About us | Advertising | Contact | Get Home Delivery | Archive
Mar 17, 2010 Homepage
News
Business
Interviews
Columnists
Op-Ed
Arts & Culture
Expat Zone
Features
Travel
Leisure
Life
Cartoons
Women
Health Briefs
Weird But True
Sports
Turkish Press Review
Today's think tanks

Turkey in Foreign Press



istanbul hotels

Columnists
HÜSEYİN GÜLERCE h.gulerce@todayszaman.com Politics

The AK Party’s golden ticket


The ruling of the Constitutional Court in favor of the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) legal argument demanding a quorum of 367 parliamentarians has confirmed the link between the military and judicial system over and above the will of the nation, paving the way for a deadlock in the parliament.

Today's interactive toolbox
Bookmark and Share
Video Photo Audio
Send to print Send to my friend
Post your comments
Read comments
The key to ending this deadlock is the elections. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has taken the necessary steps and has applied to the Turkish Parliament Speaker’s Office to hold general elections on June 24.

The Constitutional Court has never suffered such a major blow before. The public trust in the judicial system has not been so threatened since the Yassı Ada trials that sentenced Adnan Menderes to death. What’s worse is that it seems that the judicial system has placed an embargo upon the Parliament’s decisions and will. This process can be called “a judicial coup in line with the General Staff’s e-memorandum.”

We saw how the April 27 declaration from the General Staff disturbed the economic balances the next morning. This process not only placed the democratic system under threat, but the economic stability, development and prosperity in the country as well. At this point there is no need to debate who is guilty or innocent and why. But there are a few points we must clarify…

Similar to the anti-democratic Feb. 28 process, once again we are facing a societal re-engineering project. The first step in this project was taken by Sabih Kanadoğlu, the former chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals. Four months ago, Kanadoğlu said: “The AK Party government can not elect the president by itself. A quorum of 367 parliamentarians is required for the elections process to begin.” Despite the objection of sincere legal defenders, the issue came to the agenda owing to strong ideological and political pressure.

The next step was taken by the CHP. Leader Deniz Baykal said they would apply to the Constitutional Court to invalidate an election to be held with less than 367 parliamentarians. The third step included the protest rallies in Ankara and İstanbul. They gathered a certain group of people by targeting their concerns. But we witnessed an obvious difference in values between those that participated and those that spoke during the rally. In fact the demonstrators in İstanbul’s Çağlayan square began by protesting a military intervention.

This was followed by the CHP’s threat to the Constitutional Court. The CHP warned that civil conflict would break out if the court made a bad decision. The fifth item was the court’s approval of the CHP’s claim.

Please remember, there are more steps to be taken…

Looking at today’s events, we see general elections coming up in two months.

The AK Party must have an effective policy in the coming period. The enemies of the nation want to divide the people into AK Party supporters and AK Party opponents by using religious issues. The Maraş and Sivas events created a Sunni-Alevi tension, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist attacks have created a clash between Turks and Kurds, and now they are trying to corrupt our social and communal bonds to create tension in our politics. While the AK Party must take precautionary measures against increasing tensions, it has a golden ticket to becoming the strongest center party. The AK Party’s welcoming, tolerant and moderate stance can destroy potential traps and games. Besides the military and judiciary are at a disadvantage right now, because they’ve displayed a stance that is not in line with the public. All the AK party really has to say is, “the people will decide.”

03 May 2007, Thursday
HÜSEYİN GÜLERCE
   
Articles of Today
Where is Israel going?
BERİL DEDEOĞLU
A new roadmap for 2015 seems inevitable
YAVUZ BAYDAR
Confronting genocide
ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
Dagestan -- an overlooked hot spot
AMANDA PAUL
Culture
DOĞU ERGİL
Keeping people waiting
CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON
Turkish real estate law: rental agreements
BERK ÇEKTİR
Başbuğ’s need to talk
FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK

Other Articles of the Columnist

  The AK Party’s golden ticket
  Open letter to Mumcu and Ağar
  Who can hold back that Turkey?
  They hit us in Malatya…
  Will Gül be the candidate?
  Stop looking under the clouds and start looking at people’s hearts
  May 1, 1977 - April 14, 2007
  Ask your conscience
  When Justice is afraid...
  Sezer’s surprising gesture....
  Eurasia’s Big Family
  What is the spirit of Çanakkale?
  Abant and Alevism
  While listening to the prime minister
  Communication, comprehend, compromise
  We live in a cosmos created for us
  Modernization
  While listening to the prime minister
  Abant excitement in the Egyptian capital
  What would suit the Saadet Party these days?
Columnists
ABDULHAMİT BİLİCİ
ABDULLAH BOZKURT
ALİ BULAÇ
ALİ H. ASLAN
AMANDA PAUL
ANDREW FINKEL
ASIM ERDİLEK
AYŞE KARABAT
BEJAN MATUR
BERİL DEDEOĞLU
BERK ÇEKTİR
BÜLENT KENEŞ
BÜLENT KORUCU
CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON
DOĞU ERGİL
EKREM DUMANLI
EMRE USLU
ETYEN MAHÇUPYAN
FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK
FİKRET ERTAN
GÜRKAN ZENGİN
HASAN KANBOLAT
HÜSEYİN GÜLERCE
İBRAHİM KALIN
İBRAHİM ÖZTÜRK
İHSAN DAĞI
İHSAN YILMAZ
KATHY HAMILTON
KERİM BALCI
KLAUS JURGENS
LALE KEMAL
MEHMET KAMIŞ
MICHAEL KUSER
MUHAMMED ÇETİN
MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE
NICOLE POPE
ÖMER TAŞPINAR
ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
PAT YALE
ŞAHİN ALPAY
SELÇUK GÜLTAŞLI
SUAT KINIKLIOĞLU
YAVUZ BAYDAR