Breaking: Davutoglu and his cabinet out
Another anti-Semite bites the dust.
The entire cabinet has
gone with him.
"Mr President accepted today the
resignation of the cabinet that was presented by Mr Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu," Erdogan's office said in a brief statement.
"Mr
President, who thanked the cabinet for its services so far, asked the
cabinet to remain in charge until a new government is formed."
The resignation of the cabinet was widely expected as a procedural move after the elections.
It
was not clear if Davutoglu was authorised by the president to embark on
a tour of talks with opposition parties to form a coalition government.
...
Since it came to power in 2002, the AKP has ruled Turkey as a one-party
government, with a big majority in the 550-seat parliament.
The beginning of the end for Erdogan and the AKP? We can only hope.
Labels: Ahmet Davutoglu, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish elections
Breaking: Erdogan's AKP loses parliamentary majority
Given that this is Turkey and that we're talking about President Hussein Obama's Best Friend Forever, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, I suppose that we have to consider the possibility that today's election results will not be honored. Nevertheless, it is significant that in a special election in Turkey that was marred by violence and fraud - both of which may have been perpetrated by Erdogan's AKP -
the AKP has lost its parliamentary majority.
The election results represented a significant setback to Mr. Erdogan,
an Islamist who has steadily increased his power as president, a partly
but not solely ceremonial post, after more than a decade as prime
minister, and indicated that Mr. Erdogan’s efforts to accumulate power
had run aground. And it was a significant victory to the cadre of Kurds,
liberals and secular Turks who found their voice of opposition to Mr.
Erdogan during sweeping antigovernment protests two years ago.
Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or A.K.P., still won by far
the most seats in Parliament, but not a majority, according to
preliminary results released Sunday night. The outcome suggested
contentious days of jockeying ahead as the party moves to form a
coalition government. Already, analysts were raising the possibility
Sunday of new elections if a government cannot be formed swiftly. Many
Turks were happy to see Mr. Erdogan’s powers curtailed, even though the
prospect of a coalition government evokes dark memories of political
instability and economic malaise during the 1990s.
With
99 percent of the votes counted, the A.K.P. had won 41 percent of the
vote, according to TRT, a state-run broadcaster, down from nearly 50
percent during the last national election in 2011. The percentage gave
it an estimated 259 seats in Turkey’s Parliament, compared with the 327 seats it has now.
“The
outcome is an end to Erdogan’s presidential ambitions,” said Soner
Cagaptay, an expert on Turkey and a fellow at the Washington Institute
for Near East Policy.
Almost
immediately, the results raised questions about the political future of
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who moved to that position from that of
foreign minister last year and was seen as a loyal subordinate of Mr.
Erdogan. Mr. Davutoglu, who during the campaign vowed to resign if the
A.K.P. did not win a majority, told reporters on Sunday evening in brief
comments, “whatever the people decide is for the best.” Mr. Davutoglu
was due to speak later in the evening in Ankara.
Mr.
Erdogan, who as president was not on the ballot Sunday, will probably
remain Turkey’s dominant political figure even if his powers have been
rolled back, given his outsized personality and his still-deep well of
support among Turkey’s religious conservatives, who form the backbone of
his constituency. But even among those supporters, including ones in
Kasimpasa, the Istanbul neighborhood where Mr. Erdogan spent part of his
youth, there are signs that his popularity is flagging, partly because
of his push for more powers over the judiciary and his crackdown on any
form of criticism, including prosecutions of those who insult him on
social media.
...
The election turned on the historic performance at the ballot box of
Turkey’s Kurdish minority, which aligned with liberals and secular Turks
opposed to Mr. Erdogan’s leadership to win almost 13 percent of the
vote, passing a 10 percent legal threshold and earning representation in
Parliament. The People’s Democratic Party, a largely Kurdish bloc known
as H.D.P., was able to broaden its base by fielding a slate of
candidates that included women, gays and other minorities and appealed
to voters whose goal was to curtail Mr. Erdogan’s powers.
...
The performance positioned the Kurds as kingmakers in the next
Parliament, and highlighted the evolution of the Kurdish movement, from
the battlefields of the southeast, where a bloody insurgency raged for
nearly 30 years, to the halls of power in Ankara, the capital.
...
“Erdogan’s salvos over the past week show how nervous he is about the
outcome of this election,” said Ugur Kaplan, 24, a student who voted in
Istanbul. “The A.K.P. has lost votes, and it’s because of him. People
are tired of having their lives dictated by one nutty man. It’s time for
change.”
'Nutty'? Despotic is more like it. Here's hoping he goes and soon.
