Tag: Gul

Abdullah Gul | By Elif Shafak

A Turkish moderate with a tough choice ahead

Turkish politics is too masculinist and polarized, but Turkey’s 11th President, Abdullah Gul, stands out with his moderate tone and conciliatory style. In the run-up to the general elections in June 2015, both those who support him and those who doubt him agree that his role in Turkish politics has recently been amplified.

As Foreign Minister, Prime Minister and President, Gul has for many years been an ally of Turkey’s dominant political figure, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but also his main rival. When the Gezi Park riots erupted last year in protest against a decision by Erdogan to build a shopping center in the park, Gul declared that peaceful assembly was a democratic right. After Twitter was blocked, he was among the millions of citizens who broke the ban. “A complete shutdown of social-media platforms cannot be approved,” he tweeted.

Turkey’s democrats have high expectations of Gul, some of which have been shadowed by his signing of controversial bills. Gul is now at an important crossroads. He can choose a calmer life or go back into active politics to push for the democratization that the country sorely needs today.

Shafak is a Turkish novelist, columnist and speaker

via Abdullah Gul | TIME.com.

April 25, 2014
Turkey Reaction To Gul on TIME 100 Notes Absence of Erdogan

Turkey’s controversial Prime Minister is more used to the spotlight than his ally and rival, President Abdullah Gul

First reactions in Turkey to the inclusion of President Abdullah Gul on the 2014 TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people took note of the absence of Prime Minister Recept Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s most powerful political figure, from the list. “TIME 100: Gul is there, Erdogan Isn’t,” read the headline on the Hurriyet news site. Said the daily Vatan: “Flash! Gul is on the list, Erdogan doesn’t exist!”

Twitter – the social media site that Erdogan ordered shut down in Turkey after it posted links to apparently incriminating corruption wiretaps — echoed with skepticism of the choice: “JOKE OF THE DAY: Turkish President Gul in Time’s “The most influential people in the world” list..:) :)@TIME > Influential for what??” wrote @GayeAkarca

“Is he even influential in Turkey? Discuss,” quipped Bloomberg’s Turkey bureau chief, Benjamin Harvey @benjaminharvey.

In a mainstream media largely intimidated by Erdogan’s heavyhanded attentions, most early reports cited what novelist Elif Shafak had written on Gul without further comment. Gul has tacked his own course through the controversies that have erupted around Erdogan over the past year. The two men were among the founders of the moderately Islamist Justice and Development Party that has dominated Turkish politics for almost a dozen years, but Erdogan has strongly signaled his interest in running for the president’s office that Gul now holds.

For his part, Gul has largely refrained from being drawn on the subject, except to signal his reluctance to leave the office in order to take Erdogan’s place as prime minister.

via Turkey Reaction To Gul on TIME 100 Notes Absence of Erdogan | TIME.com.

April 25, 2014
UNITED WE WEEP, DIVIDED WE SLEEP

DUMBBELLS (English slang for stupid fools)

DÜMBELEKLER (Turkish slang for stupid fools)

I sing what was lost and dread what was won,
I walk in a battle fought over again,
My king a lost king, and lost soldiers my men;
Feet to the Rising and Setting may run,
They always beat on the same small stone.

Willam Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

I read the news today, oh boy. Here’s what Reuters said:
“Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan has applied to Turkey’s constitutional court on Friday to challenge the alleged violation of his and his family’s rights by social media, a senior official in his office told Reuters.”

Isn’t it grand, this so-called rule of law. The prime minister is correct in his action. Long ago his family’s rights were well-established as were his. When the fox owns the chicken coop every day the menu-du-jour is chicken. We and the world know the quality of those who rule this sad country.

But who’s to argue? Not the sheep…if they whimper, they’re next. And besides, they’re well-bribed with food and coal and things magical from the bountiful Ankara sky. They have indeed learned to deeply love their Big Brother. They repay with their pathetic ballots. So, who? Perhaps young people who, like all young people everywhere, thought they had a future? Sorry. Enough of them have died and been maimed. Maimed by the prime minister who now frets about his and his family’s rights. Hah! So surely it will be the political opposition who once thought they had a patriotic responsibility, even a cause? No cause. No thought. No brains. No nothing. The military? The ones with the soundest, strongest emotional and ethical legacy? Nope. Folded up like a cheap suit. Hardly a whimper. Generals now bow their heads to thieving politicians. Cowardly submissive stuff like that makes one wonder if they ever received an education (and at taxpayer expense). Atatürk? Huh? Please, we must not speak aloud of such things. So who’s left to argue? Media? Ha! Sold-out. Universities? Ha! Ha! Expounding on pet obscurities, historical quirks, dead poets and deader laws and what once was and now will never be. There is no time left for history and literature and law and medicine and philosophy and too many more words. Speaking of which, what about writers? Well, who reads? The world is too much with all of us, and we are all too late.

So who will care? Care enough to act, to really act? To stand up and say that this is enough. That the people will no longer be governed by a corrupt political process. Nor by numbskull, repetitive political opposition parties nor by America’s CIA gangsters? Is that too much to ask?

It seems so. Time grows short. Another crooked election is coming, this one presidential. One way or another the same small people will throw the same big stones at us. Ah Turkey, the saddest country with the saddest people with the saddest stories. Always beating on, always being beaten. Ah, dear Turkey, Atatürk’s children deserved so much more. So did Atatürk.

