CUMHURIYET- Columnist Cuneyt Arcayurek comments on the discussions both at home and abroad concerning Turkey’s upcoming elections. A summary of his column is as follows:
Turkey’s future continues to be a topic of conversation both here and in other countries. These conversations focus mostly on two issues: the result of our elections and Turkey’s role in the Iraq issue. The media in European Union member countries is feeling the pressure of public opinion and also being affected by Turkey’s policies. It’s also unclear if a positive result will emerge from the Copenhagen summit on December 12-13. As of now, the EU will neither say that a date can be given, nor that it can. They have found an excuse. EU term President Denmark’s Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen openly said, ‘The result of Turkey’s general elections will play a very important role in terms of our evaluation of it.’ I wonder if he meant this, between the lines: ‘Does your hesitancy come from the possibility that if the Justice and Development Party (AKP) comes to power, the EU media and European nations alike will interpret this result as having established an Islamist government in Turkey?’ Or will they look at the stance of the new government towards the EU and then decide about giving a green light to our membership negotiations? It’s impossible to answer these questions.
Some Western publications seem to encourage the worries within the EU. Belgian daily La Quinzaine wrote, ‘The EU member countries are aware of Turkey’s importance and their consciences are troubled.’ However, it doesn’t openly write but instead implies that the EU has no alternative but to give Turkey a date. While the United States has been putting pressure on the EU for Turkey’s membership, some prominent US media outlets have been covering our country in a way that heightens the Europeans’ concerns and suspicions. For example, Time magazine’s Europe edition wrote, ‘As they have in every election over the past 12 years, Turks are ready to embrace the unknown’ -- by ‘unknown’ meaning Recep Tayyip Erdogan! Erdogan told the magazine that he was moderate in all things and that he had no intention of imposing Sharia rule on Turkey, even if the law permitted this. Of course the magazine must have seen behind the mask of Erdogan’s words, since it then adds, ‘Saying anything else, of course, would land him in jail again.’ According to the magazine, some of his supporters, including ‘the 8% of Turks who are considered fundamentalists [and] would like to see Shaira,’ will put pressure on Erdogan when he comes to power. As Time wrote, Turkey faces not only a selection between east and west on Nov. 3, but also an expected vote against hypocrisy and false promises. The legal argument put forth by former Parliament Speaker Husamettin Cindoruk on television and newspapers yesterday is nothing to be sniffed at. He said that the AKP has flouted the law and that votes for it would be declared invalid. His reasoning is based on the law: According to the Deputies Election Law, first the emblem of the party and then the name of its leader appear on the ballot slip. Yet the name of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose leadership and founding membership of the AKP were slated to end, still appears on the ballot. If this situation is the ‘misleading declaration,’ then the AKP’s votes will be cancelled!
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION