Matthew Weaver and agencies
Friday 24 October 2008
...Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's (click here) attempt to lift a ban on wearing headscarves in universities was anti-secular, the country's highest court said today in a ruling that could reignite tensions between the country's secular and pro-Islamic factions.
In July the Guardian reported that the constitutional court stopped short of disbanding Erdogan's Justice and Development party (AKP), but it cut off state funding to the organisation.
Justifying that decision, in a ruling published today, the court said the party violated secular laws but did not incite violence....
I had no idea Prime Minister Erdogan was so involved with Palestine. That is exceptionally good news. I can't help but wonder if he is also meeting with the King Abdullah II of Jordan whom is also involved with Palestine. King Abdullah ii met with President Obama in April this year. That was before Israel removed the chemical weapons facilities in Syria. King Abdullah ii has been talking about diplomatic and legal measures of Israel.
If Prime Minister Erdogan would meet with King Abdullah ii of Jordan it might bring more continuity to the outcomes with Palestine. That was my only thought. There may be differing views in the region that could result in failure of any attempts by Turkey. I am confident King Abdullah ii has an appreciation of the destruction of the chemical weapons plants that could be brought to focus in Turkey's position.
Currently, Jordan has a large population of refugees from Syria. I am sure there is common ground Turkey and Jordan have in the region.
I appreciated his condolences regarding the Boston bombings.
His opening statement was quite extensive and much appreciated as well.
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, (click here) a critical U.S. ally in the Muslim world, is struggling with the crisis in Syria, which has strained his country’s fast-growing economy, swamped it with hundreds of thousands of refugees and created unusually public friction with Washington.
The urgency of Erdogan’s concerns over Syria was underscored by Saturday’s car bombings that killed 46 people in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli, where thousands of Syrian refugees have taken shelter. Erdogan’s government blamed the blasts on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — an allegation that Syrian officials quickly denied.
Erdogan, the strongest Turkish leader in generations, and President Obama agree on broad goals in Syria, Iraq and Iran, which all share borders with Turkey. They both say Assad must go, after two years of violence that has left more than 70,000 people dead....
There is also the issue of the Kurds which the Prime Minister alluded to when he commented about the elections in Iraq. There is significant movement within "Kurdistan" to remain more autonomous than not from the Iraq Central government.
Posted By Kirk H. Sowell
The struggles within Iraq that add to autonomous regions such as the movement with the Kurds adds to instability along the Turkish boarder when there is so much going on with Syria, refugees and establishing a power sharing government there. The Kurds are an issue with Turkey. There is also the Kurdish extremists that have existed for more than one generation and believe violence toward Turkey is an answer, too.
...The "Shiite election" covered the southern nine provinces plus Baghdad and parts of Diyala and Salah al-Din. In this election Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition (SLC) won a reduced plurality, large enough to keep alive any hopes Maliki might have of a third term following next year's parliamentary elections, but too weak to provide him a clear mandate. Secular Shiite parties faired poorly, and most of the vote shifted to Islamists, likely in reaction against the excesses of recent Sunni protests...
The elections are more or less provincial across Iraq. So long as this continues the movement toward autonomous regions will increase. That means the ethnic divide will be a cause of instability to the borders that now define Iraq and surrounding countries. If the ethnic mix in Iraq cannot find a consolidated central government to their best interests there will be movement to not only divide into autonomous provinces, but, to expand the borders of the provinces to include larger ethnic definition.
It is a direct threat to a sovereign Turkey. To some extent the unwillingness to remove 'the head scarf' involves tightening ethnic definitions. Whether that interprets into a sovereign Turkey is an interesting focus. And where the USA policy fits into these dynamics is vital to USA interests and alliances.
...The "Sunni election" likewise produced a winner but not an overwhelming one, with Speaker Osama al-Nujayfi's Mutahidun ("Uniters") bloc winning an overall plurality while coming in second in Salah al-Din to Governor Abdullah al-Jiburi, who has worked in cooperation with Baghdad over the past year. Nujayfi's primary Sunni rival was Deputy Prime Minister Salih al-Mutlak's Arab Iraqiya, and it came well behind. Mutlak framed the campaign as its support for a nationalist, centralist, and secularist government against the Mutahidun's Islamism and alliance with Turkey, Qatar, and the Kurds. But he has faced a torrent of derision from Sunni media for his ties to Maliki....
Just as a point of interest, there is movement within the leadership of the Islamic communities to accept the outcomes of elections based in media exposure. That is a huge paradigm shift from the long past of these religions.
