Sunday, 13 May 2007In strongly worded remarks US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has lent support to the reformist nature of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), saying that Turkey's elected government is pulling the country toward Europe.
"It's very important that we support their democratic processes," Rice told lawmakers at a Senate hearing on Thursday during which she reiterated US support for Turkey's democracy.
The ruling party "has been dedicated to pulling Turkey west towards Europe," despite its Islamist roots, Rice noted. Whatever the ruling party's religious complexion, the AK Party-led government has started accession talks with the EU and passed a number of EU-inspired laws on religious and individual freedoms, she highlighted."The last few years have actually not been years in which one could say that Turkey was pulling away from its European traditions, but I think trying to move more actively toward it," she told US senators.
Also on Thursday, when asked at a daily press briefing whether he considered the AK Party "a secular democratic party," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack termed it "a party that is established within the confines of Turkish law and the Turkish constitution."
"I will leave it to others to describe their political platform," McCormack added.
Keeping a low profile as a political crisis has played out in Turkey, Rice broke her five-day silence last week following release of a General Staff statement -- dubbed an "e-memorandum" -- weighing into the presidential election process, while the EU was rather quicker to warn the military, which had threatened to take action if the government did not do more to preserve the republic's secular tradition, to stay out of politics.
Last week while en route to Egypt Rice joined the EU in warning the Turkish military against interfering. "The United States fully supports Turkish democracy and its constitutional processes, and that means that the election, the electoral system and the results of the electoral system and the results of the constitutional process have to be upheld," Rice was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.
Last week's remarks from Rice came after certain criticism of the US stance concerning the issue within the Turkish media and public alike after Washington declined to comment on the presidential election, in marked contrast to the EU, whose Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn repeatedly warned Turkey's military to stay away from politics, while welcoming the announcement of early elections.
Meanwhile in Ankara, also on Thursday, Turkey's Parliament approved a major constitutional amendment to allow the president to be elected directly by the public. The reform, which must be signed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to become law, envisages Turkey's president being elected for a five-year term, renewable for a further five years. Parliament now elects the president for a non-renewable seven-year period.
Analysts say that the AK Party decided to push the reform thorough as a direct appeal to voters after losing a battle with Turkey's secular elite, which includes army generals and top judges, to get its presidential candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah G+-l, elected by Parliament.
12 May 2007 |
Sunday, 13 May 2007
Turkey, US and the EU
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