacres or deprivation in forced marches, according to Armenians. Turkey denies this, saying that 300,000 Armenians died in civil strife that emerged after Armenians in eastern Anatolia sided with invading Russian troops.
But there was no local strife or collusion with the enemy to justify the deportation of Armenians in Ankara and Istanbul. And it is the persistence of such questions, or the failure to answer them, that burdens Turkey like a ball and chain.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Never forget
2) Turkey's Genocide Dilemma
Showing posts with label turkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label turkey. Show all posts
Friday, April 25, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
DAR AL ISLAM-TURKEY: THE REIMERGING ISLAM IN TURKEY
Secular strains: Turkish political Islam comes under new fire
By Vincent Boland and John Thornhill
Every year on April 23, Turkey’s political, military and state leaders gather in the parliament building in Ankara to celebrate national sovereignty day. It is one of those solemn state occasions the country does so well – and it offers a splendid opportunity for grandstanding. This year the speaker of parliament has invited wives of deputies to attend the event wearing headscarves should they wish, a provocative act in a country that has banished the garment from public life. This in turn has prompted speculation that the army top brass will boycott the reception.
Parliament is synonymous with Turkey’s republican history and the central tenet of that history is secularism. But since the Justice and Development party (AKP) was first swept to power in the 2002 general election, the headscarf has become the symbol of a new power struggle in Turkey, between the secular elite – of which the army is the most important element – and a new generation of conservative, religiously-minded Turks.
The military/judicial/bureaucratic nexus looks set for a new and perhaps final confrontation with the AKP. If the generals are even considering a no-show, it is evidence that Turkey’s secularists and the AKP have failed to find a modus operandi after more than five years of uneasy cohabitation. The constitutional court is already preparing to consider a petition to shut the party down, in what many commentators are calling a “judicial coup d’état”.
The AKP, which denies that it has any “agenda”, hidden or otherwise, to Islamise Turkey, will present its defence in the next few days against the charge that it seeks to impose Sharia law on Turkey. Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, the prosecutor who filed the case with the constitutional court last month, also wants Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, Abdullah Gul, the president, and 69 other party officials banned from political activity for five years.
A legal battle is in prospect lasting perhaps for most of 2008, with the potential to paralyse the business of government and complicate Turkey’s accession talks with the European Union. It adds a huge element of uncertainty to the outlook for Turkey. The economy is already slowing and the country is vulnerable to the impact of the global credit squeeze because of its need for foreign capital to finance its current account deficit. Guven Sak, who heads the Tepav think-tank in Ankara, says the juxtaposition of these “three crises” makes this a difficult moment for Turkey.
The case against the AKP has polarised Turkey along its most familiar faultline – the point, as much ideological as psychological or social, at which its austere founding vision of secularism meets the messy reality of its emergence in the past 60 years as a multi-party democracy. It is perhaps inevitable that the more democratic Turkey becomes, the more its underlying character as a Muslim society will emerge to shape its political culture. The question is whether the AKP fuels this phenomenon or merely reflects it.
While the nation has changed – through migration, industrialisation, the spread of education, democracy and globalisation – in the 85 years since the republic was created, the state has remained essentially the same: authoritarian, hostile to plurality and observant of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s secular vision for the revolutionary republic he founded. The clash between the AKP and the secularists embodies this tension.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Secular strains: Turkish political Islam comes under new fire
By Vincent Boland and John Thornhill
Every year on April 23, Turkey’s political, military and state leaders gather in the parliament building in Ankara to celebrate national sovereignty day. It is one of those solemn state occasions the country does so well – and it offers a splendid opportunity for grandstanding. This year the speaker of parliament has invited wives of deputies to attend the event wearing headscarves should they wish, a provocative act in a country that has banished the garment from public life. This in turn has prompted speculation that the army top brass will boycott the reception.
Parliament is synonymous with Turkey’s republican history and the central tenet of that history is secularism. But since the Justice and Development party (AKP) was first swept to power in the 2002 general election, the headscarf has become the symbol of a new power struggle in Turkey, between the secular elite – of which the army is the most important element – and a new generation of conservative, religiously-minded Turks.
The military/judicial/bureaucratic nexus looks set for a new and perhaps final confrontation with the AKP. If the generals are even considering a no-show, it is evidence that Turkey’s secularists and the AKP have failed to find a modus operandi after more than five years of uneasy cohabitation. The constitutional court is already preparing to consider a petition to shut the party down, in what many commentators are calling a “judicial coup d’état”.
The AKP, which denies that it has any “agenda”, hidden or otherwise, to Islamise Turkey, will present its defence in the next few days against the charge that it seeks to impose Sharia law on Turkey. Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, the prosecutor who filed the case with the constitutional court last month, also wants Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, Abdullah Gul, the president, and 69 other party officials banned from political activity for five years.
A legal battle is in prospect lasting perhaps for most of 2008, with the potential to paralyse the business of government and complicate Turkey’s accession talks with the European Union. It adds a huge element of uncertainty to the outlook for Turkey. The economy is already slowing and the country is vulnerable to the impact of the global credit squeeze because of its need for foreign capital to finance its current account deficit. Guven Sak, who heads the Tepav think-tank in Ankara, says the juxtaposition of these “three crises” makes this a difficult moment for Turkey.
The case against the AKP has polarised Turkey along its most familiar faultline – the point, as much ideological as psychological or social, at which its austere founding vision of secularism meets the messy reality of its emergence in the past 60 years as a multi-party democracy. It is perhaps inevitable that the more democratic Turkey becomes, the more its underlying character as a Muslim society will emerge to shape its political culture. The question is whether the AKP fuels this phenomenon or merely reflects it.