It is safe to say the religious content of the ethnicities of the area is placing a vital part of the political content. I would estimate the religious content will become a growing influence among the electorate of these areas. That does not have to be destabilizing. I remind the Grand Ayatollah ali al Sistani has lead a very peaceful content for his people. His influence will mean little to Sunnis and Kurds, but, it does provide a reference point to the peaceful content that can exist in these communities.
Monday 13 May 2013
Posted By Kirk H. Sowell
Monday, May 13, 2013 - 11:10 AM
Iraq's April 20 provincial elections (click here) were like two elections in one country. They included all provinces outside the Kurdistan region except Kirkuk, due to a long-standing dispute over election law, and the predominately Sunni provinces of Anbar and Ninawa, where the cabinet postponed elections under the pretext of security following a series of candidate assassinations. Elections are now set for July 4 in those two provinces....The struggles within Iraq that add to autonomous regions such as the movement with the Kurds adds to instability along the Turkish boarder when there is so much going on with Syria, refugees and establishing a power sharing government there. The Kurds are an issue with Turkey. There is also the Kurdish extremists that have existed for more than one generation and believe violence toward Turkey is an answer, too.
...The "Shiite election" covered the southern nine provinces plus Baghdad and parts of Diyala and Salah al-Din. In this election Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition (SLC) won a reduced plurality, large enough to keep alive any hopes Maliki might have of a third term following next year's parliamentary elections, but too weak to provide him a clear mandate. Secular Shiite parties faired poorly, and most of the vote shifted to Islamists, likely in reaction against the excesses of recent Sunni protests...
The elections are more or less provincial across Iraq. So long as this continues the movement toward autonomous regions will increase. That means the ethnic divide will be a cause of instability to the borders that now define Iraq and surrounding countries. If the ethnic mix in Iraq cannot find a consolidated central government to their best interests there will be movement to not only divide into autonomous provinces, but, to expand the borders of the provinces to include larger ethnic definition.
It is a direct threat to a sovereign Turkey. To some extent the unwillingness to remove 'the head scarf' involves tightening ethnic definitions. Whether that interprets into a sovereign Turkey is an interesting focus. And where the USA policy fits into these dynamics is vital to USA interests and alliances.
...The "Sunni election" likewise produced a winner but not an overwhelming one, with Speaker Osama al-Nujayfi's Mutahidun ("Uniters") bloc winning an overall plurality while coming in second in Salah al-Din to Governor Abdullah al-Jiburi, who has worked in cooperation with Baghdad over the past year. Nujayfi's primary Sunni rival was Deputy Prime Minister Salih al-Mutlak's Arab Iraqiya, and it came well behind. Mutlak framed the campaign as its support for a nationalist, centralist, and secularist government against the Mutahidun's Islamism and alliance with Turkey, Qatar, and the Kurds. But he has faced a torrent of derision from Sunni media for his ties to Maliki....
Just as a point of interest, there is movement within the leadership of the Islamic communities to accept the outcomes of elections based in media exposure. That is a huge paradigm shift from the long past of these religions.
It is safe to say the religious content of the ethnicities of the area is placing a vital part of the political content. I would estimate the religious content will become a growing influence among the electorate of these areas. That does not have to be destabilizing. I remind the Grand Ayatollah ali al Sistani has lead a very peaceful content for his people. His influence will mean little to Sunnis and Kurds, but, it does provide a reference point to the peaceful content that can exist in these communities.
Monday 13 May 2013
During his recent speech, (click here) Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah spent more than half of his time lecturing about media.
Isn't this a paradox on its own? He is the head of a totalitarian party based on political, security, religious and media hierarchies. Violating them is not allowed.
Isn't this a paradox on its own? He is the head of a totalitarian party based on political, security, religious and media hierarchies. Violating them is not allowed.
Yet, here Nasrallah is talking about freedom and democracy in the media.
But of course, Nasrallah made accusations against the oppositional media - that is the "non-resistance" media. According his analysis, Nasrallah came up with the conclusion that the success of the resistance media is that it is simply honest and loyal over defending the nation and its sanctities. And so, Nasrallah diagnosed the situation by concluding that the media's major problem is lying and lacking credibility.
Those who watched Nasrallah's speech will not run out of examples to point out his contradictions or to show the inciting roles that the "resistance" media play. They will also not fail to notice that the "resistance" media's major task is brushing off critical thinking and drowning the party's audience in political, religious and doctrine propaganda....
All my hopes to the good work of Prime Minister Erdogan.
Those who watched Nasrallah's speech will not run out of examples to point out his contradictions or to show the inciting roles that the "resistance" media play. They will also not fail to notice that the "resistance" media's major task is brushing off critical thinking and drowning the party's audience in political, religious and doctrine propaganda....
All my hopes to the good work of Prime Minister Erdogan.
