Cyprus-Forum.com

[Demonax]

Over the past year, Erdogan’s charms have slowly fallen away, leaving a bombastic politician eager to entrench his power. The corruption probe represents Erdogan’s final impediment to unfettered dominance over the Turkish political scene. If he is able to neutralize the Gulen movement, survive the corruption probe and win elections in 2014, Turkey will have a new sultan. He will not be a sultan of an empire, however, but a banana republic.

The underpinnings of a banana republic for Turkey?

[Demonax]

Three more AKP MPs resign...

Corruption cracks in Turkey's AKP as three MPs announce resignations from party

Three lawmakers of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who were sent to the party’s joint disciplinary committee with an expulsion request after publically expressing criticism over the graft scandal that has shaken the government announced their resignation from the party Dec. 27.

Former Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay, İzmir MP Erdal Kalkan and Ankara MP Haluk Özdalga have announced their resignations from the party after the AKP’s Central Executive Board (MYK) decided in a meeting late Dec. 26 to send them to discipline due to their "verbal and written remarks stigmatizing [the] party and the government.”

The three lawmakers are joining former Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin in resigning over the graft investigation in which four ministers, all replaced by a cabinet reshuffle on Dec. 25, have been implicated.

Günay, a senior figure who drew attention with his criticisms on social media following the police crackdown on demonstrators during the Gezi protests, said he was "parting ways" with the AKP during a press statement on Dec. 27.

“The central executive board and the president of the party have incited us into a decision that we had difficulties to make. While the party was facing serious accusations, they have tolerated the people responsible for those accusations and sending to discipline those who were inviting them to reason. They have made the decision easier,” Günay said....

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/corrup ... sCatID=338

[repulsewarrior]

In his speech at the village, BDP leader Demirtaş criticized government for not bringing light upon the Uludere incident. “After sons of three ministers are accused of corruption, they [the government] dismiss 800 police officers, but not even a single noncommissioned officer is being dismissed from his post in the Uludere massacre,” Demirtaş said.

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-335183- ... agedy.html?

Turkey’s Sabah newspaper made the claim after quoting the Iraqi Kurdistan capital Erbil-based Rudaw website. In a deal made between the Kurdistan prime minister Nechirvan Barzani and Baghdad-based Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki,www.Ekurd.net deals regarding oil will be conducted via a fund created in the United States, not via Halkbank. According to calculations, this means that Turkey will miss out on $11.5 billion.

http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/mi ... te7609.htm?

[bill cobbett]

Those who were so disappointed to see the demise of our Bagis the Clown will be delighted to know that his replacement for EU matters, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, looks to have come out of the same circus act tradition.

Here he is,reported in Zaman, just one day in to his new job, criticising Mr Fule, the EU's Enlargement Commissioner and laughably insisting Turkey respects such things as an independent judiciary and something he calls "the rule of law" ...


"... Newly appointed Turkish minister responsible for European Union affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has criticized EU Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle for his recent comments regarding the highly publicized corruption case.
“We expect our European friends not to make pre-judgment statements when it comes to commenting about Turkey's domestic politics," Çavuşoğlu said, according to Turkish TV network NTV.

Füle recently stated that the EU was worried about how the corruption case has been unfolding in Turkey, where the arrest of dozens of businesspeople, government officials and the chief of the state bank has sparked political turmoil in the country's pre-election period.

Çavuşoğlu also added that Turkey firmly believes in the "rule of law," signaling that the Turkish government will secure the independence of the judiciary during the investigation period.

The EU affairs minister said Turkey is sincerely committed to its obligations arising from the EU acquis and the principle of the rule of law...."

[Tim Drayton]

AKP Assistant General Secretary Mehmet Ali Şahin has stated that, when a penal conviction imposed on a person known to be a leading Gülenist (who has not been named) was appealed to the Court of Cassation, the court sent the case file to Fethullah Gülen in Pennsylvania asking what decision it should take!

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/2387 ... tiraf.html

One consolation about the latest crisis for people like myself who have been shouting in the wind for years about the danger posed by Fethullah Gülen is that they are gradually being proved right.

[bill cobbett]

Yes, for most of us this Gulen chap and his views are as unpalatable as Erdy and as foul-tasting as Nationist Kemalism left-overs from the '30s.

News from Hurriyet of the arrest of an OAP protesting the corruption.

Her great and heinous crime was to wave an empty shoe-box from the balcony of her apartment near where Erdogan was holding a rally.

(The inference is to the shoe-boxes stuffed with cash found at the homes of some of the corruption suspects)

The aptly named Mrs Gul said...

