Word: erdogan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan noted that the vote - which gives the government the authority to determine the "scope, limits and duration" of any operation - does not necessarily mean an incursion is imminent. Turkey, he said, "will act with common sense and determination when necessary and when the time is ripe...
...government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is under huge public pressure after several deadly attacks by Kurdish guerrillas in the southeast that have killed 30 people in under two weeks. Members of Turkey's parliament are due to vote on allowing a cross-border military incursion next week, and the military machine is already preparing. "After the U.S. House vote, the Turkish public is going to think tit for tat," says Birand. "This is going to strengthen the nationalists, including the position of those people who want us to invade north Iraq...
...Erdogan's comments have sparked fresh hand-wringing in Turkey about where the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) may be headed in its attempts to reform Turkey's secular constitution. They have also raised questions about the role of women in this predominantly Muslim society. "We always knew that the AKP wanted to lift the ban on headscarves, but democracy is as much about style as it is about institutions. It would be better if [Prime Minister Erdogan] was less dismissive of secularist concerns in this country," Hakan Altinay, head of the Open Society Institute, a pro-democracy group...
...First elected in 2002, Erdogan has until now skirted the politically sensitive headscarf issue. But the July election, in which his party won 47% of the popular vote, together with the appointment last month of President Abdullah Gul, a conservative Muslim, appear to have emboldened the religiously conservative party. One of its main tasks now is to revise a constitution that was introduced by a military government after a coup in 1980. The government has assigned a team of academics and lawmakers to come up with a new one. Wording of a first draft was recently leaked to the Turkish...
...Erdogan has a personal stake in the matter. He sent his own daughters to study in the U.S. in order to avoid the ban. In an interview in the Financial Times this week, he said: "The right to a higher education cannot be restricted because of what a girl wears. There is no such problem in Western societies. I believe it is the first duty of those in politics to solve this problem." Altinay, at the Open Society, cautioned that Erdogan would be wise to try to convince secularists about need for the changes and not use his majority carelessly...