ANKARA, Turkey, May 10, 2007
Turkey Approves Popular Vote For President
Parliament Avoids Boycott By Opposition Members Following Massive Protests Calling For New Election
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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul talk during a vote in the parliament in Ankara on May 10, 2007. The parliament voted on a key constitutional amendment to let the public — rather than legislators — elect the president. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
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Hundreds of thousands of pro-secular Turks have protested the government, which they fear is leading Turkey toward Islamic rule. Last week, the nation's highest court blocked a parliamentary vote that would have picked a pro-Islamic party figure as president. (AP Photo/Serkan Senturk)
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Fast Facts Turkey Learn about the people, economy and history.
The Islamic-rooted government pushed for the amendment after opposition legislators boycotted a process to elect a new president over fears that the candidate, chosen by the governing party, might increase the influence of religion in Turkish politics.
The political deadlock has forced the government to declare early general elections on July 22, and opposition parties began seeking alliances to diminish the chances that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party would have enough seats to rule alone again.
Legislators voted 376-1 in favor of the amendment, which also reduces the presidential term from seven years to five, allows the president to run for a second term, sets general elections every four years instead of five, and reduces the number of lawmakers needed for a quorum.
It was not clear however, if the government would be able to hold general and presidential elections on the same day.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer could decide to veto the measure or take it to a referendum. Sezer has already spoken against the measure, saying the time is not right for such a change because of political tensions.
Erdogan told reporters after the vote that the government would send the measure back to parliament in the event of a presidential veto. If approved a second time, Sezer would be forced to either endorse it or call for a referendum on the issue.
"With these changes, the people will overcome the deadlock," Erdogan said.
Parliament on Wednesday formally declared an end to the presidential voting process after Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul announced he was dropping his bid for president.
The secular parties feared that if Gul became president, the Islamic-rooted party could challenge the country's secular system. The government, however, firmly rejects the claim.
The conflict comes at a time of questions over whether European Union membership of the Muslim nation with more than 70 million people would conflict with the bloc's values.
Earlier Thursday, parliament approved a measure that would make it harder for a pro-Kurdish party to organize politically by fielding its candidates as independents in general elections.
Parliament said the measure was designed to simplify the voting process, but it came after a legal Kurdish party announced a plan to circumvent a 10 percent threshold required for parties to win seats in Parliament by fielding them as independents who would then form a party once they took up their individual posts as lawmakers.
The measure also needs the president's approval. Sezer, a close ally of the military whose office is viewed as the protector of national unity, is likely to approve it.
The move came despite the European Union's call on Turkey to reduce the threshold and ensure wider representation in parliament.
Kurdish politicians elected to parliament would have a higher political profile to push for cultural, social and economic rights for the country's Kurds, who are not recognized as an official minority.
Turkey has been fighting a separatist Kurdish guerrilla movement in a war that has killed tens of thousands since 1984.
Several predecessors of the Kurdish party have been shut down for alleged ties to guerrillas.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Posted by rhs648 at 12:11 AM : May 11, 2007
Not likely, but even if it were true (though again, not likely) it'd still be better then having to complain about the constant flow of dead Americans coming out of the Middle-East and the just as constant flow of billions of our dollars going into to pockets of Bush and Cheney's friends to pay for this war for profit.
How nice it would be to only have a few complaints about unemployment and inflation, instead of death and destruction thanks to Bush.
Posted by rhs648 at 12:11 AM : May 11, 2007
Not likely, but even if it were true (though again, not likely) it'd still be better then having to complain about the constant flow of dead Americans coming out of the Middle-East and the just as constant flow of billions of our dollars going int to pockets of Bush and Cheney's friends to pay for this war for profit.
How nice it would be to only have a few complaints about unemployment and inflation.
Posted by RandalDS
Sounds like an imagination gone wild. We would be complaining about high unemployment, high taxes, high interest rates, and runaway inflation with Gore at the helm.
Nice talking to you, another time, another day. I gotta go.
"A revolution that we could have supported instead of having our troops die to push."
Yes, it would have been nice if the Shia had taken him out.
Posted by AJMarine1 at 06:16 PM : May 10, 2007
Absolutely and I'm convinced that it would have happened by 2004 at the latest if we'd stayed out of there. After that of course there would have been a form of civil war as the parties struggled for power, however that's what's happening now abut the difference is our troops would not be dying in the middle of it. In fact Bush not only invaded unnecessarily, he invaded just in time before Saddam's government would have collapsed anyway, so it was a bd move that way too.
"A revolution that we could have supported instead of having our troops die to push."
Yes, it would have been nice if the Shia had taken him out.
Posted by AJMarine1 at 06:16 PM : May 10, 2007
Absolutely and I'm convinced that it would have happened by 2004 at the latest if we'd stayed out of there. After that of course there would have been a form of civil war as the parties struggled for power, however that's what's happening now abut the difference is our troops would not be dying in the middle of it. In fact Bush not only invaded unnecessarily, he invaded just in time before Saddam's government would have collapsed anyway, so it was a bd move that way too.
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
"A revolution that we could have supported instead of having our troops die to push."
Yes, it would have been nice if the Shia had taken him out.
Posted by AJMarine1 at 04:57 PM : May 10, 2007
Your right, the sanctions needed some serious tightening up and they weren't really hurting him personally, but they were causing massive unrest in the civilian population of Shia (who hated him already because he was Sunni and favored them over the Shia). So it's highly likely that there would have been a form of revolution there that would have thrown him out of power. A revolution that we could have supported instead of having our troops die to push.
"Saddam's regime would have collapsed under the sanctions by now..."
I thought the oil for food program was not doing what it was suppose to be doing and Saddam was skirting the other sanctions. He had sanctions on him for 12 years and they didn't seem to be hurting him.
- by rushman71 May 10, 2007 5:40 PM EDT
- All Middle East needs to take note of what the Turkish are trying to do with their society. Bring it under the control of the people, not towards Islam.
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