Neither West nor East, but up

[Pete]

Neither West nor East, but up

http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/...-west-nor-east

Elections in Turkey and nobody in the MSM is talking about - "What happens if the AKP gets 367 seat. The slow march continues and very few in the west want to see it happening.


"..............Never before have the Turks lived so well and faced the future with such optimism. Small wonder that no one doubts the Islamists of the AKP will win an absolute majority in the parliamentary elections this coming Sunday. The only question (and source of concern) is whether they will get the 367 deputies (out of 560) that will allow Erdogan's party to amend the Constitution unilaterally, without the need to hold referendums, and so give a new twist to the screw of what many perceive as the dangerous drift towards authoritarianism that has been manifesting itself in recent years...................."

The BBC story

Turkey election: Battle for votes as campaign nears end

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13725948

"............Mr Erdogan announced on Wednesday proposals to replace or revamp some government ministries, renaming the "ministry for women and family" the "ministry of family and social policies".

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said such a step would harm efforts to combat gender inequality and violence against women....................."

[scooter]

Ataturk must be proud.

[incarcerated]

Originally Posted by Pete

Elections in Turkey and nobody in the MSM is talking about - "What happens if the AKP gets 367 seat. The slow march continues and very few in the west want to see it happening.

Heart of the old Ottoman Empire.
Strategic geographic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.
NATO member.
Shifts in the country’s political geography driving it into radicalism
http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...ad.php?t=32695


Nope, nothing to see here. Move along.

[akv]

A bit dated, but food for thought

How ‘Islamist’ is the AKP?

MUSTAFA AKYOL

Friday, December 3, 2010

One of the interesting documents on the WikiLeaks archives is a political assessment by U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Ross Wilson, made in 2006. The U.S. diplomat focused on the debate about the “Islamism” of the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and came up with a sober conclusion. “AKP critics can only muster circumstantial evidence of an AKP Islamist agenda,” he noted. “[The party’s] record to date describes a center-right, conservative party with Islamic roots that has modestly advanced … Westernization and modernization.”

Four years have passed since that observation, and the record to date continues to confirm Ambassador Wilson’s observation. If “Islamist” means not “a Muslim who takes his religion seriously,” as Turkish secularists often use term, but rather someone who wants to impose Islamic law by establishing an “Islamic state,” than the AKP really cannot be described as such.

Adultery and alcohol

This is not that hard to see. The AKP has been in power since 2002, and life in today’s Turkey is no more “Islamic” than eight years ago. There are no fewer bars, nightclubs, alcohol-serving restaurants or bikini-rich beaches. Big cities such as Istanbul are actually more cosmopolitan and hedonistic than ever.

This is not a big surprise, for the AKP has never tried to impose Islamic law. Most of the legal reforms the party realized during its rule were actually not shariah-compliant but EU-compliant — in other words, compatible with European Union norms. The 2004 reforms to the Penal Code, for example, established full gender equality and women’s sexual autonomy. The 2010 amendments to the Constitution even introduced positive discrimination for women.

One controversial issue in the 2004 Penal Code reforms was the AKP’s failed attempt to criminalize adultery — which became the main proof of the party’s craving for the shariah. But that was an overstated case. First, adultery used to be a crime in Turkish law, since the beginning of Atatürk’s Republic, and it was only abolished in the late ’90s. The AKP’s draft was only about restoring this article. Secondly, the punishment would be two years in prison, not any corporal penalty. Third, the proposal was criticized not only by the liberal-minded but also some ultra-conservative Islamic figures who realized that the law would, by default, also criminalize polygamy, which is illegal in Turkey, but is still found in some underdeveloped areas. At the end, Prime Minister Erdoğan backed off from the idea and adultery remained legal.

Another controversial issue has been the consumption of alcohol. In fact, figures show that more alcohol is consumed in Turkey than before, since the AKP privatized alcohol production, which used to be a state monopoly. But several AKP municipalities, especially in the more conservative towns Anatolia, have been timid in giving alcohol sale permits to new restaurants. In a few cities, the AKP municipalities also tried to create dry zones by giving alcohol sale permits only in selected areas where there are no schools or residential neighborhoods.

