Posted on 08/19/2002 11:22:31 PM PDT by Destro
Islamic Party Rises in Turkey
Mon Aug 19, 2:34 AM ET
Ali Abaci, a farmer from Cubuk, 66, a wheat farming town on the outskirts of Ankara, speaks to The Associated Press in this Aug. 9, 2002 file photo. Many residents in Cubuk say they are angry at Turkey's leading political parties and plan to vote for the pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party of Istanbul's popular, former mayor R. Tayyip Erdogan. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
By SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press Writer
MUTLU KOY, Turkey (AP) - For Osman Ozturk, Turkey's economic slide means all he can afford to feed his family is bread with sliced boiled potatoes mixed with mint and dried red peppers.
The wheat farmer is so disgusted with mainstream politicians that he plans to vote for an increasingly popular Islamic party in the Nov. 3 national election.
He's not alone. Opinion polls say the religious-oriented Justice and Development Party could emerge as the largest party in this NATO ( news - web sites) nation and could even grab a majority in parliament. That could mean another political lurch for a country long caught between Europe and Asia, religion and secularism, democracy and military rule.
Turkey's government has been pushing for membership in the European Union ( news - web sites) and many analysts think a victory for the pro-Islamic party could slow that effort.
A victory for the party also could bring tensions with Turkey's fiercely secular military, which in 1997 pressured an Islamic-led government out of power.
And Washington is concerned that a government led by a religiously oriented party might be less open to a U.S. attack on Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites)'s regime in neighboring Iraq.
A recent poll for Deutsche Bank put the Justice and Development Party in the lead, with support from 19 percent of voters. A secular, nationalist bloc was second at 11 percent. No other party got above 10 percent, which is the minimum for getting seats in parliament. The poll, which surveyed 2,400 people in July, had a margin of error of 1.5 points.
The fragmentation is not surprising. In recent elections, discontentment over the economy and endemic corruption has led Turks to turn to new parties, which are not perceived as tainted by past scandals.
The lack of consensus also is a reflection of Turkey's sometimes contradictory impulses. It's had secular government for decades, although a religious party has made it to power. Its people are Muslim, while having strong ties to the West and even Israel. It's an avowed democracy but the military has ousted governments three times and maintains a strong say in domestic affairs.
In Cubuk, a small farming town on the outskirts of Ankara, the capital, people say this year's political choices are simple.
"What do we care about the EU if we can't take a loaf of bread home," said Salim Destici, an unemployed laborer waiting under a tree in hopes a farmer would hire him for the day. He said he gets lucky about once every 10 days.
Just a few yards away, other jobless men sat around a table in a smoky teahouse, puffing on cigarettes and playing rummy. They said there was no point looking for work.
Farmers in Cubuk said they had stopped working their fields because harvests don't cover the cost of fuel for tractors or fertilizer.
In Mutlu Koy, a village near Cubuk, Ozturk sat on the porch of his house and pointed to a pile of sacks of wheat he estimated would bring $400. "This is all the money we have to live on until the next harvest," he said.
The slump that started in February 2001 amid a crisis of confidence in the government has shrunk the economy by 9.4 percent and brought widespread layoffs. And for years, pay raises have not kept pace with rampant inflation.
When asked about Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and his partners in the current coalition government, Ozturk said, "They'd better not show their heads here."
Ozturk said he plans to vote for the Justice and Development Party, which is led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He is the popular former mayor of Istanbul, the country's biggest city and commercial center.
Erdogan is a relative newcomer to politics and many consider him untainted by the charges of mismanagement and corruption that plague most of the leading parties.
"The election is going to be about corruption and it is going to be about change," said Tolga Ediz, an analyst in London for the Lehman Brothers investment firm. "They want to see new faces; they don't want to see past politicians."
I think they could fall prey to islamics at any moment...it will NOT be a pretty sight either. Violence could easily break out. Not a good prospect for the west....or most Turks.
So much for the last "Islamic democracy." When will the media get it?
It's about the religion, stupid.™
What barabaric thinking and a lie. The reason stated was that these walls were of Christian origin and "un-Islamic."
OOOps! The Morons are Turks. By your own words.
29 May 1998 Copyright © Turkish Daily News
Easiest of all is to be riding up above on one of those cloud horses that Mehmet and Constantine keep using to monitor what's going on in "their" city. The two men would perhaps have been pleased to hear that the city walls are being repaired although three years ago some quite conservative politicians were all for tearing them down as "un-Islamic."
Then the article adds that The city is fortunate in having an intelligent leader in Mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan who recognizes the need to keep conservative elements under control if not totally happy at the same time that he is fully aware that tourism brings in income to the city.
The men who called the walls "un-Islamic" were from Mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan's own party and he had to shut them down (in public). I like the tourisim bit. No thought to the historical value of the walls, an example of barbaric thinking.
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