Word: erdogan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Iraq is not the only country in the region where there's rumors of a coup in the works. Ever since Prime Minister Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) swept Turkish parliamentary elections on July 22, and then elected AKP member Abdallah Gul President, the Turkish generals have been casting around for an excuse to take power. They mutter about Ergdogan being a fundamentalist and wobbly on security...
...Originally nominated in April by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, co-founder with Gul of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Gul's name on the slate evoked thinly veiled threats of a coup by Turkey's staunchly secularist military. Seeking a public mandate, Erdogan defiantly called early elections and, in what was widely seen as a popular snub to the military, the AKP was swept back into power with a resounding 47% of the vote. Erdogan then pushed ahead with Gul's nomination, despite calls to name a more centrist candidate to stand for a position which...
...Turkey's secularists remain deeply suspicious. Pointing to Gul and Erdogan's background as formerly hard-line Islamists, they argue that the AKP harbors a secret Islamist agenda. As President, Gul has the power to approve or veto legislation, and secularists fear that he will sign into law any bill passed by Erdogan's government without concern for the separation of religion and politics. They are also infuriated by the fact that his wife Hayrunnisa dons a headscarf - Islamic attire is restricted in government offices under laws that date back to Ataturk?s reforms...
...nomination of Abdullah Gul for President has renewed concerns that Turkey could be plunged back into the political crisis that triggered early parliamentary elections last month. That crisis pitched the ruling conservative AK Party led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan against the staunchly secular military, which rejected the nomination of Gul, the foreign minister, for the largely ceremonial presidency. The military opposed Gul's initial candidacy on the grounds that it represented a violation of Turkey's founding secularist principles - the fact that Gul's wife, a conservative Muslim, wears a headscarf in public represented a symbol of the Turkish state...
...Following the dispute in May when Gul, his nominee for President, was blocked, Erdogan has shown conciliatory signs - fielding a more moderate and centrist list of candidates in these elections, for instance. The next test will be his choice for a presidential candidate. Choosing one the secularists approve of would be a big step toward defusing Turkey's current political tensions. But with such an overwhelming mandate of support, Erdogan may be emboldened even further...