Turkish Supreme Court cancels upcoming presidential election

Post #283,531 by Another Scott 5/1/07 1:14:25 PM Reply	Turkish Supreme Court cancels upcoming presidential election [link\|http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aaWoj35jcsJc&refer=worldwide\|Bloomberg]: May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey's highest court annulled the nation's presidential election, in a move that may prompt Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to call an early parliamentary election to reaffirm his government's legitimacy. The Constitutional Court in Ankara today ruled in favor of a request by an opposition party to block Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul's bid for the presidency, Hasim Kilic, the court's deputy head, told reporters. The decision followed objections by the military to the nomination of Gul, who has an Islamist past, for election as head of state by parliament. It is up to parliament, in which Erdogan's Justice and Development Party has a majority, to decide on the next step, Kilic said. The army warned the government on April 27 to stick to Turkey's secular principles after Erdogan, 53, nominated Gul, 56, as his candidate for president. The military sees itself as guardian of the secular tradition laid down by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and has forced four governments from power since 1960. It's a messy business. I don't like the idea of the military getting involved, and the Supreme Court annulling an election seems weird too (though they apparently have the power to do that). It's very important for Turkey to stay secular, though. So I'm not sure where I come down on the details of this yet. This has the potential to complicate Turkey's attempt to join the EU as well, depending on what happens and what the military does. Cheers, Scott.
Post #283,532 by Steve Lowe 5/1/07 1:51:25 PM 5/1/07 1:52:27 PM Reply	Are they reaching? The decision followed objections by the military to the nomination of Gul, who has an Islamist past, for election as head of state by parliament. that sounds eerily like McCarthyism -- Steve [link\|http://www.ubuntulinux.org\|Ubuntu] Edited by Steve Lowe May 1, 2007, 01:52:27 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #283,538 by JayMehaffey 5/1/07 3:18:00 PM Reply	Hard to say > The decision followed objections by the military to the nomination of Gul, who has an Islamist past, for election as head of state by parliament. that sounds eerily like McCarthyism Hard to say. Islamist in this context means more then Muslim, it means a desire for an explicitly Muslim government and society. But I don't know if Abdullah G\ufffdl really falls into that category. The party he is a member of is called "Justice and Development Party" which works out to AKP in Turkish. This party is a moderate Islamist party, which means that their public position is a desire for a Muslim society but not to replace the constitution or enforce Muslim law. However, their position seems to be carefully gaged to be as Islamist as they can be without being banned. The current head of the AKP and current Prime Minister is Recep Erdoğan. There was talk of him running, but it appears that he realized there wasn't a chance of him being allowed to run for President. He is clearly more Islamist then Gul. The whole things seems a bit odd to me, since my reading of the Turkish government is that the President is fairly symbolic. Like many parliamentary governments, the Prime Minister has more power. The judiciary and military may actually be more worried about the President and Prime Minister coming from one party then anything else. Politics in Turkey on the whole is strange anyway, because it is really a fight between two right wing groups. The secular, nationalist types, who border on facist at their most extreme. And the Islamist types, the radical ones of which seek to replace the constitution and enforce Sharia law. Jay

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