While the nation has changed – through migration, industrialisation, the spread of education, democracy and globalisation – in the 85 years since the republic was created, the state has remained essentially the same: authoritarian, hostile to plurality and observant of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s secular vision for the revolutionary republic he founded. The clash between the AKP and the secularists embodies this tension.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Secular strains: Turkish political Islam comes under new fire
DAR AL HARB-E.U.: TURKEY - E.U. NEGOTIATIONS FOR E.U. MEMBERSHIP TO SPEED UP
EU Wants to Speed up Membership Talks with Turkey
The European Union's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has announced he wants to speed up negotations with Turkey over joining the EU. Center-right politicians in France and Germany have predictably denounced the move.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) EU Wants to Speed up Membership Talks with Turkey
The European Union's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has announced he wants to speed up negotations with Turkey over joining the EU. Center-right politicians in France and Germany have predictably denounced the move.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) EU Wants to Speed up Membership Talks with Turkey
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM-SWEDEN/TURKEY: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, TURKISH DENIALS & SWEDISH ARCHIVES
Swedish Archives Confirm: It was a genocide (of Armenians)
A recently conducted study at the Uppsala University has revealed highly interesting information in the Swedish Archives, which once again confirm the researchers’ view of the events in the Ottoman Turkey during the First World War: the Christian minorities, the Armenians in particular, were subjected to genocide.
The massacres in Ottoman Turkey during the First World War claimed the lives of approximately 1.5 million out of a world population of four million Armenians, while over 250,000 Assyrians/Chadeans and equal number of Pontic Greeks. In 1923, for the first time in over 2,500 years, Armenians no longer lived on 85 % of their fatherland. Thus, the Armenian genocide was, in a sense, a successful genocide, acquiring the perpetrators an Armenia without Armenians.
The conducted survey covers the period between 1915 and 1923 and includes, among others, reports which the Swedish Ambassador, Cosswa Anckarsvärd, and the Swedish Military Attaché, Einar af Wirsén, both stationed in Constantinople, sent to the Foreign Department (found in the National Archive) and the General Staff Headquarters (found in the War Archive) in Stockholm, respectively. In total, about eighty documents were found with direct relevance to the so-called Armenian Question, of which some are over-explicit in their message: the Turkish Government conducted a systematic extermination of the Armenian Nation.
On July 6, 1915, Ambassador Anckarsvärd, writing to the Swedish Foreign Minister, Knut Wallenberg, concludes: “Mr. Minister, The persecutions of the Armenians have reached hair-raising proportions and all points to the fact that the Young Turks want to seize the opportunity, since due to different reasons there are no effective external pressure to be feared, to once and for all put an end to the Armenian question. The means for this are quite simple and consist of the extermination [utrotandet] of the Armenian nation [emphasis added].” Anckarsvärd’s reports until 1920 persisted in the same insight. At several occasions, the Ambassador points out that “It is obvious that the Turks are taking the opportunity to, now during the war, annihilate [utplåna] the Armenian nation [emphasis added] so that when the peace comes no Armenian question longer exists.” In a later report (1917) he underlines that the massacres are not clashes between the Muslim and the Armenian populations, but “that the persecutions of Armenians have been done at the instigation of the Turkish Government [emphasis added]...”
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Swedish Archives Confirm: It was a genocide (of Armenians)
A recently conducted study at the Uppsala University has revealed highly interesting information in the Swedish Archives, which once again confirm the researchers’ view of the events in the Ottoman Turkey during the First World War: the Christian minorities, the Armenians in particular, were subjected to genocide.
The massacres in Ottoman Turkey during the First World War claimed the lives of approximately 1.5 million out of a world population of four million Armenians, while over 250,000 Assyrians/Chadeans and equal number of Pontic Greeks. In 1923, for the first time in over 2,500 years, Armenians no longer lived on 85 % of their fatherland. Thus, the Armenian genocide was, in a sense, a successful genocide, acquiring the perpetrators an Armenia without Armenians.
The conducted survey covers the period between 1915 and 1923 and includes, among others, reports which the Swedish Ambassador, Cosswa Anckarsvärd, and the Swedish Military Attaché, Einar af Wirsén, both stationed in Constantinople, sent to the Foreign Department (found in the National Archive) and the General Staff Headquarters (found in the War Archive) in Stockholm, respectively. In total, about eighty documents were found with direct relevance to the so-called Armenian Question, of which some are over-explicit in their message: the Turkish Government conducted a systematic extermination of the Armenian Nation.
On July 6, 1915, Ambassador Anckarsvärd, writing to the Swedish Foreign Minister, Knut Wallenberg, concludes: “Mr. Minister, The persecutions of the Armenians have reached hair-raising proportions and all points to the fact that the Young Turks want to seize the opportunity, since due to different reasons there are no effective external pressure to be feared, to once and for all put an end to the Armenian question. The means for this are quite simple and consist of the extermination [utrotandet] of the Armenian nation [emphasis added].” Anckarsvärd’s reports until 1920 persisted in the same insight. At several occasions, the Ambassador points out that “It is obvious that the Turks are taking the opportunity to, now during the war, annihilate [utplåna] the Armenian nation [emphasis added] so that when the peace comes no Armenian question longer exists.” In a later report (1917) he underlines that the massacres are not clashes between the Muslim and the Armenian populations, but “that the persecutions of Armenians have been done at the instigation of the Turkish Government [emphasis added]...”
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Swedish Archives Confirm: It was a genocide (of Armenians)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
DAR AL ISLAM-SAUDI ARABIA: 13 MONTHS IN JAIL FOR 'SWEARING AGAINST ALLAH' - - - SHARI'AH LAW IN ACTION
Turkish Barber Detained Over Profane Remarks
Ebtihal Mubarak
Officials at the Jeddah General Court confirmed yesterday that they are dealing with the case of a Turkish barber who is allegedly facing the death penalty after being tried for swearing at Allah.
The officials said they were unable to provide specific details of the case yesterday and advised Arab News to contact President of the Jeddah General Court Sheikh Rashid Al-Hazza’a, who is on leave, on Saturday.
Hani Al-Hajri, head of press relations at the court, also said he would only be able to provide details on Saturday.
According to the Turkish press, the barber, Sabri Bogday, had an argument with a neighbor, an Egyptian tailor, and was arrested by police after the tailor filed a complaint that he had sworn at Allah. Bogday has reportedly been in prison for 13 months, while his accuser has disappeared.
Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, a Riyadh-based lawyer, said rulings in such cases depend on judges’ own interpretations of the Islamic Shariah.
