Main focus of Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Turkey ahead of the elections

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has renounced running for president in favour of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül. Can Gül, who is widely regarded as pro-European, dispel the doubts about his party, the Islamic-conservative AKP, or is the country at risk of increasingly coming under the sway of Islam?

La Vanguardia - Spain

"The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has finally taken opinion polls and pressure on the street into account", underlines the daily. "He has given up his dream out of pragmatism and under pressure from his own party which is afraid of losing the legislative elections in November, afraid of the army, which has expressed its discomfort, and afraid of the secular population who gathered a demonstration of one and a half million people against him. To stymie fear of the Islamisation of the country, Gül has promised to respect the values of the democratic and secular Republic. This 56 year-old economist educated in Britain was a key actor in negotiations with the EU. However, the fact that his wife Hayrusina permanently covers her head with a veil, something that is one of Turkey's most controversial issues, may well cause trouble for him." (25/04/2007)

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Financial Times - United Kingdom

"By putting forward Abdullah Gül, the foreign minister, Mr Erdogan and the AKP have stepped back from confrontation at a time of rising political tension. Hopefully this will tone down Turkey's culture war before it gets really dangerous", considers the daily. "The army, still powerful though curbed by AKP reforms, is flexing its muscles. ... The 'deep state' the army fronts for will fear Mr Gül is keeping the presidential seat warm for Mr Erdogan. ... Yet the tussle for the presidency, which led to big demonstrations, suggests that in future Turkish heads of state should be elected directly by the people, the only way Mr Erdogan is likely to become (and stay) president. The AKP high command is already mulling changes in the presidential system. This needs a wider debate about the distribution of power between institutions, including excessive presidential powers that have more to do with the 1980 army coup than Atatürk." (25/04/2007)

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Frankfurter Rundschau - Germany

According to Edgar Auth, it was a clever move of Prime Minister Erdogan to make way for his fellow party member Abdullah Gül to run for the highest public office: "It's no coincidence that the proponents of the Islamisation of Turkey are not opposed to the country's coming closer to Europe. This is because the tolerance and openness practised there will make things easier for them. Unlike at European universities, students at Turkish universities are forbidden to wear headscarves... The allegedly so enlightened elites in Istanbul and Ankara see the roots of re-Islamisation in Europe. In their view fundamentalist emigrants are reimporting Islamism to their country. This elite tends to overlook its own social and democratic shortcomings. This situation is creating a somewhat unholy alliance between the military, the nationalists and concerned democrats who see an AKP presidency as the end of modern Turkey... This should give cause for scepticism... Therefore Gül and his party should be given a chance." (25/04/2007)

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Der Standard - Austria

Christoph Prantner takes a critical view of Abdullah Gül's presidential candidacy: "Although Gül stresses that the president is bound by Turkey's secular foundations and that he would naturally respect this, it's clear that if he's elected there would be major changes in Turkey's institutional structure. Not since Atatuk founded the republic would an Islamic party have so much power, occupying the offices of president, prime minister and speaker of the parliament at the same time. Never before has an 'Islamic' president had the military, which sees itself as the protector of Kemalism, under its command. And never has an Islamic politician been able to influence universities and the selection of the functionaries of justice to such an extent. If the AKP wins the parliamentary elections in November again, we will learn the truth about how deeply rooted laicism is in Turkey." (25/04/2007)

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