Turkey is an Islamic Role Model
Stephen Kinzer, Boston University | June 15, 2011
The remarkable electoral success of Prime Minister Erdogan will enable him to tackle Turkey's external and internal problems. ++ To improve its place among world economies, Turkey should engage in bringing peace and stability to the Middle East. ++ Other pressing issues include the division of Cyprus, the ‘frozen conflict’ with Armenia, the Kurdish problem, and the need to fix Turkish-Israeli relations. ++ Turkey is likely to become a regional peacekeeper and “a model of Muslim democracy”.
Tags: | Turkey |
Mon, Jan 23rd 2012, 11:42
Talha Bin Tariq, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan, Gold Contributor (101)
ANKARA — Hürriyet Daily News | 2/2/2011 12:00:00 AM |
Turkey’s main opposition party leader said he expects the PM to also call for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to resign.
Supporting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call on Egyptian President Husnu Mubarak to meet his people’s demands, Turkey’s main opposition party leader said he expected Erdoğan to make the same call for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
“Turkey can be a role model for all Islamic countries,” Kemal KıIıēdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, told a group of reporters Wednesday.
Kılıēdaroğlu expressed his perspective on Turkey’s current prominent foreign policy issues speaking to the members of Association of Diplomatic Correspondents. Asked how he would score the foreign policy of government, Kılıēdaroğlu said he would give a 6 out of 10.
Assessing the turmoil in Egypt, Kılıēdaroğlu approved Erdoğan’s call to Mubarek to resign. “A politician cannot omit his people’s demands, especially, if a million people are protesting.”
“Even though we complain about it, Turkey, as a Muslim secular country, improved its democracy in comparison to countries in the Middle East. I am sure most people in the Mideast would like to follow Turkey. However there is a paradox in that their people want to resemble Turkey, but our leaders want to resemble to them,” Kılıēdaroğlu said.
Asked his opinion on the discussions of a shift in axis, Kılıēdaroğlu drew attention to if democracy and freedom blossom in Middle East, then Turkey’s relations with these countries would move to a healthier ground. “Their desire for democracy will lead us to a strong democracy. Then the AKP will not seek to be politically similar to them,” he said.
The main opposition leader also criticized the government for failing to keep up with Turkey’s EU bid. “The process with the EU has fallen off the agenda. Turkey’s chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış’s statement, ‘If the plug is to be pulled, I leave it to the EU,’ has disappointed.”
Kılıēdaroğlu said the government did not do what was necessary for the additional protocol it signed, which requires Turkey to open its ports to Greek Cypriots, because they avoided reactions in domestic politics. “Then why did you sign it? The government follows a dual attitude on the Cyprus issue. They seem to slow down the adaptation process to the EU in order to overcome potential negative repercussions in domestic politics,” he said.
Kılıēdaroğlu also criticized the government’s actions on the Mavi Marmara incident, in which eights Turkish citizens and a U.S. citizen of Turkish descent died in an Israeli raid. He said if they were the government, they would not have sent the Mavi Marmara to Gaza.
Regards,
Talha Bin Tariq