Cyprus-Forum.com

[Kikapu]

Erdogan was just saying a day or so ago that Turkey was ready to meet EU's 35 chapters, opening and closing, in order for Turkey to become a full EU member but had not heard back from the EU yet.

Really Erdogan, you don't know why the EU hasn't called back?

Super turbo state Turkey

BURAK BEKDİL
[email protected]

A year ago the German magazine Stern described Turkey as “Turbo-Staat Türkei” (Turbo State Turkey), a reflection of the country’s vibrant economy, the Bosporus glittering with wealth, a rising regional power and every other euphemism for the “Turkish miracle.”

In response, and with all due respect for the world-renowned German expertise in the motor industry, I’m inclined to remind readers of a few things:

1. According to the UNDP’s Human Development Report, Turkey stood at a not-so-turbo rank of 92 out of 187 countries.

2. UNDP’s gender inequality index put Turkey 77 out of 146 countries.

3. The World Economic Forum’s 2011 Report put Turkey 122 out of 134 countries in women’s access to education, economic participation and political empowerment.

4. Turkey ranked 138th in the World Press Freedom Index.

5. According to the U.N.’s Economic Freedom Index, Turkey was the world’s 67th freest economy.

6. According to Transparency International, Turkey’s corruption ranking was 56 among 91 countries, a rank worse than Namibia, Oman, Brunei, Botswana, Bhutan and China.

7. The Freedom House put Turkey 116th out of 153 countries, labeling the turbo-democracy as “partly free.”

8. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index ranked Turkey 89 (behind Honduras, Ecuador, Albania, Bangladesh, Mali, Ghana, Lesotho and China), presenting Turkey’s democratic credentials under the tag “hybrid regime.” (Turbo state Turkey, Aug. 11, 2011)

These rankings are more or less the same today while Turkey’s impressive economic growth also remains more or less unchanged.

True, Turkey’s neo-Ottoman dreams have mostly shattered after they hit a wall of reality on which big bold letters said: ‘Welcome to the Middle East.’ But never mind, even the dream of a graceful return to our glorious past was nice. There is no harm if the dreamers keep on dreaming.

But they look funny when a country with ambitions to “show the others the way” cannot find the way itself. It would have been much nicer if Turkey first controlled its own territory and made peace at home before shaping the future of its neighbors and attempting to bring peace abroad. It is always a difficult task to give someone else what you don’t possess.

These days, Turkish lawmakers come in three flavors: those who sit in the Parliament, those who are jailed and those who are kidnapped by terrorists and released at their mercy. Glory days!

Mind you, in the two decades between 1990 and 2010 terrorists kidnapped 154 people. In 2012 alone they have been able to kidnap 146 people, including a local governor, soldiers, policemen, politicians and civilians. And that’s turbo-state Turkey!

To make it a super turbo state we have new engine additives and modifications this year, like a world-renowned pianist being prosecuted because he had tweeted that he is an atheist, or new additions to the growing list of journalists who have lost their jobs because the prime minister did not like the way they wrote.

It is quite puzzling to guess which one will happen first; will the Baathist Arab states embrace democracy or will Turkey embrace Baathism. A more realistic option could be that Turkey and the Arab states will embrace each other, daggers hidden behind backs, or perhaps a result somewhere in between. But what other “commodity” can neo-Ottoman Turkey export to the “awoken” Arab nations? Justice. As in the name of the ruling party. Not only justice, but also economic justice.

The government’s statistics agency has just released the results of its household consumption survey for 2011 according to which:

1. Turkey’s top 20 percent income bracket accounts for 36.7 percent of total consumption while the bottom 20 percent for a mere 9.1 percent,

2. The top 20 percent bracket accounts for 39.7 percent of total health spending vs. 10 percent for the bottom 20 percent, and

3. The top 20 percent accounts for 62.3 percent of total education spending vs. 5.2 percent for the bottom 20 percent.

But is it not great to be a net exporter of democracy, security, peace and justice?
August/17/2012

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/super- ... sCatID=398

[kimon07]

This guy is playing with his life.

[Maximus]

This guy is playing with his life.

I doubt that he is in Turkey!

but yeah, erdogan is comically inept. He's the dump valve in super turbo state Turkey!

Vroooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm PTSSSSSSssssss............

[wyoming cowboy]

. The World Economic Forum’s 2011 Report put Turkey 122 out of 134 countries in women’s access to education, economic participation and political empowerment.


