Democracy in the Dock

I see this trial as an attack to the democracy. Cuz, in modern world the closure of political parties is unaccaptable. Political parties have a critical importance for the democratic life in a country. As far as I know, there is no any solid evidence to shut the ruling party down. When all these taken into consideration the top court decides to close it, I am sure the majority of the people in Turkey will not trust this court anymore. By banning the AKP, the Constitutional Court would not only violate the convention, but also its own principles regarding the freedom of organization. A closure decision also risks highly negative consequences for the Turkish economy by increasing uncertainty about the future and deterring investment, with the most unwanted consequences of falling growth rates, increasing unemployment and poverty. My advice to all the judges of the court, they better think the benefit of the community, benefit of the state, and also the benefit of democracy. Greetings to all and be in peace.

Turkey Republic is not a natural-born state. It was born on an artificial ideological basis. The whole founding philosophy is to inactivate the devout Muslims and slaughter the Kurds (the Otherized). It was quite easy to do so in fascist 1920s, but today it is no longer possible to carry it out. That is the whole problem.

Yes, I too was getting ready to respond again to some of the simplistic (usual democracy and liberty for the masses) views and US-centric comments here but I just read about the terrible terrorism news coming out of Istanbul with many dead and wounded.

This is not the time to bicker with each other or attack other's ideas. We all want and wish the best for Turkey but have different thoughts and approaches in getting there. I would like to think all who follow these posts are too intelligent to want to continue under such atmosphere and would all strongly condemn such terroristic and cowardly chaotic act anywhere, including Turkey. So let's call it a truce for a while, shall we?

We Turks are a funny breed. If you read our newspapers, you will notice that we pay great attention to what the "West" is reporting on the country. I was made aware of this Newsweek article after reading a poor translation of the summary in the leading online newspaper. Having lived in the U.S. for a majority of my life, I find myself unable to comprehend my hardline secularist friends in the country. The secularists are havign quite a tough time accepting their more religious brethren amongst their ranks. If you watch popular tv shows, you will notice that the women with the headscarves are usually portrayed as the maids, janitors, etc. They are considered uneducated and backwards. Now that they are more prevalent in society (i.e. wives of the President and Prime Minister), they cannot deal with this. The comments are usually, how the West must see Turkey as backwards and that this is an insult to Ataturk's reforms. Who cares what the West thinks? If the country moves forward on a path of economic reform, it can be stronger than a lot of the countries in Western Europe.

Erenkoy wrote a perfect reply for another comment below.
I totally agree with Erenkoy. No comment could have given the real picture in Turkey better. Thank you so much :)

Calli,ng Erdogan as "a man of democracy" is like making Hitler " a man of peace" .. Erdogan , who memorized Kuran in Arabic as his high school education, was a firm supporter of Taliban. Then, after his previous party was closed because of anti-secular activities he had no other option than being "democratic". After he came to power, he finished his biggest rival , media tycoon, Cem Uzan using the power of state the way he wanted. His priority was obviously to keep media under control and now there is not even one TV channel in Turkey openly opposing Erdogan and his party. He helped his-son-in-law's company to take over one of the biggest TV channels in the country. Unfortunately, there is not a strong opposition against him.
Old politicians are glued on their chairs never letting young ones come out and lead the people. Erdogan and democracy ??? How big our founding father Ataturk is that Erdogan still has to seem democratic and secular for the fear of Ataturk.

This one-sided article should be taken as seriously as the recent book by "scholar" Sevan Nisanyan it cites, which links Ataturk's founding philosophy to Italian Fascism of the 1920s and ...... blah .. blah .. blah. This "deep thinker" and a "brilliant person," Sevan, recently had a lawsuit filed against him for collecting his feaces in a bucket and dumping it on his wife's head. Yes, that kind of a "solid" dependable view is important and I would take his words as religiously as all the Muslim fundamentalists who pollute youtube with their Ataturk hatred by calling Ataturk a Jew, a gay, a dog, etc etc - all the things every Muslim fundamentalist loves to hate and can generate a rally and support around.

. Having suffered coups of various flavors that brought down numerous elected governments since 1960, endured 24 party closings, having been tortured, murdered, bombed, threatened by fascist organizations like Ergenekon, the Turkish people are now showing a resolve and determination not seen before in the history of the Turkish Republic. "Would you instill extra non-elected bodies (like constitutional court, national security council, etc) to check and re-check the democratically elected government and not let them govern the country?" The US Supreme Court is also a non-elected body and can overturn laws and executive actions it deems unlawful or unconstitutional. The system where the power of elected governments is not checked and balanced would be called 'the tyranny by the majority' not "representative democracy".

it is heartening to see that publications in the West like Newsweek have begun to see through the fog of confusion, distortion, and even outright lies generated by the secular fundamentalists to get at the real problems facing Turkey and the Turkish electorate. Having suffered coups of various flavors that brought down numerous elected governments since 1960, endured 24 party closings, having been tortured, murdered, bombed, threatened by fascist organizations like Ergenekon, the Turkish people are now showing a resolve and determination not seen before in the history of the Turkish Republic. They are demanding that their will be respected. Regardless of the outcome of this sham trial, Turkey is on an irreversible course to a true democracy. If AKP is banned, a new party will take its place, and it will be stronger and have wider support. At some point, even the Kemalist fundamentalists will have to see the futility of trying to block this progress.

The post by erenkoy is pretty funny. Lets make a test about a liberal New Yorker being like a Kemalist.
As a liberal New Yorker, would you ever think of banning people from university because of what they choose to wear? Would you ever think of forcing to close down a political party because they think differently than you do on certain issues? Would you ever force little school children to start every day with a ceremony where they swear to follow the founder's principals no matter what? Would you force every school, every government office to have a certain person's portrait or statue everywhere? Would you instill extra non-elected bodies (like constitutional court, national security council, etc) to check and re-check the democratically elected government and not let them govern the country? Would you belittle religious people, try to avoid them whereever you go and hate them?

Earlier comment is pretty funny. A Kemalist is no different than a liberal New Yorker! The funniest comment I heard since some time. Well, lets see, lets make a test. As a liberal New Yorker would you ever think of banning a person from university because he/she choses to wear something? Would you ever think of banning a party and its top members because they think differently on some issues and act upon their thoughts? Would you force little students to chant the name of your country's founder and make them swear every day to follow his footsteps, and fight his enemies?

I think not!

"...the AKP response to a ban would be to reconvene under a new banner, and then campaign in new elections. Then it would move to draft a new constitution that would shift power to elected governments..." if this true I strongly urge the court to ban AKP and its leaders; We will not only get rid off likes of Erdogan and Gul also get a revised more democratic constitution.

"...In one recent book, scholar Sevan Nisanyan of Istanbul Bilgi University links Ataturk's founding philosophy to Italian Fascism of the 1920s..." What a joke! Accusing the left with fascism has become a theme... Did not Jonah Goldberg (American right-wing columnist) accuse American liberals, including Newsweek, to be the real fascists on his book, Liberal Fascism? Here's the New York Times' review on that book which is perfectly applicable to Nisanyan's book: "...This book is less an exposé of left-wing hypocrisy than a chance to exact political revenge..."

By the way it is worth to note Newsweek's recent hostility against Ataturk. I have to ask my liberal friend in the West not to follow Newsweek's lead since it would damage the trust between the liberals on both side. Living in NYC I can ensure you that a Kemalist is no different than a liberal New Yorker. The difference is that you are being bashed by Fox News while we are by Newsweek. Strange world...