“Some judges consider it heresy and infidelity, and say that the accused cannot repent and so faces death penalty. Others consider the statement to be disbelief, thus allow the accused to retract what he has said and repent and then set him free,” said Al-Lahem.
He said according to Saudi law the testimony of an accuser would not be accepted if it were shown that he or she might have some ulterior motive. “If two people have an argument, the testimony of one of the two against the other cannot be legally accepted,” Al-Lahem said.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkish Barber Detained Over Profane Remarks
Ebtihal Mubarak
Officials at the Jeddah General Court confirmed yesterday that they are dealing with the case of a Turkish barber who is allegedly facing the death penalty after being tried for swearing at Allah.
The officials said they were unable to provide specific details of the case yesterday and advised Arab News to contact President of the Jeddah General Court Sheikh Rashid Al-Hazza’a, who is on leave, on Saturday.
Hani Al-Hajri, head of press relations at the court, also said he would only be able to provide details on Saturday.
According to the Turkish press, the barber, Sabri Bogday, had an argument with a neighbor, an Egyptian tailor, and was arrested by police after the tailor filed a complaint that he had sworn at Allah. Bogday has reportedly been in prison for 13 months, while his accuser has disappeared.
Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, a Riyadh-based lawyer, said rulings in such cases depend on judges’ own interpretations of the Islamic Shariah.
“Some judges consider it heresy and infidelity, and say that the accused cannot repent and so faces death penalty. Others consider the statement to be disbelief, thus allow the accused to retract what he has said and repent and then set him free,” said Al-Lahem.
He said according to Saudi law the testimony of an accuser would not be accepted if it were shown that he or she might have some ulterior motive. “If two people have an argument, the testimony of one of the two against the other cannot be legally accepted,” Al-Lahem said.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkish Barber Detained Over Profane Remarks
Thursday, April 10, 2008
DAR AL HARB-E.U.: TURKEY AS A MEMBER OF THE E.U. WOULD BE AN 'ATERNATIVE' TO ISLAMIC JIHAD
Barroso sees Turkey tied to Europe as 'alternative' to radical Islam
Turkey's integration into Europe would offer "a powerful alternative" to radical Islam throughout the world, the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, said Thursday.
Barroso - on the first day of a three-day visit to this country campaigning for membership in the European Union - said the country must strengthen democracy and carry out more reforms to join the 27-member group.
"Turkey demonstrates that a secular democratic republic, with a predominantly Muslim population, well integrated in Europe, offers a powerful alternative to fundamentalist temptations throughout the world," he said in an address to Parliament.
But Barroso warned: "There is no shortcut to accession" for Turkey.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Barroso sees Turkey tied to Europe as 'alternative' to radical Islam
Turkey's integration into Europe would offer "a powerful alternative" to radical Islam throughout the world, the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, said Thursday.
Barroso - on the first day of a three-day visit to this country campaigning for membership in the European Union - said the country must strengthen democracy and carry out more reforms to join the 27-member group.
"Turkey demonstrates that a secular democratic republic, with a predominantly Muslim population, well integrated in Europe, offers a powerful alternative to fundamentalist temptations throughout the world," he said in an address to Parliament.
But Barroso warned: "There is no shortcut to accession" for Turkey.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Barroso sees Turkey tied to Europe as 'alternative' to radical Islam
DAR AL ISLAM-TURKEY: ISTANBUL'S LAST PORK BUTCHER, FIGHTING AGAINST MOSLEM JIHAD AGAINST PORK - - - TURKEY, A MODEL OF A MODERATE ISLAMIC COUNTRY
Istanbul's Last Pork Butcher Fights Islamist Crackdown on Swine
By Firat Kayakiran
Lazari Kozmaoglu, Istanbul's last pork butcher, takes a break from a two-hour backgammon session to recall the days he spent slicing bacon instead of rolling dice.
Eight workers used to rush in and out of the cutting room, placing wrapped meat in refrigerators, Kozmaoglu, 63, recalls in his store in central Istanbul. Today the shop is down to its last two months of stock and attracts only a handful of customers.
Turkey's Islamist-rooted government has clamped down on the pork industry since 2004, closing all but two of the country's 25 pig farms and revoking slaughterhouse licenses. Kozmaoglu, unable to add to his meat supplies, spends most of his time shuffling paperwork as he seeks permission to reopen his abattoir.
"I don't know what I can do if they don't give it to me; this business is my life,'' Kozmaoglu says as he watches a news bulletin on Greek television.
He's one of about 2,000 ethnic Greeks remaining in Istanbul. Most Greeks left the city after Turkish mobs attacked their homes and workplaces in 1955. Others were expelled in 1964 after fighting between Greeks and Turks on Cyprus.
Before the 2004 crackdown, Kozmaoglu was one of four pork butchers in Istanbul. All of his competitors quit handling pigs after losing their slaughterhouse permits. The state granted Kozmaoglu temporary licenses to let him kill the swine on outlawed farms, but those have now been cut off, he says.
In 2004, the Agriculture Ministry assumed the power to issue livestock handling permits previously controlled by local authorities. The ministry has refused applications for pig facilities, citing a failure to meet sanitary or other standards.
A ministry spokeswoman declined to answer questions about pig farms and slaughterhouses.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Istanbul's Last Pork Butcher Fights Islamist Crackdown on Swine
By Firat Kayakiran
Lazari Kozmaoglu, Istanbul's last pork butcher, takes a break from a two-hour backgammon session to recall the days he spent slicing bacon instead of rolling dice.
Eight workers used to rush in and out of the cutting room, placing wrapped meat in refrigerators, Kozmaoglu, 63, recalls in his store in central Istanbul. Today the shop is down to its last two months of stock and attracts only a handful of customers.
Turkey's Islamist-rooted government has clamped down on the pork industry since 2004, closing all but two of the country's 25 pig farms and revoking slaughterhouse licenses. Kozmaoglu, unable to add to his meat supplies, spends most of his time shuffling paperwork as he seeks permission to reopen his abattoir.
