ERDOðAN: ERA OF COUP D’ETATS CLOSED IN TURKEY
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Oct 1 2007
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan dismissed prospects for a coup in
Turkey, saying the country has made clear its choice is democracy,
and asserted that his government remained firm on its commitment to
membership in the European Union.
"We have no such problem," Erdoðan said at a meeting with
representatives of the Turkish community in New York on Saturday,
the last day of his visit to the United States to attend a UN General
Assembly meeting. "Turkey will not go down in history as a country
of coup d’etats, be assured of that. Turkey has made its choice and
this choice is democracy."
His comments followed a question from the audience that some retired
commanders wanted a coup in Turkey. Erdoðan’s government wants to
rewrite the Constitution, drafted after a military coup in 1980,
vowing to democratize and make more civilian the charter. But critics
say it is an attempt to undermine the country’s secular order. "If
we can see our differences as a source of richness and if we can
fully understand democracy, secularism and our notion of social
state, many things will be resolved," Erdoðan said.He also assured
those present that the new constitution will keep the principle of
secularism as defined in the current Constitution and said criticism
of the government’s intentions were "purposeful."
"But we won’t fall into this trap. We will continue on our path to
increase living standards of our country," he went on.
The prime minister also pledged that the government remained committed
to the goal of membership in the EU. "We don’t have the slightest
hesitation," he told the meeting at New York’s Marriott Marquis
Hotel. "We are content because we have a president who has faith in
the EU process, a prime minister and a foreign minister [who feel
the same]."
Ankara’s bid to join the EU has been complicated by obstacles
stemming from the unresolved Cyprus dispute and objections from French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, who says Turkey does not belong to Europe
and should seek a partnership with the EU in a club of Mediterranean
countries. "Of course they will put obstacles in front of us, but we
continue our efforts despite them," Erdoðan said.
‘Mutafyan not allowed to speak’
Responding to a question, Erdoðan also touched on disputes related to
Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire,
and accused the Armenian lobby in the United States of acting as
a "network of interest" pursuing certain interests after Turkish
Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II (Mutafyan) had to cancel a speech at
a US university last week, reportedly under pressure from the US
Armenian groups.
"They didn’t let the patriarch speak. They are the ones who live
with us in Turkey and they have no complaint," Erdoðan said, adding:
"If we have guilt, we say we are ready to face our history. But they
are unable to answer us when we ask them if they are ready too. There
is a diaspora here. I say it openly; they are an interest network
that seeks ways to benefit from the debate."
The prime minister also urged the Turks in the United States to get US
citizenship, saying they will help Turkey-US ties if they are better
integrated. He even called for Turks to run for the US Congress,
lamenting that there are no Turkish congressmen.
–Boundary_(ID_x8qvE9QzpCroI88gYOqGs A)–