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‘A Good Anchor’

Turkey's top tycoons speak out on ties to Europe, headscarves, the military and other controversies.

 

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It's not often that you can sit down to tea in one room with the bulk of a nation's economic power. But at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, representatives from Turkey's four largest industrial families gathered together with NEWSWEEK to discuss the future of their country as it moves toward historic changes. Ali Y. Koc is CEO of Koc Information Technology Group, Ferit Sahenk is chairman and CEO of the Dogus Group, Mehmet Ali Yalcindag is CEO of Dogan Media Group and Suzan Sabanci Dincer is a board member of Sabanci Holding and managing director of Akbank. Their family holding companies control many of the nation's top banks, service firms and manufacturers. Below, they sound off to NEWSWEEK'S Christopher Dickey and Rana Foroohar about European double standards, headscarves, military might and hot money.

NEWSWEEK: Turkey has strong growth, a much more stable economic environment than it did a few years ago, and there's been so much progress around inflation, why bother with Europe? Why put so much energy into joining the European Union? Would it not make more sense for Turkey to simply keep the status that it has with Europe in terms of trade, but remain outside of the EU, with all of its red tape and restrictions?
Koc:
It's no secret that growth is in the East, starting with oil-rich countries like Russia, then the Eurasia area, and the Gulf area. Most of the world's growth is expected around Turkey and to the East of Turkey. We have all the ingredients that could allow us to become the leader of this region. But, at the same time … transparency, trust, comfort and stability—these are elements contributing to wealth in the Western countries. In order to be like that, you have to install and implement rules of transparency, human rights and fair competition. By fulfilling the EU membership requirements, this is what [Turkey] is trying to reach. Even if Turkey had no EU aspiration, we should still be taking those steps to reach our economic potential.

Sabanci Dincer: It is a good anchor. It gives us good discipline. We have to look at it as a whole process.

Sahenk: Investors and people around the world want to see the country going forward, socially speaking. That anchor [of EU membership] kind of put us onto the road. I totally agree with my friend Suzan that the EU for Turkey … is a vehicle, or a set of values, and for us to be focused on this, we have to name that target. And that is the EU. And as the days go by, I hope that this gets into the roots of Turkish society, where we really go for the values, rather than just the sole target of being a member of the EU. And I hope that one day, Turkey will have the luxury of saying yes or no [to the EU]. We already have these values in our pockets. Turkey will be a great partner for Europe.

Already, Turkish firms are outsourcing to other nations because of rising labor costs. Will this become a bigger issue with full EU membership?
Koc:
Well, when you look at the EU, it's not the most competitive group of people [laughter]. So, this is a question that is in people's minds—whether you become partial members or potential members, which is not very well liked within Turkey. People think it has a connotation of being a second-class citizen. Now, my connotation is that it gives me enough flexibility to be a regional leader. But … most Turks look negatively towards this process when you feel there are double standards and that you are not treated like everybody else. In the last eight to 10 years, we have done all the right things, and lifted all sorts of barriers … [yet] there are still obstacles, and Turkey is being used as a bargaining chip during elections in certain countries.

Let's be clear—you mean in France?
Koc:
Oui!

There are certain fundamental things about Turkey that are problematic for Europeans. Let's put aside the question of Islam. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked whether Europe wants to have on its borders Iran, Syria and Iraq.
Sabanci Dincer: The European Union is a matter of values; it's not a matter of geography, because geography changes. When you look at Europe, there used to be "the Balkans." Now we call them something else. The EU has to decide what they want and what they are categorizing. Because if the principles are changing all the time …

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  • Posted By: intermedusa @ 02/16/2008 1:05:55 AM

    KORAN IS THE ETERNAL WORD/TEACHINGS OF GOD. THIS MEANS FOREVER AND EVER; PART 1

    By
    Larry Houle
    www.godofreason.com

    The first and MOST IMPORTANT CONCEPT that you must understand about Islam is the following:
    All Muslims believe the Koran is the Eternal divine word of God ??? the Eternal laws of God. All Muslims believe that God authored the Koran and a copy of the Koran is in heaven. The Koran remains for all Muslims, not just "fundamentalists," the uncreated word of God Himself. It is valid for all times and places forever; its ideas are absolutely true and beyond all criticism. To question it is to question the very word of God, and hence blasphemous. A Muslim's duty is to believe it and obey its divine commands without question.

    Muslims can be killed (beheaded) for doing any of the following:

    Reviling Allah or his Messenger; (2) being sarcastic about 'Allah's name, His command, His interdiction, His promise, or His threat'; (3) denying any verse of the Quran or 'anything which by scholarly consensus belongs to it, or to add a verse that does not belong to it'; (4) holding that 'any of Allah's messengers or prophets are liars, or to deny their being sent'; (5) reviling the religion of Islam; (6) being sarcastic about any ruling of the Sacred Law; (7) denying that Allah intended 'the Prophet's message . . . to be the religion followed by the entire world.'