"I don't know what I can do if they don't give it to me; this business is my life,'' Kozmaoglu says as he watches a news bulletin on Greek television.
He's one of about 2,000 ethnic Greeks remaining in Istanbul. Most Greeks left the city after Turkish mobs attacked their homes and workplaces in 1955. Others were expelled in 1964 after fighting between Greeks and Turks on Cyprus.
Before the 2004 crackdown, Kozmaoglu was one of four pork butchers in Istanbul. All of his competitors quit handling pigs after losing their slaughterhouse permits. The state granted Kozmaoglu temporary licenses to let him kill the swine on outlawed farms, but those have now been cut off, he says.
In 2004, the Agriculture Ministry assumed the power to issue livestock handling permits previously controlled by local authorities. The ministry has refused applications for pig facilities, citing a failure to meet sanitary or other standards.
A ministry spokeswoman declined to answer questions about pig farms and slaughterhouses.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Istanbul's Last Pork Butcher Fights Islamist Crackdown on Swine
Friday, March 14, 2008
DAR AL HARB-EURABIA-GERMANY: TURKS IN GERMANY DON'T FEEL WELCOME - - - WHAT A SURPRISE...NOT ! ! !
Turks Feel Unwanted in Germany
A new poll finds that the majority of people of Turkish descent living in the country feel unwelcomed by Germans. A full 78 percent say that Angela Merkel is not their chancellor.
...
The whiners should move back to their hellhole of a country...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turks Feel Unwanted in Germany
A new poll finds that the majority of people of Turkish descent living in the country feel unwelcomed by Germans. A full 78 percent say that Angela Merkel is not their chancellor.
...
The whiners should move back to their hellhole of a country...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turks Feel Unwanted in Germany
Friday, February 29, 2008
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM: IT IS NOT A NEW COMPILATION OF HADITH, IT IS ONLY A RECLASSIFICATION
Why Islam can enjoin stoning
By Christopher Howse
Sacred mysteries
The stoning of adulterers in Islamic law is not commanded by the Koran. It is found in the collections of the sayings and practice of Mohammed known as the hadith. In Turkey, we learn this week, an attempt is under way to construct a new compilation of hadith, and the question of stoning shows that this may be a life-and-death undertaking.
...
Ahh the dhimmis is soo full of hope that islam can somehow be reformed but yet he is ignorant of the news provided to us via ISLAMONLINE [Dated February 29, 2008]:
Turkey Classifying Not Revising Hadith
By Ahmad Maher, IOL Staff
Eighty scholars from 23 Turkish universities are working on a major project to classify and translate the Hadith (the collection of sayings of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him).
"Make no mistake, we are not after modifying or revising the Hadith," Mehmet Gormez, deputy director of the religious affairs authority Diyanet and supervisor of the project, told IslamOnline.net in a phone interview.
"What we are actually doing is re-classifying, re-categorizing the Hadith and translating it into Turkish, no more no less."
A hadith literally means "saying," but in the Islamic technical sense, a hadith refers to the sayings of the Prophet, the Prophet's acts, the Prophet's tacit approval of an action or practice, or the Prophet's attributes, whether physical or moral.
...
"We have compiled all hadiths and read them to reclassify them anew," he explained.
"We have also taken into account the unauthentic ones or those attributed falsely to the Prophet because to understand the true Hadith, you really need to (understand) the unauthentic sayings."
Muslim scholars believe Hadith is integral to the understanding of Qur'an, since they are inseparably linked to each other.
They say it is impossible to understand the Qur'an without reference to Hadith because the Qur'an is the message and the Hadith is the explanation of the message by the Messenger himself.
...
He shrugged off media suggestions that Turkey was re-writing the Hadith and creating a new Islam.
"They made too much fuss and took the project out of its real context."
"We are neither fashioning a new Islam nor dare to alter the fixtures maxims of Islam," Gormez said emphatically.
"The Western media have read what are doing from a Christian perspective and understood it in line with their Christian and Western cultures."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Why Islam can enjoin stoning
2) Turkey Classifying Not Revising Hadith
By Christopher Howse
Sacred mysteries
The stoning of adulterers in Islamic law is not commanded by the Koran. It is found in the collections of the sayings and practice of Mohammed known as the hadith. In Turkey, we learn this week, an attempt is under way to construct a new compilation of hadith, and the question of stoning shows that this may be a life-and-death undertaking.
...
Ahh the dhimmis is soo full of hope that islam can somehow be reformed but yet he is ignorant of the news provided to us via ISLAMONLINE [Dated February 29, 2008]:
Turkey Classifying Not Revising Hadith
By Ahmad Maher, IOL Staff
Eighty scholars from 23 Turkish universities are working on a major project to classify and translate the Hadith (the collection of sayings of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him).
"Make no mistake, we are not after modifying or revising the Hadith," Mehmet Gormez, deputy director of the religious affairs authority Diyanet and supervisor of the project, told IslamOnline.net in a phone interview.
"What we are actually doing is re-classifying, re-categorizing the Hadith and translating it into Turkish, no more no less."
A hadith literally means "saying," but in the Islamic technical sense, a hadith refers to the sayings of the Prophet, the Prophet's acts, the Prophet's tacit approval of an action or practice, or the Prophet's attributes, whether physical or moral.
...
"We have compiled all hadiths and read them to reclassify them anew," he explained.
"We have also taken into account the unauthentic ones or those attributed falsely to the Prophet because to understand the true Hadith, you really need to (understand) the unauthentic sayings."
Muslim scholars believe Hadith is integral to the understanding of Qur'an, since they are inseparably linked to each other.
They say it is impossible to understand the Qur'an without reference to Hadith because the Qur'an is the message and the Hadith is the explanation of the message by the Messenger himself.
...
He shrugged off media suggestions that Turkey was re-writing the Hadith and creating a new Islam.
"They made too much fuss and took the project out of its real context."
"We are neither fashioning a new Islam nor dare to alter the fixtures maxims of Islam," Gormez said emphatically.