James (Cem) Ryan
Istanbul
19 April 2014

“A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.”

Ezra Pound (1885-1972)

April 20, 2014
FOR GOD’S SAKE STOP SAYING “INSHALLAH”

SYRIA

Haven’t you learned anything yet, you victims of Islamo-fascism? You victims of high treason. You victims of occupation by foreign powers. Haven’t you learned that you and your Inshallahs are condoning, allowing, and approving the crimes of the fascist Islamists that have ruled Turkey for over a decade. All their plans are prefaced with barrages of “Inshallah,” as if Allah is complicit with their criminal schemes. You surely remember well their schemes. You have nightmares about them. Allah and God and Yahweh are not plunderers, not murderers, not liars, not traitors, not rapists, not conniving ignoramuses. So stop saying “Inshallah.” Allah is disgusted with his/her name being linked with such criminal, sinful behavior. If there were a judiciary system in Turkey Allah would sue the government for defamation of character. For if you continue using this defamatory mantra, you will be spiritual collaborators with those international felons who are destroying your country in the name of—guess who?—Allah! And in your name and the name of your Inshallahs!

You and your “Inshallahs.” Like a neurotic, nervous tic, you drone Inshallahs for every mundane event. You will go shopping and Inshallah there will be bread. You will drive to the city and Inshallah there will be a parking place. You will go on vacation and Inshallah there will be good weather. Inshallah, the fish will be delicious at the restaurant you recommended. Inshallah, the mechanic will have a carburetor for your automobile. Inshallah, tomorrow I will stop saying Inshallah, Inshallah, Inshallah, Inshallah………..…

This so-called government of yours says “Inshallah” too. When it blinds your daughter, it says Inshallah. When it kills your sons, it says Inshallah. It gasses your children, destroys your mountains, your rivers, your farms, your security, all aspects of justice, and your human rights, then your government says Inshallah. It destroys the army and says Inshallah. It imprisons patriots and says Inshallah. It enslaves women in headscarves and says Inshallah. Your government perverts your educational system and says Inshallah. It finances genocide against the Syrian people and says Inshallah. Your government lies while addressing the United Nations and says Inshallah. It collaborates with America to betray your country in the name of Allah. It supports financially and morally the low-life scum that yells “Allahu ekber” while eating the hearts of still-living Syrian soldiers. Indeed, how great is this God? How great is this Allah when your government’s police attack your children shouting “Allahu ekber?” You say that these people are not your government, not your police. But your tax money finances them and your Inshallahs and their Inshallahs echo to the heavens all of them seeking Allah’s blessing. How sick is this? Just what is Allah to do, being bombarded with Inshallahs from all directions and for all purposes from trivial to bestial?

For God’s sake stop saying “İnshallah!”
And for Allah’s sake all you others stop saying “God bless America!”

James C. Ryan, Ph.D.
Dublin, Ireland
28 September 2013

September 28, 2013
Turkey says Cyprus crisis is chance to end division

By Andrius Sytas

VILNIUS | Wed Apr 3, 2013 12:08pm EDT

(Reuters) – Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday the financial crisis in Cyprus presented an “important opportunity” to end the division of the island, split between the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish north.

The Mediterranean island concluded a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout deal with the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday in order to stave off bankruptcy.

It has been divided since a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by a Turkish invasion of the north in 1974. Efforts to reunite it have repeatedly failed and Turkey is the only nation to recognize the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

“There is at the moment significant economic crisis on the island. This should be seen as important opportunity … Because if the island was to unite, there would be a greater economic potential,” Gul said during an official visit to Lithuania.

“There are some restrictions, embargoes on the island. Our suggestion is to lift any and all kinds of restriction or embargo simultaneously so that we can create a new climate for moving forward,” he said.

“I hope that this message will be well understood.”

Turkey’s failure to extend a customs agreement with the European Union by opening its ports to goods from Cyprus has hindered its ambitions to join the EU.

Turkey began EU entry talks in 2005, a year after Cyprus was admitted, but its bid has been blocked by the intractable dispute over the island, as well as by long-standing opposition from core EU members Germany and France.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighted the Cyprus dispute as a stumbling block when she visited Turkey in February.

Relations between Greece and Turkey have thawed over the years, making a resolution more imaginable than in the past.

Beset by economic crisis at home, Greece last month pledged to double annual trade with its eastern neighbor to $10 billion by 2015.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul and signed deals on issues ranging from agriculture to disaster relief.

Gul said the potential for cooperation between Turkey and Greece made the possible benefits of Cypriot reunification even greater.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

via Turkey says Cyprus crisis is chance to end division | Reuters.

April 4, 2013
Turkey to Become Europe’s Strongest Economy by 2050

Baku-APA. Turkey will emerge as the strongest economy in Europe by 2050, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Saturday, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

Turkey is similar to Sweden, while many economic indicators, such as growth, unemployment and budget deficit are better than in the EU, Gul said in an interview with Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, two day before his official visit to Stockholm.

Gül will visit Sweden at the invitation of King Carl XVI Gustaf in the first ever state visit by a Turkish head of state to the country.

According to Anatolia News Agency, Gul will attend the opening ceremony of the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies. During his two-day visit, he will address the Swedish parliament.

Gül will be accompanied by a delegation of more than 100 businessmen.

via APA – Turkey to Become Europe’s Strongest Economy by 2050 – President.

March 10, 2013