Labels: Ahmet Davutoglu, Barack Hussein Obama, Islam, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Turkish elections, Turkish Kurds
Turkey shoots down Syrian fighter jet
The government of Turkey has confirmed that it shot down a Syrian fighter jet that strayed over its border with Syria.
Let's go to the videotape.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was
unapologetic.
"A Syrian plane violated our airspace," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan told an election rally of his supporters in northwest Turkey.
"Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? Because if you violate my
airspace, our slap after this will be hard," Erdogan said.
The rebels have been fighting for control of the Kasab crossing, the
border region, since Friday, when they launched an offensive which
Syrian authorities say was backed by Turkey's military.
Syria said Turkish air defenses shot down the jet while it was attacking
rebel forces inside Syrian territory, calling the move a "blatant
aggression.”
State television quoted a military source as saying the pilot managed to
eject from the plane. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
monitoring group said initial reports from the area said the plane came
down on the Syrian side of the border.
The Turkish action may be more connected to
next week's local Turkish elections than to any real violation of Turkish airspace.
According to Turkey's Sunday Zaman, the shooting down of the jet may
be a government effort to gain political scores ahead of a local vote
that is scheduled to take place on March 30.
Citing Turkish officials, NTV reported that Turkish air defense
system shot down a Syrian warplane after its incursion to the Turkish
territory.
The incident came as Turkish government was mulling options to
briefly intervene in Syria to protect the tomb of Süleyman Şah, the
grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, whose security is
provided by the Turkish troops as part of an agreement with the Syrian
authorities.
Concerns over a possible Turkish military intervention in Syria have
been floated following news of clashes between an al-Qaeda splinter
group and other Syrian opposition groups in the area.
In response to
these reports, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Turkey will
retaliate in the event of an attack on the tomb of Süleyman Şah
irrespective of where the attack comes from.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the main Turkish opposition party, the
Republican People's Party (CHP), warned against any Turkish military
incursion to Syria ahead of elections. According to the CHP leader,
Erdoğan aims to divert public attention from a sweeping graft scandal
that implicated the Erdoğan family.
Faster, faster....
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Free Syrian Army, Syrian air space, Syrian uprising, Turkey, Turkish elections
Erdogan stealing more votes?
You will recall that at the end of the Turkish elections, Recep Tayipp Erdogan and his AKP were
five votes short of being able to establish their Muslim Caliphate. Now, through the courts which are beholden to them, they are trying to steal those votes. The
Kurds, at least, are quite upset about it.
Reactions were harsh from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) after the Supreme Election Board (YSK) voted unanimously on Tuesday night to strip Hatip Dicle, who was elected to Parliament as an independent candidate last Sunday, of his deputyship.
Ahmet Türk, the co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Congress (DTK), which convened on Wednesday to evaluate the YSK decision, said the decision is neither moral nor legal. “This is a decision to drag Turkey into a state of chaos,” he said. Noting that democratic politics are being blocked, he added, “The nation will hold this mentality, which blocks efforts for democracy, accountable.”
...
...
Dicle was endorsed by the BDP from Diyarbakır, a predominantly Kurdish province in the Southeast, after the pro-Kurdish party decided to enter the June 12 general elections with independent candidates, fearing that it would fail to exceed the 10 percent election threshold if it entered the elections as a party. He was convicted of “disseminating the propaganda of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK]” in 2009 by the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court, and the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the decision in March of this year. The court sentenced Dicle to one year, eight months in prison on terrorism charges.
Dicle is also currently on trial in the 6th Diyarbakır High Criminal Court as a suspect in a separate investigation into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK). He was detained in December 2009 as part of the KCK probe and has been in custody since. Dicle's lawyers appealed to the 11th Ankara High Criminal Court to cut the prison term he had served as a detainee during the KCK investigation from his earlier conviction of 20 months on charges of “disseminating the propaganda of the PKK.” As the Supreme Court of Appeals only recently upheld the 2009 decision by the 11th Ankara High Criminal Court, Dicle was in custody not because of his 2009 conviction but as part of the investigation into the KCK.
Last week, the Ankara court decided to cut 453 days, the period he had served as a detainee during the KCK probe, from the sentence he originally received in 2009. The YSK convened on Tuesday to discuss Dicle’s deputyship. The board decided that Dicle does not qualify to become a deputy in accordance with Article 76 of the Constitution. According to the Constitution, persons who have been convicted of dishonorable offenses such as involvement in acts or terrorism or incitement and encouragement of such activities shall not be elected deputies even if they have been pardoned.
