deziloooooo
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Post by deziloooooo on Jun 8, 2011 14:14:14 GMT -5
As I have done on other threads, rather then clutter up the zone with same type /same agenda threads, I am posting similer related articles on same topic threads to make it easier to see/read and possible tie together what the issues are..just scroll to the last article posted to find what the new header of the thread is indicating what has been newly posted, if interested in unread previouse articles, feel free to pull up and read too --------------------------------------------------- Turkeys new elections..of interest to us ?For those who might be interested in Politics beyond our borders, I am posting a long but interesting article on the upcoming elections in Turkey. Turkey is and as those who have been following middle east goings on's, a important player in more and more things Arab. Muslim,Kurds. A democracy, granted a bit different then ours , but a democracy and one that is about 75 years old..so still some what new and evolving. No long comments by me here, personal thought, just a mention and the posting of the article.' I do believe they will be playing a more and more important role in areas of our concern, Iran, the middle east, acting as mediators, looked toward by others, including ourselves for advice and support, so to know a bit more about the important country, isn't such a bad idea , IMHO.  ------------------------------------------- english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/06/201168125735270909.html------------------------------------------- [Click on links to read article] -------------------------------------------- Opinion Turkey at the ballot box: What is at stake? The result of Turkey's vote is not in doubt but the parliamentary arithmetic holds crucial consequences for the country. 08 Jun 2011 17:32 A new constitution for Turkey is Erdogan's top priority for the party's anticipated third term. [EPA] "Turkey is heading towards elections. Opinion polls overwhelmingly predict that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the incumbent prime minister, is about to win another term in office. Actually, the signals for this victory came in September 2010 when Erdogan won a much more challenging battle. In a controversial referendum on constitutional changes, Erdogan almost single-handedly defeated some 20-odd political leaders who opposed the amendments his government suggested. Since then, the opposition has been too demoralised to wage a successful campaign to tarnish Erdogan's political invincibility. In fact, Erdogan has been so confident about his political fortunes that his election campaign set forth objectives for Turkey to be realised by 2023, the year the modern republic will mark the 100th year since its birth."
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cme1201
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Post by cme1201 on Jun 8, 2011 14:20:53 GMT -5
You guys are going to force me to Leave work early with all this talk of Turkey, now I am really starting to get hungry, move clock move Update: No turkey in the house, so I had a boiled ham sandwich with mustard on wheat bread and baked potato chips. If anyone really cared.  |
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deziloooooo
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Post by deziloooooo on Jun 8, 2011 14:28:50 GMT -5
You guys are going to force me to Leave work early with all this talk of Turkey, now I am really starting to get hungry, move clock move You reminded me , getting hungry too.... a sandwich sounds good to me. Ham and cheese will do it with some potato salad, think on it...thanks for the remind..  |
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mmhmm
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Post by mmhmm on Jun 8, 2011 14:42:03 GMT -5
Dang straight it matters to us. Turkey is a growing power in the Middle East; albeit, a rather circumspect one at the moment. Well worth watching this unfold. No doubt Erdogan will retain power. The question will be: what will he do with it? His rhetoric would lead most to believe his concentration will lie within Turkey's borders. Whether that will hold true is yet to be seen.
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deziloooooo
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Post by deziloooooo on Jun 8, 2011 14:51:08 GMT -5
Dang straight it matters to us. Turkey is a growing power in the Middle East; albeit, a rather circumspect one at the moment. Well worth watching this unfold. No doubt Erdogan will retain power. The question will be: what will he do with it? His rhetoric would lead most to believe his concentration will lie within Turkey's borders. Whether that will hold true is yet to be seen. There were fears that he would be pushing more for a accommodation with the fundamentalist leaning , away from Turkeys secular leanings of the past but there was no mention of that in this article so I found that interesting. I know they have improved relations with Iran, also are involved in what will be happening in Afghanistan also concerned with the Kurds in their areas and in Iraq, here not wanting a Kurdish State, part of Iran, Turkey and of course Iraq, so a player they are. It is a long article but I found interesting and informative, the authors thoughts. |
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mmhmm
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Post by mmhmm on Jun 8, 2011 15:22:50 GMT -5
I don't know that I'd expect Erdogan to gravitate toward fundamentalist Islam, as it hasn't been his practice to do so in the past. However, who knows? Is he just a politician looking for power for himself, or is he truly a voice for the good of Turkey and its neighbors? This is something, because of Turkey's tendency to keep themselves a bit under the radar, we can't really guess at with any hope of validity. As I said, something interesting to watch. It's really a beautiful country in many ways, with more diversity than people realize.
