Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Turkey: Will the AKP Be Closed and Top AKP Leaders Banned?

Turkey's dogmatic secularists, a mirror image of Iran's Guardian Council, act up again, determined to make it impossible for Turks to set aside religion and discuss more pressing issues such as economy, regional integration (with the East or the West or both?), and the Kurdish question: "Turkey's Constitutional Court Decides to Hear AKP Case," Hurriyet, 1 April 2008; and Nico Sandfuchs, "Panik am Bosporus: Türkische Regierungspartei sucht drohendem Verbot zu entgehen," junge Welt, 2 April 2008.

Turks, whether they are for or against the AKP, should take this occasion and turn it into a chance to expand democratic rights if it comes to a referendum. A "constitutional amendment making it more difficult to ban political parties," which the AKP is said to be now pushing for, would be in the interest of leftists in Turkey as things stand now.

1 comment:

Saeed said...

It seems to me you are one of the very few people among Iranians (in/outside of Iran) who are posting well-thought and reasonable writings on Iran and the Mid East.
Good job! Keep it up!

Saeed