After the cancellation of Dicle’s deputyship, Oya Eronat, a Diyarbakır candidate for deputy from the AK Party, won a parliamentary seat. Eronat came second to Dicle in Diyarbakır in the elections. She obtained her official deputyship certification on Wednesday afternoon. The BDP seats in Parliament have dropped to 35, while those of the AK Party have risen to 327.
Reader
Joshua I reports by email that the AKP is challenging a total of eleven seats, including Dicle's (Dicle is apparently one of six from the KCK probe):
1 seat
Court rejects jailed MHP deputy’s demand for release: http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&newsId=248495&link=248495
2 seats
Court bars Ergenekon suspects from entering Parliament : http://www.todayszaman.com/news-248284-court-bars-ergenekon-suspects-from-entering-parliament.html
6 seats
Prosecutors call for rejection of jailed KCK deputies’ demand for release: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-248248-prosecutors-call-for-rejection-of-jailed-kck-deputies-demand-for-release.html
1 seat
Youngest deputy in Parliament after vote count at Customs gates: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-248060-youngest-deputy-in-parliament-after-vote-count-at-customs-gates.html
1 seat
AK Party candidate gets seat after YSK rules to disbar Kurdish deputy: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-248164-ak-party-candidate-gets-seat-after-ysk-rules-to-disbar-kurdish-deputy-.html
Turkey’s election board strips pro-Kurdish BDP deputy's mandate: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-248153-turkeys-election-board-strips-pro-kurdish-bdp-deputys-mandate.html
I wonder if they have dead people voting like in Chicago. Well, at least Obama should fit right in with these people.
Labels: AKP, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish elections
What's up at the Financial Times?
This is bizarre. Here's an Iranian account of Prime Minister
Erdogan's victory speech.
In his victory speech, Erdogan alluded to Turkey's aspiration to be a voice in the West for the Middle Eastern region and Muslims, saying Bosnians, Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians also benefited from his victory.
'Believe me, Sarajevo won today as much as Istanbul, Beirut won as much as Izmir, Damascus won as much as Ankara, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, the West Bank, Jerusalem won as much as Diyarbakir.'
And here's the Financial Times' account of the
same speech.
In a bombastic victory speech, Mr Erdogan nonetheless laid claim to a bigger role in regional affairs, saying the election result was a victory “for Bosnia as much as Istanbul, Beirut as much as Izmir, Damascus as much as Ankara”.
Notice what's missing? Hmmm. By the way, Diyarbakir is an important city in Kurdistan.
Labels: Financial Times, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish elections
A disastrous election?
And here I was pleased with the results of the Turkish election because the AKP did not win enough seats to pass a new constitution or to call a referendum by themselves. But Michael Rubin calls it
disastrous.
Turks voted for Recep Erdogan for three reasons: At least half of his support (or 25 percent of the country) seek Islamism and an end to Turkish secularism. Perhaps half the remainder is the business elite who credit Erdogan for Turkey’s economic boom. The AKP certainly deserves credit for this, although much of Turkey’s boom is predicated on illicit Green Money and a willingness to incur huge debt. Much of the rest embrace Erdogan’s shameless anti-Semitic and anti-American populism.
Alas, Erdogan’s re-election may be the final nail in the coffin of Turkish democracy. During the next months, Erdogan will seek to re-write Turkey’s constitution; push ahead with show trials of his political opponents; and unravel the remaining checks-and-balances which have for decades guaranteed Turkey’s secularism. Diplomats have long described a Turkish model in which an overwhelmingly Muslim population could embrace democracy. Alas, Erdogan has given new meaning to the Turkish model. He has launched a step-by-step process to unravel secularism and, all the while, given new fodder to those who say the Muslim Brotherhood is inimical to democracy.
Of course, I don't think anyone really expected otherwise, but perhaps what Rubin is saying is that my expectation that the opposition will slow down the AKP is unrealistic.
Labels: Abdullah Gul, Ahmet Davutoglu, AKP, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish elections
Turkish election results
With nearly all of the votes counted in Turkey, here are the key results:
1. Erdogan, Davutoglu and Gull's AKP won its third straight election, this time with just
under 50% of the vote.
2. Both major opposition parties exceeded the 10% threshold.
3. AKP got 326 seats in the legislature, which is not enough to change the constitution by themselves nor even enough to call for a referendum on the question by themselves.
Here's
more.
The AK Party won 49.9 percent of the vote, up 4 percent from the last elections, but this translates into 326 seats in Parliament, meaning it will be more than 40 seats short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the country's constitution unilaterally and about four seats short of the 330 seats needed to refer a Constitutional reform to a public vote.