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deziloooooo
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Post by deziloooooo on Jun 8, 2011 15:38:38 GMT -5
I don't know that I'd expect Erdogan to gravitate toward fundamentalist Islam, as it hasn't been his practice to do so in the past. However, who knows? Is he just a politician looking for power for himself, or is he truly a voice for the good of Turkey and its neighbors? This is something, because of Turkey's tendency to keep themselves a bit under the radar, we can't really guess at with any hope of validity. As I said, something interesting to watch. It's really a beautiful country in many ways, with more diversity than people realize. I just realized , looked at the calender, my best friends with another couple are there, or shortly on their way there, i think 15 days for a vacation, have guides all set up and will be spending fun times exploring, will be interested in hearing their experiences when I see them up in New England in July. I didn't realize he, Erdogan, has been in power for eight years, same as our maximum , and will be there for four more, now that is something in a Democracy, and still thought of highly by the electorate..and voted in, remarkable. Can you imagine that happening here, 12 years in power one person, even Washington in today's way of looking at things, I can see , "Washington sucks because I..." |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2011 15:45:49 GMT -5
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cme1201
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Post by cme1201 on Jun 8, 2011 15:50:05 GMT -5
Charter school thread has 51 responses and 243 views, I think most people (who post here) have at least looked at it. |
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mmhmm
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Post by mmhmm on Jun 8, 2011 15:55:47 GMT -5
This message has been deleted.
Duplicate post deleted. The glitch fairy was active. ;D
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deziloooooo
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Post by deziloooooo on Jun 8, 2011 16:19:21 GMT -5
Read the articles Kricket , thanks for putting them up, any and all of interest of a foreign country. I get from them the typical diss and back and forth of politicians going at each other, like here, actually these seem mild in comparison. Big thing seems is here one of the partys needs 10 % of the vote to enter Parliment and get seats. The one in trouble seems to be the one the kurds favor, and that is a problem there so if they don't get in, it won't bother the ones in Power, Kurd problem is a major problem in Turkey, Kurds wanting autonomouse or even their own country. even to the point of the second strongest party , knowing they do not have the support to gain power, to be able to be a more effective opposition party might campaign for the third party, suggest that and have some of their members vote for the third party so they make the 10 % level and get seated and able to more effectivly influence the majority party on topics , as a coalition of one on same topics and concerns. |
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deziloooooo
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Post by deziloooooo on Jun 10, 2011 11:04:57 GMT -5
There is a new article from aljazeera that brings up one of the problems facing Erdogan, the PM who is most likely going to win in his bid for a new term in the current Turkish elections, the "Kurdish ' problems... He was at first very sympathetic to their demands but from their sides seems to have stepped back from supporting some of their demands and wants. Over 400,000 people have died over the past semi recent past on this issue, because of Kurds in size occupying northern Iraq, bordering ion Turkey, and also Northern Iran, also a sizable number, there is a concern that all three countries of these people joining and attempting to form a independent autonomous state, which it seems is not what they want to happen, thus to give them some special favors, satisfy some of their wants, language, laws, recognition with in the whole of Turkey for example, is something that was being considered, but now... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/06/201169131053712220.html-------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Click on link to read the article --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opinion Kurds could revolt if grievances aren't fixed Turkey's leaders must face up to Kurdish concerns, or risk provoking Middle East-inspired civil unrest. Behlul Ozkan Last Modified: 09 Jun 2011 16:25 In 1923, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the Republic of Turkey from the ashes of the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire, there were two significant groups that opposed the formation of a secular nation state: Islamists and Kurds. Whereas Islamists supported the continuation of sharia law and the sultanate and were against the westernisation of society and politics, Kurds realised that there was no place for their ethnic and cultural rights in the newly established Turkish nation state. Kemal's right-hand man, Ismet Inonu, made a speech in 1925 in which he summarised the Turkification campaign aimed at other ethnic groups: "As Turks are in the majority, other groups do not have any power. Our mission is to Turkify non-Turkish groups in the Turkish homeland. We are going to eradicate groups who oppose Turks and Turkishness." Indeed, Turkish nationalism prompted the reaction of Kurds, who revolted numerous times during the early republican period against the assimilation campaign and each time were harshly suppressed by the Turkish military. Language banned Until the 1980s, Turkey's political establishment had refused to recognise the existence of Kurds and instead used the derogatory term "mountain Turks". The Kurdish language was banned in education, media and in parliament. However, this policy of ignoring the existence of a distinct Kurdish identity started to be challenged by the Marxist-Leninist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), founded by Abdullah Ocalan in the late 1970s. The PKK, classified as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States, waged an armed campaign against the Turkish state in southeast Turkey that aimed at independence for the Kurds. Compared with ETA in Spain and the IRA in Northern Ireland, whose armed campaigns killed hundreds respectively, the PKK's armed insurgency was bloodier and the death toll has reached more than 40,000 people since 1984. The intensity of the conflict decreased significantly after 1999, when Ocalan was captured. He has since been serving a life term. Since then the PKK leader has prioritised the political struggle rather than the armed one, renounced separatism, and announced that the Kurdish problem would only be solved through the autonomy of Kurds in "a democratic republic" |
