Turkey - Internal Political Affairs

[egeli]

Re: Turkey - Internal Political Affairs

I find it strange how Turks think they can keep their state united much longer, Kurds already are large majorities in what they call Kurdistan; also brutal repression can only hold a state together for so long. This time round they won't get a chance to genocide, there is no ww1 to cover it up; and the world is watching (even if Obama has his head in the sand, many members of Congress don't).

The Turkish State is inexorably adopting a Sunni Nationalist ideology. Kurds will inevitably become assimilated Turks through Sunni Nationalism; this is why the PKK is reacting so violently against Erdogan. They know very well that AKP, unlike the (formerly) Ataturkist State, represents an existential threat.

Soon, Turkish and Sunni identity will become one. Sunni Nationalism is what caused the Armenian Genocide.

Start preparing now. Seriously, you will be nostalgic of the Kemalist days very soon.

[hipeter924]

Re: Turkey - Internal Political Affairs

What Mukuch said . Al Jazeera posted it too, thought it was a good idea

I find it strange how Turks think they can keep their state united much longer, Kurds already are large majorities in what they call Kurdistan; also brutal repression can only hold a state together for so long. This time round they won't get a chance to genocide, there is no ww1 to cover it up; and the world is watching (even if Obama has his head in the sand, many members of Congress don't).

[Federate]

Re: Turkey - Internal Political Affairs

What Mukuch said . Al Jazeera posted it too, thought it was a good idea

[Mukuch]

Re: Turkey - Internal Political Affairs

well I think its natural uglyness just underlines the contens

[Alexandros]

Re: Turkey - Internal Political Affairs

Federate: Did you really have to post that big Turkish flag?

[Federate]

Re: Turkey - Internal Political Affairs

Turkish politicians quit over sex tapes



Six Turkish opposition politicians have resigned over a sex tape scandal that could have far-reaching consequences for the country's parliamentary elections on June 12.

The six, all leading members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), quit on Saturday after a website broadcast secretly filmed videos, purportedly showing senior figures having sex in a house used by party members for extramarital affairs.

Four senior members of the hardline group had already resigned earlier this month over similar videos, throwing the party's electoral prospects into doubt.

The state-run Anatolian news agency said deputy chairmen Osman Cakir, Umit Safak and Mehmet Ekici, along with general secretary Cihan Pacaci and his deputy Mehmet Taytak had resigned their party membership and candidacies to be members of parliament.

Deniz Bolukbasi, another deputy chairman who also resigned, alleged he was the victim of a politically motivated trap.

"I am resigning to spare my party the damage such allegations might cause," he said.

A group calling itself "Different Nationalists" claims to have released the videos, sparking accusations from the MHP that supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, were trying to undermine the party.

Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) has denied the allegation and Turkish authorities have moved to block access to the videos.

"It is up to the party to deal with its internal affairs," Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign minister, said on NTV television.

"As unethical as they may be, I do not believe releasing those videos is correct behaviour, judging from a humanitarian perspective."

Different Nationalists had threatened to broadcast further compromising video recordings if Devlet Bahceli, the MHP leader, did not resign by a deadline of May 18. He has not resigned.

Surveys show the party is hovering around a 10 per cent support threshold designed to exclude smaller parties from parliament.

Turkey analyst Birol Baskan told Al Jazeera that the latest resignations would make it difficult for the MHP to get into parliament.

"The party is extremely demoralised and has lost its focus on the real issues that the voters want to hear about," Baskan said.

Bahceli had committed a tactical mistake by accusing a religious leader, Fethullah Gulen, of conspiring against the MHP, alienating conservative voters, Baskan added.

If the MHP fails to pass the 10 per cent barrier, its votes would be redistributed among parties represented in parliament, handing even more power to Erdogan's ruling party.

The ruling party appears to be easily heading towards a third term in office, but it is aiming for an overwhelming majority that would allow it to rewrite Turkey's constitution.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/05/2011521132012679960.html

[hipeter924]

Re: Turkey - Internal Political Affairs

“We have launched operations to find the attackers,” Güneş told reporters in Ankara. “I am ashamed to call these traitors human, those who hope for help from violence are creatures that only look human. Turkey is a strong country, we will continue to fight against them just like we have dome so far.”

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.p...ack-2011-05-12

Yeah, that will really pacify the Kurds, not.