"The Western media have read what are doing from a Christian perspective and understood it in line with their Christian and Western cultures."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Why Islam can enjoin stoning
2) Turkey Classifying Not Revising Hadith
Thursday, February 28, 2008
DAR AL ISLAM-TURKEY/IRAQ: THE U.S. RECEIVES "THE FINGER" FROM TURKEY IN REGARDS TO THEIR INVASION OF NORTHERN IRAQ
Turkey Rebuffs U.S. Over Iraq Attack
Turkey said Feb. 28 its offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq will continue "as long as necessary," rejecting pressure for a speedy end to the military incursion from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Even as Gates held talks in Ankara, Turkish warplanes bombed positions of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and intensive fighting was reported on the ground near a major rebel base in the Zap area, Iraqi security sources said.
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul refused to offer a timetable for a pull-out while giving assurances that the incursion, launched on Feb. 21, posed no challenge to Iraqi sovereignity.
"Turkey will remain in northern Iraq as long as necessary," Gonul said after talks with Gates, adding that the troops will return home once PKK hideouts are destroyed.
"There is no need for us to stay there after we finish the terrorist infrastructure... We have no intention to interfere in (Iraqi) domestic politics, no intention to occupy any area," he said.
Gates pressed for the offensive to be "as short and precisely targeted as possible," and reiterated that it should last no longer than "a week or two".
Washington is particularly concerned that the incursion could broaden into a wider conflict between Turkish forces and the Kurdish administrators of northern Iraq -- two key U.S. allies.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkey Rebuffs U.S. Over Iraq Attack
Turkey said Feb. 28 its offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq will continue "as long as necessary," rejecting pressure for a speedy end to the military incursion from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Even as Gates held talks in Ankara, Turkish warplanes bombed positions of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and intensive fighting was reported on the ground near a major rebel base in the Zap area, Iraqi security sources said.
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul refused to offer a timetable for a pull-out while giving assurances that the incursion, launched on Feb. 21, posed no challenge to Iraqi sovereignity.
"Turkey will remain in northern Iraq as long as necessary," Gonul said after talks with Gates, adding that the troops will return home once PKK hideouts are destroyed.
"There is no need for us to stay there after we finish the terrorist infrastructure... We have no intention to interfere in (Iraqi) domestic politics, no intention to occupy any area," he said.
Gates pressed for the offensive to be "as short and precisely targeted as possible," and reiterated that it should last no longer than "a week or two".
Washington is particularly concerned that the incursion could broaden into a wider conflict between Turkish forces and the Kurdish administrators of northern Iraq -- two key U.S. allies.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkey Rebuffs U.S. Over Iraq Attack
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
DAR AL ISLAM-TURKEY: SECULAR TURKS MOVE AGAINST THE LAW ALLOWING THE 'HEAD SCARF'
Turkish parties move against law allowing head scarves
Two secular Turkish opposition parties jointly appealed to the Constitutional Court on Wednesday to overturn a law allowing women to wear Islamic head scarves in universities.
The Republican People's Party and Democratic Left Party said the law, already approved by the parliament and the president, violated the secular principles of the Constitution. Most universities have defied an instruction from the higher education board and denied entry to students wearing an Islamic head scarf.
"We have come to the Constitutional Court to fulfill a historic and important mission," said Onder Sav, general secretary of the Republican People's Party. "Lifting the ban on the head scarf would lead to pressures on those who do not cover their hair."
Most proponents of the ban also see the head scarf as an emblem of political Islam and consider any attempt to allow it in schools and government buildings as an attack against Turkey's secular laws. The ban's opponents say the head scarf is a matter of free expression.
It was not clear when the nation's top court, whose past verdicts helped enforce the ban, would make a decision.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkish parties move against law allowing head scarves
Two secular Turkish opposition parties jointly appealed to the Constitutional Court on Wednesday to overturn a law allowing women to wear Islamic head scarves in universities.
The Republican People's Party and Democratic Left Party said the law, already approved by the parliament and the president, violated the secular principles of the Constitution. Most universities have defied an instruction from the higher education board and denied entry to students wearing an Islamic head scarf.
"We have come to the Constitutional Court to fulfill a historic and important mission," said Onder Sav, general secretary of the Republican People's Party. "Lifting the ban on the head scarf would lead to pressures on those who do not cover their hair."
Most proponents of the ban also see the head scarf as an emblem of political Islam and consider any attempt to allow it in schools and government buildings as an attack against Turkey's secular laws. The ban's opponents say the head scarf is a matter of free expression.
It was not clear when the nation's top court, whose past verdicts helped enforce the ban, would make a decision.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkish parties move against law allowing head scarves
Friday, February 15, 2008
Headscarf Researcher Condemns Turkey's Move to Lift Ban
By Daniel Steinvorth in Istanbul
In a SPIEGEL interview, prominent Turkish archeologist Muazzez Ilmiye Cig discusses her country's move to lift the headscarf ban on college campuses and why she feels it represents a "step back" for her country.
Hardly any other issue is so divisive in Turkey as the headscarf. For some it is an expression of individual religiousness, while others see it as a declaration of war against the secular republic. The parliament in Ankara, which is dominated by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic conservative AKP, voted last Wednesday to lift the ban on wearing the headscarf at universities (more...).
On Saturday, parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve the two constitutional amendments. In lifting the ban, Erdogan made good on a campaign promise he had made five years ago. Leading up to the parliament's decision, tens of thousands of secular Turks took to the streets to express their support for keeping the ban. The amendments have been sent to the office of President Abdullah Gül, who is expected to agree to the changes.
In an interview with SPIEGEL, Muazzez Ilmiye Çig -- the 93-year-old doyenne of Turkish archeology, and one of Turkey's best-known opponents of the headscarf -- discusses the development and its ramifications for the secular nation.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Headscarf Researcher Condemns Turkey's Move to Lift Ban
By Daniel Steinvorth in Istanbul
In a SPIEGEL interview, prominent Turkish archeologist Muazzez Ilmiye Cig discusses her country's move to lift the headscarf ban on college campuses and why she feels it represents a "step back" for her country.
Hardly any other issue is so divisive in Turkey as the headscarf. For some it is an expression of individual religiousness, while others see it as a declaration of war against the secular republic. The parliament in Ankara, which is dominated by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic conservative AKP, voted last Wednesday to lift the ban on wearing the headscarf at universities (more...).
On Saturday, parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve the two constitutional amendments. In lifting the ban, Erdogan made good on a campaign promise he had made five years ago. Leading up to the parliament's decision, tens of thousands of secular Turks took to the streets to express their support for keeping the ban. The amendments have been sent to the office of President Abdullah Gül, who is expected to agree to the changes.
In an interview with SPIEGEL, Muazzez Ilmiye Çig -- the 93-year-old doyenne of Turkish archeology, and one of Turkey's best-known opponents of the headscarf -- discusses the development and its ramifications for the secular nation.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Headscarf Researcher Condemns Turkey's Move to Lift Ban
Thursday, February 14, 2008
DAR AL HARB-GERMANY: NO TURKISH LANGUAGE SCHOOLS OR UNIVERSITIES IN GERMANY
German leaders praised for rejecting Turkish school proposal
By Chad Groening
Germany: An English language advocate is praising German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other government officials for rejecting a proposal by Turkey's leader to open Turkish language schools and universities in Germany.
Like many countries in Western Europe, Germany has seen a dramatic increase in immigration from the Islamic world. In Germany's case most of the immigrants have come from Turkey, creating a substantial and growing minority in the country.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) German leaders praised for rejecting Turkish school proposal
By Chad Groening
Germany: An English language advocate is praising German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other government officials for rejecting a proposal by Turkey's leader to open Turkish language schools and universities in Germany.
Like many countries in Western Europe, Germany has seen a dramatic increase in immigration from the Islamic world. In Germany's case most of the immigrants have come from Turkey, creating a substantial and growing minority in the country.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) German leaders praised for rejecting Turkish school proposal
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
DAR AL ISLAM-TURKEY: "WE COULD NOT ADOPT THE WEST'S SCIENCE & ARTS...WE HAVE ADOPTED ITS IMMORALITY..."
Turkish leader's emphasis on morality alarms secularists who fear bigger role for Islam
Turkey's leader, a devout Muslim, talks a lot about morality these days. That's the kind of language that alarms secular Turks, who fear the government plans to make religion a part of their lifestyle.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says it's about religious freedom and meeting the demands of a pious electorate, and not a desire to topple the secular pillars of a nation of more than 70 million that is often praised as a model of coexistence between Islam and democracy.
Parliament voted this past weekend to lift a ban on the wearing of Islamic head scarves by female students in universities after a polarizing debate that delayed progress on key reforms required to achieve Turkey's goal of membership in the European Union. Chief among them is the repeal or amendment of Article 301, a law that limits free speech by saying it is a crime to insult the Turkish identity, and was used to prosecute Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk.
On Wednesday, the prime minister condemned some aspects of secular culture that have taken root in Turkey, even as he said women who do not cover their hair in line with Islamic tradition would not be pressured to do so.
"We guarantee their lifestyle," Erdogan said. But he criticized secular media for publishing racy photographs of female models: "You are the ones who print pictures of totally naked women on newspapers against this society's moral values. Have we interfered with that?"
On Wednesday, some Turkish newspapers carried photographs of women in lingerie, with captions about Valentine's Day on Thursday, on the front and back pages. "I know what a man wants," one headline read. Sabah and Vatan newspapers printed images of Marisa Miller, the cover model of the 2008 swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.
Erdogan's comments echoed remarks that he made last month to a group of Turkish students who were preparing to study abroad. At that meeting, he seemed to refer to the failure of the Ottoman Empire to absorb the best of Western innovation, a factor that led to its collapse early in the 20th century.
"We could not adopt the West's science and arts. Unfortunately, we have adopted its immorality, which is contrary to our values," Erdogan said.
The debate about morality reflects a broader change under way in Turkey, where the Islamic-oriented government won by a landslide in parliamentary elections last year with the help of conservative Muslims from modest backgrounds. The subsequent election of President Abdullah Gul, a close ally of Erdogan, marked another blow to secular, privileged circles dominated by the military, the courts and the bureaucracy.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkish leader's emphasis on morality alarms secularists who fear bigger role for Islam
Turkey's leader, a devout Muslim, talks a lot about morality these days. That's the kind of language that alarms secular Turks, who fear the government plans to make religion a part of their lifestyle.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says it's about religious freedom and meeting the demands of a pious electorate, and not a desire to topple the secular pillars of a nation of more than 70 million that is often praised as a model of coexistence between Islam and democracy.
Parliament voted this past weekend to lift a ban on the wearing of Islamic head scarves by female students in universities after a polarizing debate that delayed progress on key reforms required to achieve Turkey's goal of membership in the European Union. Chief among them is the repeal or amendment of Article 301, a law that limits free speech by saying it is a crime to insult the Turkish identity, and was used to prosecute Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk.
On Wednesday, the prime minister condemned some aspects of secular culture that have taken root in Turkey, even as he said women who do not cover their hair in line with Islamic tradition would not be pressured to do so.
"We guarantee their lifestyle," Erdogan said. But he criticized secular media for publishing racy photographs of female models: "You are the ones who print pictures of totally naked women on newspapers against this society's moral values. Have we interfered with that?"
On Wednesday, some Turkish newspapers carried photographs of women in lingerie, with captions about Valentine's Day on Thursday, on the front and back pages. "I know what a man wants," one headline read. Sabah and Vatan newspapers printed images of Marisa Miller, the cover model of the 2008 swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.
Erdogan's comments echoed remarks that he made last month to a group of Turkish students who were preparing to study abroad. At that meeting, he seemed to refer to the failure of the Ottoman Empire to absorb the best of Western innovation, a factor that led to its collapse early in the 20th century.
"We could not adopt the West's science and arts. Unfortunately, we have adopted its immorality, which is contrary to our values," Erdogan said.
The debate about morality reflects a broader change under way in Turkey, where the Islamic-oriented government won by a landslide in parliamentary elections last year with the help of conservative Muslims from modest backgrounds. The subsequent election of President Abdullah Gul, a close ally of Erdogan, marked another blow to secular, privileged circles dominated by the military, the courts and the bureaucracy.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkish leader's emphasis on morality alarms secularists who fear bigger role for Islam
Thursday, February 07, 2008
DAR AL ISLAM - TURKEY: SAY AU REVOIR TO A SECULAR TURKEY
First step towards lifting ban on wearing headscarves in universities
Turkey’s parliament passes constitutional amendment, which must however undergo a second vote next Saturday. The language of the amendment does not directly refer to any dress code, but only to what might limit the right to an education. Even so a final approval must wait for a decision by the Constitutional Court.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) First step towards lifting ban on wearing headscarves in universities
Turkey’s parliament passes constitutional amendment, which must however undergo a second vote next Saturday. The language of the amendment does not directly refer to any dress code, but only to what might limit the right to an education. Even so a final approval must wait for a decision by the Constitutional Court.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) First step towards lifting ban on wearing headscarves in universities
Friday, January 25, 2008
DAR AL ISLAM - TURKEY: 'DEEPLY CONSERVATIVE' TURKEY DEMANDS PEOPLE KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT OR THEY WILL PAY FOR IT
Turkey to alter speech law
By Sabrina Tavernise
When Atilla Yayla, a maverick political science professor, offered a mild criticism of Turkey's first years as a country, his remarks unleashed a torrent of abuse.
"Traitor!" a newspaper headline shouted. His college dismissed him. State prosecutors in this western city, where he spoke, opened a criminal case against him. His crime? Violating an obscure law against insulting the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's founder.
"I need thoughts to counter my ideas," Yayla said. "Instead they attacked me."
Turkey's government has taken on the issue of free speech and is expected as early as Friday to announce a weakening of a law against insulting Turkishness, an amendment that is considered a key measure of the democratic maturity of this Muslim country as it tries to gain acceptance to the European Union.
But while that law, called Article 301, is known to many in the West — Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novelist, was prosecuted under 301 — it is just one of many laws that limit freedom of expression for intellectuals in Turkey. The law under which Yayla was prosecuted, for example, dates from 1951 and is not even part of the penal code.
While the change in Article 301 is likely to stop the wanton application of that law, the single most common statute used against critics of Turkey's official line, the government was unable to remove it from the books completely, as liberals here had wanted.
The reason goes to the heart of the state of Turkey Friday: Despite its booming economy, gay pride parades and ambitious European aspirations, a large part of Turkish society is deeply conservative. When it comes to free speech, many Turks support the limitations.
As nationalism has been rising in Turkey in response to the broad changes sweeping society, so have the number of court cases against writers, publishers and academics. The European Union, in a report in November, said the number of such people prosecuted almost doubled in 2006 over the year before, and rose further in 2007.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkey to alter speech law
By Sabrina Tavernise
When Atilla Yayla, a maverick political science professor, offered a mild criticism of Turkey's first years as a country, his remarks unleashed a torrent of abuse.
"Traitor!" a newspaper headline shouted. His college dismissed him. State prosecutors in this western city, where he spoke, opened a criminal case against him. His crime? Violating an obscure law against insulting the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's founder.
"I need thoughts to counter my ideas," Yayla said. "Instead they attacked me."
Turkey's government has taken on the issue of free speech and is expected as early as Friday to announce a weakening of a law against insulting Turkishness, an amendment that is considered a key measure of the democratic maturity of this Muslim country as it tries to gain acceptance to the European Union.
But while that law, called Article 301, is known to many in the West — Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novelist, was prosecuted under 301 — it is just one of many laws that limit freedom of expression for intellectuals in Turkey. The law under which Yayla was prosecuted, for example, dates from 1951 and is not even part of the penal code.
While the change in Article 301 is likely to stop the wanton application of that law, the single most common statute used against critics of Turkey's official line, the government was unable to remove it from the books completely, as liberals here had wanted.
The reason goes to the heart of the state of Turkey Friday: Despite its booming economy, gay pride parades and ambitious European aspirations, a large part of Turkish society is deeply conservative. When it comes to free speech, many Turks support the limitations.
As nationalism has been rising in Turkey in response to the broad changes sweeping society, so have the number of court cases against writers, publishers and academics. The European Union, in a report in November, said the number of such people prosecuted almost doubled in 2006 over the year before, and rose further in 2007.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkey to alter speech law
DAR AL ISLAM - TURKEY: TURKEY IS A SEUCLAR MOSLEM NATION?!? ONLY IN YOUR WET DREAMS...
Turkey to Lift University Head Scarf Ban
Next week, the ruling Islamic conservative party in Turkey will likely succeed in lifting a ban on women wearing head scarves at universities. An end to the ban would infuriate secular elites, but please a growing conservative middle class.
...
And still the DHIMMI PRESIDENT BUSH pushes for Turkey to join the European Union & complete their Eurabization...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkey to Lift University Head Scarf Ban
Next week, the ruling Islamic conservative party in Turkey will likely succeed in lifting a ban on women wearing head scarves at universities. An end to the ban would infuriate secular elites, but please a growing conservative middle class.
...
And still the DHIMMI PRESIDENT BUSH pushes for Turkey to join the European Union & complete their Eurabization...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkey to Lift University Head Scarf Ban
Friday, November 30, 2007
TURKEY: 300,000 EUROS FOR A SYRIAN ORTHODOX PRIEST
TURKEY: KIDNAPPERS DEMAND 300,000 EUROS FOR PRIEST
Neighbors fond of hard-working priest who doubles as village repairman.
ISTANBUL, November 29 (Compass Direct News) – Kidnappers of a Syrian Orthodox priest abducted yesterday in Southeast Turkey have demanded an enormous ransom for his release, church sources said. Father Edip Daniel Savci, 42, went missing yesterday afternoon while driving north from the city of Midyat to his home at Mor Yakup Monastery in the village of Baristepe. At the monastery he was serving as a foster parent to 12 children and was doubling as village electrician. Isa Gulten, principal at a Syrian Orthodox school south of Midyat, said that villagers had found Fr. Savci’s empty car soon after the incident. Following the abduction, the kidnappers called another Syrian Orthodox priest from Fr. Savci’s mobile telephone and demanded a 300,000-euro (US$443,720) ransom. “We want 300,000 euros or we won’t release him,” read a text message they sent to the priest, who requested anonymity, according to a source who spoke with him.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) TURKEY: KIDNAPPERS DEMAND 300,000 EUROS FOR PRIEST
Neighbors fond of hard-working priest who doubles as village repairman.