As conservative as these policies are, they are probably no more conservative than the ones applied in the dry counties of the U.S.’ Bible Belt.

Besides these highly popularized but hardly alarming issues, other “anti-secular activities” of the AKP, as Turkey’s secularists see them, are in fact nothing but efforts to soften Turkey’s exceptionally rigid secularism. The headscarf controversy is the perfect example. Since the early ’80s, the headscarf has been banned in all schools, universities and public jobs — due to a Constitutional Court decision on the meaning of secularism. Yet not just the AKP but also many secular liberals see this ban as discrimination against veiled women, who make up some 60 percent of Turkish society. Hence came the AKP’s modest effort in 2007 to allow the headscarf in the universities, which led to a closure case against the party from which it only barely survived.

In other words, the AKP is not arguing for the abolition of secularism. It only argues for a more liberal interpretation secularism. Erdoğan publicly said they “prefer the U.S. model over the French model.”

Rise of the conservatives

But besides all those legal issues, there is really a big transformation in Turkey on the societal level: the socio-economic rise of the religious conservatives, which, for decades, used to be the underclass or the rural poor. The change began with their migration to big cities, and then the rise of “Muslim Calvinists,” as a Western think tank called them. These are religiously conservative but economically entrepreneurial businessmen who have successfully engaged in regional and global markets. The AKP is more a result of this new middle class rather than its cause — but it is further enhancing its ascendance now by using the power of the state in their favor. (Nepotism is a well-established Turkish tradition.)

In other words, the AKP is not imposing “shariah” on Turkey, but it is helping conservative Muslims to be more influential in public life. The secularists are shocked by this change, which they see as the end of the good-old hyper-secular Turkey. But the ideological Islamists are shocked, too, for they think that their fellow Muslims are becoming too pragmatic and worldly. And that is perhaps where the most interesting part of the story lies.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.p...akp-2010-12-03

[Pete]

Originally Posted by akv

A bit dated, but food for thought


http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.p...akp-2010-12-03

367

We shall see how close they get to 367.

[akv]

The numbers are in, 326, well below supermajority powers.

[incarcerated]

Originally Posted by akv

The numbers are in, 326, well below supermajority powers.

This time around.

[akv]

Originally Posted by incarcerated

This time around.

Turkey has been a stable secular republic for 88 years now, and concrete proof a secular republic is not incompatible with an Islamic majority. The AKP has been in power since 2002, unlike the rest of Europe their economy is booming, yet in this election, the AKP while extended another term, lost seats from 2007. After such easy credit and economic expansion there is a good chance they slip into recession, though they have avoided the gross credit abuse elsewhere in Europe, this will not be great for whomever is in charge. If the AKP fears are warranted, if they were going to get a supermajority, this was the election to do it.

Historically do people vote away their democracy, constitution and rights when they think they are better off than 4 years ago or when they have hit rock bottom? Turkey is re-emerging as a regional economic and military force, with their prosperity come new challenges both domestic and external they must face. It comes as no surprise increased Turkish assertiveness worries a Europe that has disarmed while spending herself into crisis. IMO Turkey is the most credible of the Islamic nations, they have a tradition of secular democracy, and a political and economic infrastructure, built on hard work instead of merely being paid for oil in their dirt.

Turkey is far from perfect, though if you are concerned with fertile grounds for Islamist expansion, the oppressive dirtball regimes in Syria, Saudi, and nuclear capable Pakistan, are far less legitimate, stable, and credible in the eyes of their citizens.

[Pete]

Turkey election: Victorious Erdogan pledges 'consensus'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13744972

You may be right akv, but I'll still keep my eye on how he is changing government and who he is appointing. We shall see.

Nice to see the CHP got 26% of the vote.


"..........In his victory speech, Mr Erdogan also alluded to Turkey's aspiration to be a voice in the West for the Middle Eastern region and Muslims, saying Bosnians, Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians also benefited from his victory.

"Believe me, Sarajevo won today as much as Istanbul, Beirut won as much as Izmir, Damascus won as much as Ankara, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, the West Bank, Jerusalem won as much as Diyarbakir."................."

Interesting that he should mention Jenin and Jerusalem. Almost a "call to arms".