Not long after Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that the AK Parti should not be closed down, despite its anti-secular agenda, I published a post arguing that Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his fellow AKP leaders should be careful in the coming months and years; the AKP will be closed down, I wrote, if they make more ‘mistakes’ / act too often in breach with the constitution.

Thus, I thought, the AKP would be wise to follow a different course.

It now seems that the AKP understands the above on the one hand, but is emboldened enough to carry on (potentially) controversial reforms nonetheless. (more…)

Kemal wrote about the result of the closure case against Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) yesterday. As he pointed out, Turkey’s highest court ruled that, although some laws pushed through by the AK Parti were in breach with the secularism as established in the country’s constitution, there was not reason enough to close the party down now. (more…)

Although Europe ignores it, the Turkey’s PM Erdogan is turning into the Turkish version of Vlad. Putin, writes Kemal. (more…)

A friend of mine, and reader of this blog, Kemal, has written a guest post for PoliGazette in response to an op-ed by Mustafa Akyol, which was published in the Wall Street Journal. As you all will know, we encourage readers to send us their opinions; if we like what they write - we don’t have to agree with it of course - we’ll publish it. Here’s Kemal’s post called “Countering AKP Propaganda.” (more…)

In case you haven’t heard, two people have been fired and a third disciplined at the State Department, for allegedly snooping into Obama’s passport file. At present there’s no indication of what their motivations might have been, but though an investigation is under way, it could be that they were merely curious. Secretary Rice has personally called Obama to apologize for the intrusion into his privacy, which is nice of her.

Apparently this is a big story, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why. Anyone want to explain it?

Is this what happens when moderate Islamists take over, even in a modern country like Turkey?

Allegations that a decision by the Supreme Board of Radio and Television to ban the popular showman Seyfi Dursunoğlu from appearing on screen in women’s clothes evokes intense reactions in society and the media. (more…)

The Turkish economy is currently moving at full throttle. Not since the privatization reforms of the venerable Turgut Özal has there been such a sustained stretch of economic progress. While the average Turk will point to the fact that unemployment, which probably unofficially hovers at 14-16%, remains a sizable dampener to overall well-being, a considerable cross-section of Turkish society would nonetheless agree that the country’s economy is enjoying unprecedented prosperity.

Taxi drivers in Istanbul and even the heads of conglomerates will tend to point to the same rationale for this long period of positive growth: the political stability experienced under the AK Party. There is little dispute that Turkey’s current period of economic success correlates nicely with the starting date of the AKP’s leadership of the Turkish political system. (more…)

During the past week, the global press has enjoyed a multimedia feast over the comments about Iran made by France’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Bernard Kouchner. While these remarks were subsequently tempered by the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, this week’s exchange nonetheless underscores the increasing weight that the Iran-question currently receives in diplomatic and political circles outside of Washington. The press in Turkey has also been following this story quite closely, which is only natural for a country that borders on the pariah-nation in question. What has particularly puzzled this observer is the general absence of Turkey’s political elite in the overall international dialog related to Iran and its potential development of nuclear weapons. While there does seem to have been discussion between Ankara and Washington concerning the Bush Administration’s view that Turkey should freeze all trade with Iran, there has been little proactive commentary about the Iranian issue on the behalf of Ankara. Such relative silence on the part of Erdoğan and Gül would seem to be misguided for two main reasons.Even a limited military attack on Iran would most likely have disastrous effects on the relatively fragile Turkish economy. In addition to losing its direct trade with Iran, the Turkish economy depends on increasing future levels of foreign investment in order continue its positive growth trends during the coming years. Needless to say, investors will be very reluctant to sink meaningful amounts of capital into Turkey if Iran is launching missiles through Turkish airspace as a retaliatory measure. Moreover, the Turkish economy has come to rely on the flow of natural gas from Iran during the past two decades. A military action against the country would clearly necessitate the cessation of this supply and force Turkey to further rely on Russia for its energy needs. (more…)