[Artsakh]

Re: Turkey - Internal Political Affairs

Two policemen killed in attack

Thursday, May 12, 2011
ISTANBUL – Daily News with wires
Two police officers killed by suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in an attack on a police station in southeast Turkey were laid to rest Thursday.

Gökmen Şimşek and Muharrem ünlü, who were killed Wednesday, were laid to rest in their hometowns Edirne and Çorum, respectively.

Interior Minster Osman Güneş said the perpetrators of the attack would soon be caught.

A group of militants fired machine guns at police outside a station in Silopi, near the border with Iraq, on Wednesday, killing one officer and critically wounding another, a security official said.

The wounded officer was rushed to a hospital in Diyarbakır, before succumbing to his injuries early on Thursday, a hospital source said.

“We have launched operations to find the attackers,” Güneş told reporters in Ankara. “I am ashamed to call these traitors human, those who hope for help from violence are creatures that only look human. Turkey is a strong country, we will continue to fight against them just like we have dome so far.”

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=two-policemen-killed-in-attack-2011-05-12

[Artsakh]

PKK leader threatens Turkey with 'great war'

PKK leader threatens Turkey with 'great war'

Kurdish separatists have claimed responsibility for an ambush on a police convoy in northern Turkey, and warned the country's government it faces a "great war" if it fails to enter "meaningful negotiations" after next month's elections.

Wednesday's attack in the northern province of Kastamonu left one policeman dead and another wounded.

"A retaliation attack was carried out by our militants on a police car that was part of a convoy...the attack only targeted police. It is not an attack on civilians or the prime minister," said a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) statement on the Firat news agency website.

The group's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan told Firat that "all hell would break loose" unless Ankara opened talks with Kurdish groups within six weeks, and within days of the country's June 12 parliamentary elections.

"June 15 is the deadline. Either a meaningful negotiation process will begin after June 15 or a great war will start and all hell will break loose," Ocalan said via his lawyers, Firat reported.

Earlier on Friday Turkish police arrested up to eight people over Wednesday's ambush in which gunmen opened fire on a police car escorting a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) campaign bus from an election rally by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Edrogan in Kastamonu.

Erdogan had left the rally by helicopter before the attack occured. TRT news said eight people had been detained during police raids in Ankara, suspected of planning another attack.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the wounded officer on Friday, Erdogan said the attack bore the hallmarks of the PKK and accused the group of targeting his party, which is expected to win a third consecutive term in next month's vote.

"We knew that the separatist terrorist organisation would use these undemocratic methods ahead of the elections," he said.

The PKK ended a six-month ceasefire in February and there have been fears of rising violence before the election.

"This attack is a message to the AKP to withdraw its police who suppress Kurdish people. As all know, the police have carried out very harsh interventions on Kurdish people recently," the PKK statement said.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in a separatist conflict in southeastern Turkey since the PKK took up arms against the state in 1984.

PKK operations are generally focused on the mainly Kurdish southeast, but there had been prior warning of possible attacks in the Black Sea region.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/05/201156134841944951.html

[Federate]

Re: Turkey - Internal Political Affairs

Deadly attack follows Erdogan rally

Policeman killed in northern city of Kastamonu after campaign visit earlier in the day by Turkish prime minister.



Erdogan addressed AKP supporters in Kastamonu earlier Wednesday [Reuters]

A policeman has been killed and two more wounded in an attack in a northern Turkish city, shortly after prime minister Recep Tayyip Edrogan held an election rally.

Erdogan had already left Kastamonu on Wednesday when the ambush occurred on a country road winding through thickly forested hillsides south of the city.

Attackers threw an explosive device and opened fire on a bus carrying police, Turkish network NTV said. The vehicle was accompanying a campaign bus for Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Addressing thousands of supporters at a rally later in Amasya, Erdogan appeared to blame separatist fighters for the attack.

"Those dark minds, these terrorists, these separatists are only able to do this, those who understand there is nothing they can do through the ballot box," Erdogan said.

Kurdish separatist fighters belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have waged a decades-long campaign for Kurdish independence, mostly from the southeast of the country.

PKK fighters attacked a police vehicle in the Black Sea province of Sinop last month, injuring three police officers, but Kastamonu province had not previously been known as a scene of guerrilla violence.

Wednesday's attack came after thousands of Kurds gathered in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir for a funeral of PKK guerrillas killed in a clash with security forces in the province of Tunceli last week.

Turkey goes to the polls in parliamentary elections on June 12.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/05/20115415393188390.html