    This means exactly what it says. ALL MUSLIMS BELIEVE that the Koran is the ETERNAL word/teachings of God to be followed without question. If a Muslim challenges or questions the Koran, HE IS NO LONGER A MUSLIM BUT AN APOSTATE OF ISLAM and can be killed.

    The Koran can never be changed not even one word. When you are reading teachings of the Koran, you are reading the word of God himself and you must OBEY. THERE IS NO CHOICE. There is no exercising free will, no employing logic, reason, rationality, morality. These teachings are for all time - FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER.

    This is the most important insanity that ALL Muslims believe ??? THAT MEANS ALL MUSLIMS. This belief in the KORNIC ETERNAL LAWS OF GOD is a disaster that has the potential to destroy humanity and civilization as we know it.

    2. The second most important concept concerning Islam is the Doctrine of Abrogation. You cannot comprehend Islam without a total and complete understanding of Abrogation.

    2:106 Whatever ayas We abrogate We bring better ones.

    16:101And when We change (one) communication for (another) communication, and Allah knows best what He reveals.

    The Verse of The Sword 9:50 (see Part 2 below) abolished 124 initial peace teachings of Koran including the famous verse: there is no compulsion in religion (Surah 2:256). There is NO PEACE in Islam..

    islam is a 7th century ideology of war, death and destruction. This war is PERMANENT until only Muslims are left and the world is made entirely for Islam and Allah.

  • Posted By: intermedusa @ 02/16/2008 1:01:53 AM

    MURDER AND EXTERMINATION OF THE INFIDELS : PART 2

    By
    Larry Houle
    www.godofreason.com
    E-mail: intermedusa@yahoo.com

    The ten commandments teach: ???Thou Shalt Not Kill.???

    In Islam - it is a holy religious duty to murder infidels. The Qur???an is written in the language of terrorism. It is filled with numerous verses urging the Muslims to terrorize the non Muslims, kill them, and take possession of their lands and properties. The important points to remember is that whatever Muhammad did to terrorize the infidels was actually the actions of God. Among the many verses which exhort Islamist terrorism, the following verses stand out as naked aggression of Allah/Muhammad on the unbelievers: 2:63, 3:151, 8:12, 8:60, 8:59, 9:29, 9:50 9:55, 11:102, and 17:59 These are the Eternal Laws of Allah authorizating murder and extermination as a holy duty.

    It is not for any prophet to have captives until he hath made slaughter in the land. You desire the frail goods of this world, while Allah desires [for you] the hereafter; and Allah is Mighty and Wise [Koran 8:67]
    When the sacred months have passed away, THEN SLAY THE IDOLATERS WHEREVER YOU FIND THEM, AND TAKE THEM CAPTIVES AND BESIEGE THEM AND LIE IN WAIT FOR THEM IN EVERY AMBUSH, then if they repent and keep up prayer [become believers] and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them (9:5)
    Verse 9:50 is the extermination of ALL INFIDELS from the face of the earth. It means exactly what it means. Kill ALL INFIDELS. This is an ETERNAL LAW OF GOD FOREVER.

    FIGHT THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN ALLAH, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, NOR FOLLOW THE RELIGION OF TRUTH, OUT OF THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE BOOK [Christians and Jews], until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and THEY ARE IN A STATE OF SUBJECTION. (9:29)

    Verse 9:29 is the extermination of Christians and Jews from the face of the earth. They must either convert to Islam or pay a devastating submission tax and accept slavery as their future or be murdered if they refuse.

    Kill those who join other gods with Allah wherever you may find them. (9:5-6)

    So when you meet the infidels in battle, then cut off their heads, and after you have killed many of them by the sword, place [them] in shackles, and afterwards either set them free if you choose or let them ransom [themselves] until the war ends Koran 47:4

    Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods for theirs in return is the garden of Paradise they fight in his cause and slay and are slain a promise binding on him as truth 9.111
    For those Muslims who slay and are slain in fulfilling the above teachings ??? murdering Infidels ??? they are GUARANTEED accession to a sexual Paradise filled with full breasted, lustrous eyed eyes to sexually molest for all eternity.

    The above teachings are EVIL and only a small sample of 1000 teachings of hate, murder, extermination, terror that is the Koran.


  • Posted By: nawawimohamad @ 02/15/2008 2:51:01 AM

    All 11 points that you have put down are rather twisted and orientalist in nature. If Islam is as what you have listed out, the present scenario would be the other way round! The west would have been subjugated and at he mercy of the Muslims - but it has never been and even until now the Muslims have been the ones who are continuosly being intimidated, ridiculed, harrassed, invaded and colonised by the west! Muslims have never made fun of other religions, it is the secular western people themselves who have bee ridiculing Christianity and Judaism in all sorts of form form cartoons, theatre, movies, articles, books, films and so on. You are one of them - the orientalists who are infact the danger to the whole world, trying to instigate hatred between the Jews, Christians and Muslims!

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