“... I waved the empty shoebox and sat at my balcony. I did not use any word or verbal expression. Bodyguards and police came to my house after one or two minutes. They asked who waved that box. I was detained after saying it was me. ... "

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/woman- ... sCatID=341

News, also from Hurriyet, that Fanerbahce football fans used the game on the 29th to protest the corruption...

"... Fenerbahçe fans chanted slogans against the Turkish prime minister and commemorated a killed protester in turning their last Spor Toto Super League game of the year into an anti-government rally on Dec. 29.

The Yellow Canaries beat Kayserispor 5-1 to end the year on top of the league, but the game will be remembered for its slogans, rather than its goals.

Fenerbahçe fans chanted “Hırsız [thief] Tayyip Erdoğan” during the game in a reference to the ongoing corruption investigation, which has rocked the Turkish political scene. Two ministers’ sons and a state-bank owner are among the high-profile arrests. Erdoğan has repeatedly rejected the corruption claims, saying the investigation is a dark plot to oust him from power.

The fans also chanted a song devoted to Ali İsmail Korkmaz, a protester who died after being beaten by a group of plainclothes officers and civilians during the Gezi Park protests in Eskişehir. ... "

[Tim Drayton]

Yes, for most of us this Gulen chap and his views are as unpalatable as Erdy and as foul-tasting as Nationist Kemalism left-overs from the '30s.

It is his modus operandi that I fear more than his views. He has his tentacles into a least a couple of hundred countries, that is the worrying thing. A few countries, such as the Netherlands and Russia, have thankfully long since banned his organisation - I wish the whole world would follow suit.

[Tim Drayton]

AKP Assistant General Secretary Mehmet Ali Şahin has stated that, when a penal conviction imposed on a person known to be a leading Gülenist (who has not been named) was appealed to the Court of Cassation, the court sent the case file to Fethullah Gülen in Pennsylvania asking what decision it should take!

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/2387 ... tiraf.html

One consolation about the latest crisis for people like myself who have been shouting in the wind for years about the danger posed by Fethullah Gülen is that they are gradually being proved right.

Union of Turkish Bar Associations Chair Metin Feyzioğlu has commented, with reference to Mehmet Ali Şahin’s above allegation, “Such allegations must not be raised purely for purposes of political propaganda or defence in the ongoing corruption investigation. In short, those raising them must also submit their evidence.”

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/2413 ... taya_.html

[repulsewarrior]

Yes, for most of us this Gulen chap and his views are as unpalatable as Erdy and as foul-tasting as Nationist Kemalism left-overs from the '30s.

It is his modus operandi that I fear more than his views. He has his tentacles into a least a couple of hundred countries, that is the worrying thing. A few countries, such as the Netherlands and Russia, have thankfully long since banned his organisation - I wish the whole world would follow suit.

...as it is, it would be easy to divide the world as Occidental, and what is not. Erdogan and Gulen were a grand alliance in an effort to define this difference to their advantage in what has become (on many levels) a war of ideals. the split between them is clear, and it exposes this influence that they carry in these affairs, the battle may exhaust them both, Erdogan clearly is not a man to use Grace to end conflict, it may destroy them both, if an alternative, a "Gezi spirit", that is even as a minority present in the next elections, the corruption that both are mired in, and that hobbles Turkey's growth as a Free and Democratic Republic, can be crushed.

Mr. Erdogan's, (and Mr. Gulen's) Turkey may be devoted to them, but the other half have only to speak up, and organise, to change Agendas in Turkey.

[Tim Drayton]

Yes, for most of us this Gulen chap and his views are as unpalatable as Erdy and as foul-tasting as Nationist Kemalism left-overs from the '30s.

It is his modus operandi that I fear more than his views. He has his tentacles into a least a couple of hundred countries, that is the worrying thing. A few countries, such as the Netherlands and Russia, have thankfully long since banned his organisation - I wish the whole world would follow suit.

...as it is, it would be easy to divide the world as Occidental, and what is not. Erdogan and Gulen were a grand alliance in an effort to define this difference to their advantage in what has become (on many levels) a war of ideals. the split between them is clear, and it exposes this influence that they carry in these affairs, the battle may exhaust them both, Erdogan clearly is not a man to use Grace to end conflict, it may destroy them both, if an alternative, a "Gezi spirit", that is even as a minority present in the next elections, the corruption that both are mired in, and that hobbles Turkey's growth as a Free and Democratic Republic, can be crushed.

Mr. Erdogan's, (and Mr. Gulen's) Turkey may be devoted to them, but the other half have only to speak up, and organise, to change Agendas in Turkey.

This is what I am keeping my fingers crossed for. It could, but not necessarily will, happen.