According to results from 99.8 percent of the total vote, the AK Party won 49.9 percent of the vote, up by 4 percent from the previous elections, followed by the Republican People's Party (CHP) with 25.9 percent, up by 5 percent from the previous election, and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) with 13 percent of the vote. According to this vote distribution, the AK Party won 326 seats, the CHP won 135 seats and the MHP, which was expected by some pollsters to drop out of Parliament, falling below Turkey's 10 percent vote threshold, had 53 seats.
The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), a Kurdish party accused by officials of links to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), fielded independent candidates in order to work around requirements for the 10 percent vote threshold. The independents in total won about 6.6 percent of the vote, as expected. Most of them are BDP endorsed independents who will join the BDP and form a parliamentary group, the quorum for which is 20 deputies. The BDP independents won 36 seats in total.
Now if this were Israel, you would worry about some rogue deputy being bribed with a
red Mitsubishi to vote in favor of the referendum. But that may not be a concern here.
Labels: AKP, Turkish elections
The Turkish elections
Sunday is
election day in Turkey. Michael Rubin tells us what to look for.
Alas, the polls do not look good. Here are five. The AKP is the Islamist party, the CHP is the center-left secularist opposition, the MHP is the nationalist party, and the independents are mainly Kurds. It certainly looks like the AKP won't have much trouble getting re-elected. The question is whether the MHP will break the 10 percent threshold. The way the Turkish system works, every party must get above 10 percent to win seats in parliament. If they get less than 10 percent, their seats are re-allocated in a way that benefits the largest party. That's why back in 2002, the AKP was about to win 32 percent of the vote, but win an overwhelming majority in parliament. If the MHP doesn't make it, and if the CHP underperforms, there will be no stopping the AKP from cementing its transformation of Turkey.
Read the whole thing. It sounds like it's too late to stop it.
Labels: AKP, Turkish elections
Disaster ahead in Turkey
There are elections in Turkey on Sunday, and barring a last minute miracle, they're a disaster in the making. The AKP party seems poised to ride to victory and continue the Islamization of Turkey and the repression of dissent.
Barry Rubin explains.
If the regime gets a big enough majority it will rewrite the Turkish constitution. Turkey, as we have known it, a secular democratic state since the 1920s, will no longer exist. Of course, not everything will be obvious and happen overnight, but the repression we have already seen will increase. The courts, the armed forces, and other institutions will be taken over by this Islamist government.
It will be a disaster for Western interests. And coupled with the same thing happening in Egypt, these events will catapult the region back a half-century or more into strife.
Meanwhile, the West snores on. Western media coverage of the Turkish regime is glowing. Yet if one actually looks at what’s happening in the country, reading the Turkish-language media and talking to the many Turks horrified by these developments, the picture is horrifying.
Here is an example of life in contemporary Turkey. The town of Hopa received a visit from Prime Minister Erdogan. Opposition banners are removed by the police. When local people resisted, the police attacked. A retired teacher who had been trying to negotiate with the police died.
Scores of journalists have been arrested and thrown into jail. One-third of the media has been bought up by the regime; much of the rest intimidated. Military officers, college professors, union leaders, activists, and peaceful critics of every description are thrown into jail on trumped up charges and kept there for months, years. The waiting time for a trial during which people are jailed is now three years. Yes, three years without proof of any wrongdoing.
A respected investigative journalist is arrested and accused of terrorism. His crime? Writing a critical book on Fathi Gulen, Turkey’s leading Islamist cleric. All of the copies of the manuscript are confiscated. Gulen controls the police.
Two other journalists are arrested. Their crime? Saying that they were about to publish documentation showing that the government’s claims of conspiracy, used to arrest so many, are bogus. Gareth Jenkins, a serious scholar, has gone through thousands of pages of court documents and shown that the hundreds of people imprisoned have not even been accused of any specific act. I know of a half-dozen journalists fired for daring to criticize the government. There are many more.
How to intimidate the media? Tax officials arrive and take over offices, going through all of the documents trying to find some technicality on which to bring charges. The largest media group in Turkey, the Dogan Group, was told that it owed $2.5 billion in penalties. That is not a typographical error. It is several times the worth of the entire company. The government demanded that they pay the fines first and then if they wanted they could go to court. To provide a partial payment and bank guarantees, the Dogan Group had to sell two newspapers.
People feel that they are watched, wire-tapped, and spied on. Turkey was never a perfect democracy. Yet this atmosphere is closer to that of a country under Communism than the Turkey they have known all their lives.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: AKP, Turkey, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish elections, Turkish Islamization, Turkish repression