ISTANBUL, November 29 (Compass Direct News) – Kidnappers of a Syrian Orthodox priest abducted yesterday in Southeast Turkey have demanded an enormous ransom for his release, church sources said. Father Edip Daniel Savci, 42, went missing yesterday afternoon while driving north from the city of Midyat to his home at Mor Yakup Monastery in the village of Baristepe. At the monastery he was serving as a foster parent to 12 children and was doubling as village electrician. Isa Gulten, principal at a Syrian Orthodox school south of Midyat, said that villagers had found Fr. Savci’s empty car soon after the incident. Following the abduction, the kidnappers called another Syrian Orthodox priest from Fr. Savci’s mobile telephone and demanded a 300,000-euro (US$443,720) ransom. “We want 300,000 euros or we won’t release him,” read a text message they sent to the priest, who requested anonymity, according to a source who spoke with him.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) TURKEY: KIDNAPPERS DEMAND 300,000 EUROS FOR PRIEST
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM - TURKEY: ERDOGAN TO NAME HIS CABINET - - - WILL ISLAMISTS BE SELECTED?!? I SAY YES...
Turkey: Islamist-Secular Tensions Loom As PM To Name Cabinet
By Jeffrey Donovan
August 6, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a mandate today from the country's president to form a new government, two weeks after his ruling, Islamist-rooted Justice and Development (AK) party won a decisive victory in parliamentary polls.
In April, Erdogan's decision to propose Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, whose wife wears the head scarf, as a candidate for the presidency sparked a major backlash from the secular opposition and military leaders. Erdogan was eventually forced to scrap the presidential vote and call early elections.
But following his AK party's landslide victory in those July 22 polls, Erdogan is now in the political driver's seat, with a solid majority in parliament to push through his agenda.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer tapped Erdogan today to form a new cabinet, two days after the new parliament was sworn in.
Clash With Secularists Ahead?
While he has 45 days to present a list for Sezer's approval, the prime minister is expected to move quickly to set up his cabinet -- perhaps within a week -- and then move on to the next challenge: parliament's election of a successor to the outgoing Sezer, a staunch secularist.
Does that mean Turkey faces another political crisis pitting the secular establishment against Erdogan's Islamist-inspired AK party?
British analyst David Barchard, of Ankara's Tepav policy institute, doesn't think so. "We're in much calmer waters now," he says. "For a start, it's clear that there will be a quorum, as far as we can judge, a two-thirds quorum for the holding of the elections. That means [the parliament] won't be obstructed that way."
With Gul making it clear that he still wants to be president, Barchard says Erdogan will be hard-pressed to deny his foreign minister a second chance to win the parliamentary vote to succeed Sezer as president.
"My personal view is that we will end up with Mr. Gul after not a very long presidential election, perhaps two or three rounds at the most. But it certainly won't take more than a month to install him in office," Barchard says. "But there are other people who think some sort of compromise figure will be selected."
Barchard adds that the presidential vote could come within the next two weeks.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkey: Islamist-Secular Tensions Loom As PM To Name Cabinet
By Jeffrey Donovan
August 6, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a mandate today from the country's president to form a new government, two weeks after his ruling, Islamist-rooted Justice and Development (AK) party won a decisive victory in parliamentary polls.
In April, Erdogan's decision to propose Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, whose wife wears the head scarf, as a candidate for the presidency sparked a major backlash from the secular opposition and military leaders. Erdogan was eventually forced to scrap the presidential vote and call early elections.
But following his AK party's landslide victory in those July 22 polls, Erdogan is now in the political driver's seat, with a solid majority in parliament to push through his agenda.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer tapped Erdogan today to form a new cabinet, two days after the new parliament was sworn in.
Clash With Secularists Ahead?
While he has 45 days to present a list for Sezer's approval, the prime minister is expected to move quickly to set up his cabinet -- perhaps within a week -- and then move on to the next challenge: parliament's election of a successor to the outgoing Sezer, a staunch secularist.
Does that mean Turkey faces another political crisis pitting the secular establishment against Erdogan's Islamist-inspired AK party?
British analyst David Barchard, of Ankara's Tepav policy institute, doesn't think so. "We're in much calmer waters now," he says. "For a start, it's clear that there will be a quorum, as far as we can judge, a two-thirds quorum for the holding of the elections. That means [the parliament] won't be obstructed that way."
With Gul making it clear that he still wants to be president, Barchard says Erdogan will be hard-pressed to deny his foreign minister a second chance to win the parliamentary vote to succeed Sezer as president.
"My personal view is that we will end up with Mr. Gul after not a very long presidential election, perhaps two or three rounds at the most. But it certainly won't take more than a month to install him in office," Barchard says. "But there are other people who think some sort of compromise figure will be selected."
Barchard adds that the presidential vote could come within the next two weeks.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Turkey: Islamist-Secular Tensions Loom As PM To Name Cabinet
Thursday, August 02, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./TURKEY: A JOINT OPERATION TO ELIMINATE THE PKK
U.S., Turkey planning joint operation in northern Iraq
WASHINGTON — Turkey and the United States are making plans that entail joint operations in northern Iraq to eliminate the Kurdish insurgency presence.
"We recognize that the PKK is a serious problem and we're working closely with both the government of Iraq and the government of Turkey to resolve this," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) U.S., Turkey planning joint operation in northern Iraq
WASHINGTON — Turkey and the United States are making plans that entail joint operations in northern Iraq to eliminate the Kurdish insurgency presence.
"We recognize that the PKK is a serious problem and we're working closely with both the government of Iraq and the government of Turkey to resolve this," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) U.S., Turkey planning joint operation in northern Iraq
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