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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Oct 16 2012
Gül offers ErdoÄ?an a second chance?
The new source of tension in the Turkish Parliament is not about
Syria; that reached its climax last week with the parliamentary
grilling of Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu, after Turkish jets
forced a Syrian plane en route to Damascus from Moscow to land and
seized part of its cargo, which was suspected to be military material.
This week, the Syria crisis has become routine. When an Armenian plane
landed in the eastern city of Erzurum for a cargo inspection on
Monday, for example, only a handful of reporters were excited about
the possibility of a new crisis. But in a short time it was understood
from statements from both Turkish and Armenian government sources that
it was not a crisis. It did however show that Turkey's neighbors, even
Armenia, with which Turkey has no diplomatic relations, acknowledge
that it is no longer a good idea to try to transport military material
to Syria via Turkish airspace. With backing from the U.S. and EU on
the grounding of the Syrian airliner, the Turkish government has
brought its tone down as well. There were reports that Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov got a hard time over Syria and Turkey from his
colleagues at the EU, as their own stances on both Syria and Iran are
toughening.
But there is never a dull moment in the Turkish capital, and since the
weekend Parliament has been busy with its new source of tension.
Because the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) failed to
secure an amendment to move local elections planned for March 30, 2014
to Oct. 27, 2013 with the support of the Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP), the possibility of a referendum on the issue emerged on the
political agenda. It is now up to President Abdullah Gül's to decide
whether to approve the motion and let the country hold a referendum
amid the Syria crisis, the simmering Kurdish issue and economic
difficulties, or to give his long-time comrade Prime Minister Tayyip
ErdoÄ?an a second chance to try it again without a referendum.
If Gül uses the full 15 days the Constitution grants him to decide, it
will be too late for ErdoÄ?an, because according to the Constitution,
any change in election procedure cannot be implemented for a year
after it is passed, so the deadline for this amendment is Oct. 27. And
the MHP, with its inner opposition against a municipal law in favor of
the AK Parti, has already started to say that perhaps it is better to
hold the local elections as scheduled.
Ahmet Sever, the president's spokesman, told daily Milliyet on Monday
that the president is likely to send the amendment back to Parliament
for a revision. That would probably make ErdoÄ?an happy, as it would
mean a second chance for him if it can come up again before the Muslim
religious holiday the Eid al-Adha begins on Oct. 25.
Everyone of course knows that this is actually about who will be the
next president in 2014, and it seems Parliament is just beginning to
struggle with it.
October/16/2012
Oct 16 2012
Gül offers ErdoÄ?an a second chance?
The new source of tension in the Turkish Parliament is not about
Syria; that reached its climax last week with the parliamentary
grilling of Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu, after Turkish jets
forced a Syrian plane en route to Damascus from Moscow to land and
seized part of its cargo, which was suspected to be military material.
This week, the Syria crisis has become routine. When an Armenian plane
landed in the eastern city of Erzurum for a cargo inspection on
Monday, for example, only a handful of reporters were excited about
the possibility of a new crisis. But in a short time it was understood
from statements from both Turkish and Armenian government sources that
it was not a crisis. It did however show that Turkey's neighbors, even
Armenia, with which Turkey has no diplomatic relations, acknowledge
that it is no longer a good idea to try to transport military material
to Syria via Turkish airspace. With backing from the U.S. and EU on
the grounding of the Syrian airliner, the Turkish government has
brought its tone down as well. There were reports that Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov got a hard time over Syria and Turkey from his
colleagues at the EU, as their own stances on both Syria and Iran are
toughening.
But there is never a dull moment in the Turkish capital, and since the
weekend Parliament has been busy with its new source of tension.
Because the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) failed to
secure an amendment to move local elections planned for March 30, 2014
to Oct. 27, 2013 with the support of the Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP), the possibility of a referendum on the issue emerged on the
political agenda. It is now up to President Abdullah Gül's to decide
whether to approve the motion and let the country hold a referendum
amid the Syria crisis, the simmering Kurdish issue and economic
difficulties, or to give his long-time comrade Prime Minister Tayyip
ErdoÄ?an a second chance to try it again without a referendum.
If Gül uses the full 15 days the Constitution grants him to decide, it
will be too late for ErdoÄ?an, because according to the Constitution,
any change in election procedure cannot be implemented for a year
after it is passed, so the deadline for this amendment is Oct. 27. And
the MHP, with its inner opposition against a municipal law in favor of
the AK Parti, has already started to say that perhaps it is better to
hold the local elections as scheduled.
Ahmet Sever, the president's spokesman, told daily Milliyet on Monday
that the president is likely to send the amendment back to Parliament
for a revision. That would probably make ErdoÄ?an happy, as it would
mean a second chance for him if it can come up again before the Muslim
religious holiday the Eid al-Adha begins on Oct. 25.
Everyone of course knows that this is actually about who will be the
next president in 2014, and it seems Parliament is just beginning to
struggle with it.
October/16/2012