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deziloooooo
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Post by deziloooooo on Jun 10, 2011 11:48:41 GMT -5
This article also from aljazeera on Turkey is a good explanation of how much Erdogan is admired and of his and his partys accomplishment in a short time span, but also points out what some, also the influential publication , the #Economist " , feels is a shortcoming in Turkeys political system. There is no admired influential opposition party, basically only a party of "NO " on so many of the ideas and programs and legislation presented by the ruling power but no ideas or thoughts put up as alternatives. If there is no viable opposition party, the fear of many secular Turks, there are many, is that the ones in power will be able to change the constitution, have the votes to do so, with out putting the changes to it, badly needed all agree to get away from the one now in effect, that was put into play when the Military controlled the country, with out a referendum to be ratified by the people. Such a way of just changing the constitution arbitrarily, by having the votes, the majority in the Parliament, that, secular Turkish populace, might see a more fundamentalist Turkey then the secular one of today, emerge as a the new way of Turkey,is worrying the secular Turkish citizens. As well as other unwanted possibilities , such as the maintaining in power the ones now in power as well as the current PM, for a long time , which all agree is not the way to make friends and influence people or to grow a Democratic state. No matter as how well intentioned one is and a good over seer of a country, after a while, the power, the ego, seems to always bring out the worst of political happenings, both by the leader as well as the ones in power. It's a involved article I admit but for those interested, a interesting one and shows how Turkey in a short time has turned the corner, become a real important player in important areas of the Globe , the world stage, and is being looked at more and more as a example of and one to possible help out , mediate, in solving the problems in certain important , flash and troubled, places in the world. { Think Middle East, Afganistan, Iran, Iraq, Palastinian, Israeli and on and on} --------------------------------------------------------------------- english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/06/201168104328790479.html--------------------------------------------------------------------- [Click on links to read article] ------------------------------------------- Secular Turks worry about constitutional reforms they fear will extend the power of the AKP and challenge their European modernist life style [EPA] The Economist leader headline in its June 4 issue is revealing: "The best way for Turks to promote democracy would be to vote against the ruling party." It reveals a mentality that has not shaken itself free from the paternalism and entitlements of the bygone colonialist days. What makes such an assertion so striking is that The Economist would know better than to advise US or Canadian or Israeli citizens how to vote. And it never did venture such an opinion on the eve of the election of such reactionary and militarist figures as George W Bush, Stephen Harper, or Binyamin Netanyahu. Are the people of Turkey really so politically backward as to require guidance from this bastion of Western elite opinion so as to learn what is in their own best interest?" |
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deziloooooo
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Post by deziloooooo on Jun 14, 2011 22:19:49 GMT -5
A good article of what the just concluded elections in Turkey really mean..well written. Some may ask why does the elections in Turkey concern us? Good question, and the answer is I believe that in this part of the world, Middle East as well as individual countries, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Afganistan..as well as China and Russia, Turkey will be playing a larger and larger role as US presence is lessened , Iran's emergence as a meddler and trouble maker increases and middle eastern countries look around for some one with clout who they can ask for advice, help in mediating problems. Possible even the Palestinians and Israeli's , if they get back to talking, might want a third party to help in alleviating their issues. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/06/201161485910986235.html-------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Click on link to read article] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opinion Carte blanche for Erdogan but can he deliver? It remains to be seen whether Erdogan's good intentions on tolerance and inclusiveness translate into concrete policies. Ilter Turan "After more than a month of intense campaigning, Turkey has cast its verdict, handing a major victory to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). Literally, one in every two voters cast their ballot for the prime minister's party as it increased its share of the vote for the third election in a row – a noteworthy achievement in democratic societies these days, where officeholders cannot usually escape the corrosive effects of being in power. For several reasons, the outcome of this election was seen to be more critical than usual. In short, Sunday's vote may have been one of the more important in recent Turkish political history" |
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