The one stat that stands out the most is the one above, no fully(modern) industrialized nation, has not been able to achieve a modern economy with out allowing women to become educated and join the workforce

[Kikapu]

. The World Economic Forum’s 2011 Report put Turkey 122 out of 134 countries in women’s access to education, economic participation and political empowerment.


The one stat that stands out the most is the one above, no fully(modern) industrialized nation, has not been able to achieve a modern economy with out allowing women to become educated and join the workforce

That's why it is laughable when Turkey makes the claim that the unemployment rate in Turkey is about 8%-9% now, but when using the norms with the EU and other industrialized countries where women are a large part of the employment force, comparing Apples to Apples, Turkey's true unemployment rate is somewhere between 35%-40% at bare minimum!

[kimon07]

. The World Economic Forum’s 2011 Report put Turkey 122 out of 134 countries in women’s access to education, economic participation and political empowerment.


The one stat that stands out the most is the one above, no fully(modern) industrialized nation, has not been able to achieve a modern economy with out allowing women to become educated and join the workforce

That's why it is laughable when Turkey makes the claim that the unemployment rate in Turkey is about 8%-9% now, but when using the norms with the EU and other industrialized countries where women are a large part of the employment force, comparing Apples to Apples, Turkey's true unemployment rate is somewhere between 35%-40% at bare minimum!

Good point.

[wyoming cowboy]

...i dont see erdogan/gul as being stupid thought, they have survived for 10 years as Turkey's leaders. Their game may be that they draw in the fringe radicals with their rhetoric and then make the huge changes ie...new constitution, Cyprus problem, Kurdish problem etc

[Mapko]

The Turks aren't interested in a solution and aren't interested in the authority of the EU:

http://www.parikiaki.com/archives/51368

[kimon07]

...i dont see erdogan/gul as being stupid thought, they have survived for 10 years as Turkey's leaders. Their game may be that they draw in the fringe radicals with their rhetoric and then make the huge changes ie...new constitution, Cyprus problem, Kurdish problem etc

If they had an ounce of common sense, Kirkuk and Mosul (Northern Iraq) and the oil reserves there would be in their hands today.

When the Americans wanted to invaded Northern Iraq through South Turkey, they accepted the following terms of the Turks.

1. To pay to Turkey 120 bil. US$ against expected damages from the interruption of the oil trade between Turkey and Iraq etc.
2. The Turks would participate to the invasion with 60,000 troops (as many as the Americans).

What happened?

Thank God, the Turkish maximalism did its miracle. The Turkish parliament approved the American invasion through Turkey and all the rest, on one condition:

That the supreme commander of both the American and the Turkish forces would be ... a Turkish General.

Thank you Turkey.

[wyoming cowboy]

I agree with you Kimon that Turkey really messed up in denying the US a corridor to attack Iraq from the north.
They could have garnished the rewards of being the US's most trusted ally next to Israel and maybe the USA would have turned a blind eye to Turkey taking over the Northern region of Iraq with all its oil wealth. Nevertheless, I think Erdogans tough talking rhetoric these past few years has a lot to do with Turkey's pro west pro EU new constitution that Erdogan has championed but could not get ratified, yet.

"..... The expectation is that Turkey’s new constitution will be in line with European Union norms and will help Turkey’s aspirations to become an EU member.

The commission also reached out to hear the demands of civil society organization, most importantly its religious minority. In December lawmakers met with a Jewish group and this February Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople addressed the parliament and representatives of Syriac Orthodox Christians also attended the parliamentary hearing. The representatives met with the Constitutional Conciliation Commission and outlined their expectation from the new constitution. This has been celebrated as an important step for Turkey’s small religious community which for the most part of the Turkish state’s history has been marginalized politically.

Turkey’s constitution-building process is an on-going one and the upcoming months will demonstrate whether it will prove to be a product of genuine compromise among the political parties, enriched with the demands of civil society organizations and capable of addressing Turkey’s thorny issues (including civil and political rights for the Kurdish minority, religious minorities and the remnants of military tutelage) or whether it will be put to rest because the political parties are unwilling to compromise...."
http://www.comparativeconstitutions.org ... ution.html


What better way for Erdogan to gain the necessary support from the right wing then to threaten Turkey's neighbors and potential enemies....ie Israel, Greece, Cyprus...etc