EU-DIGEST

‘Ice warrior’ poised to repel rise of Islamic rule in Turkey - by John Swain

The next chief of the armed forces is being chosen this weekend at the end of a tumultuous week. Two PKK terrorist bombs exploded last Sunday night in Istanbul, killing 17 people, including five children whose bodies were riddled with shrapnel. Sandhurst-trained Basbug, 65, will have the top job for the next two years. He is a formidable military figure and an ideological hardliner who will ensure that Erdogan’s government - which was elected last year with 47% of the vote but is mistrusted by the military, which sees itself as guardian of a secular society - walks a narrow political line. For these reasons Basbug is almost certainly not the general Erdogan would choose to promote. The outgoing chief of the general staff, General Mehmet Yasar Buyukanit, was also a hardliner but he was impulsive and could be outmanoeuvred by the prime minister. “Erdogan will find Basbug is a much more formidable opponent than his predecessor. He is a lot more subtle,” said a military source.

Labels: Ilker Basbug, Military, PKK, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

Turkey and Islam - Veils of half-truth

To Turkey's secular elite it is a step back to the dark ages; to its conservatives, an overdue right. Either way, the constitutional changes approved by parliament to ease the ban on the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in universities will trigger a new battle between the mildly Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his secular opponents.

So what is all the fuss about? One answer is that the battle over headscarves is not really about religion at all. Rather it is a power struggle between a rising class of observant Turks from the Anatolian hinterland and an entrenched elite of secular “white” Turks, backed by the generals and the judiciary. “Women with scarves used to be our maids, now they have become our neighbours,” sniffs one Istanbul socialite.

The bigger worry is that Turkey has not yet devised a system of checks and balances that can protect the rights of all individuals, be they secular or pious, Turks or Kurds. As Abdullah Gul, the pro-European Turkish president, argued this week, EU membership could offer a panacea for Turkey's ills. If only Mr Erdogan (and existing EU members) would agree.Er

Labels: EU, Headscarfs, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

Turkih PM Erdogan in Favor of Turkish Schools, Universities in Germany

During a meeting with Merkel and school students from Berlin on Friday, Feb 8, to discuss problems of young migrants such as language barriers, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he was in favour of integration and against assimilation. The Turkish leader said he supported integration efforts but people's differences must be accepted. "In Germany, it should be possible for high schools to be set up where the teaching is in Turkish," Erdogan said, adding he also favored the idea of Turkish-language universities in Germany. Germany is home to Western Europe's biggest population of Turks -- about 2.5 million people.

Note EU-Digest: Erdogan's plan which has met with scepticism in Germany makes no sense at all. The priority of Turks or any other foreign national who choses to immigrate to a EU nation should be that he or she needs to assimilate and learn the language of their new home country. EU governments should not get involved in subsidizing schools which are based on providing immigrants the opportunity to stay connected with their culture, language or religion.

Labels: Angela Merkel, Education, Germany, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey