CAN’T BUILD COUNTRY ON FEAR, SAYS PRIME MINISTER TAYYIP ERDOGAN

Today’s Zaman
Nov 23 2009
Turkey

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that his party has
no fear of pushing forward with its democratization reform agenda to
solve the Kurdish question, saying that those looking to spread fears
of disintegration and division were in reality trying to obstruct
democratization.

Speaking at a party caucus in Ankara’s Kızılcahaman on Saturday,
Erdogan said cowardliness would not help Turkey deal with its age-old
problems. He asked: "If Orhan Gazi was afraid, would Bursa have been
established? If Fatih was afraid, would Ä°stanbul have been?" and
said his party would go on with its democratization push without fear.

"You can’t build a country on fear. You can’t build a future on fear.

You can’t build democracy on fear," he said. The prime minister said
they saw their fight for democracy not as a problem of the Justice
and Development Party (AK Party), but a problem of the country.

Erdogan said that in the past, the Turkish nation has seen as many
glories as times when the nation and the country have been in danger.

Stating that the integrity and unity of the Turkish nation have been
tested many times throughout history, he said the Turkish nation has
always succeeded in moving forward and burying past traumas. Even
though the Turkish nation has been able to look optimistically into
the future, some are using past grievances as an instrument of fear,
Erdogan said. "There are those who are making efforts to create a
new society of fear. When history is not enough, they create virtual
fears and imaginary threats."

He said in the AK Party’s seven years in power, he has seen this many
times. "No matter what long-standing issue we tried to tackle, they put
up obstacles in front of us. We said we want to get in the European
Union, they said our national identity is in danger. We said Cyprus,
they said ‘our national interests are under threat’. We said we want
zero problems with our neighbors, they said [Turkey’s foreign policy]
axis is shifting. We said Armenia, they said Sevres. … And now,
we say the process of national unity and brotherhood [referring to
the democratic initiative], they say it is treason, they say it is
separation. The same politics, the same attitude and I am sorry to
say this but they are displaying the same cowardly approach."

He also talked about the recent discussions on alleged illegal
wiretappings of the offices of judiciary members. "Those who are trying
to make this look like it is linked to the government are acting on ill
will, they are trying to influence the public and create confusion,"
he said.

He said the wiretappings had nothing to do with the government. "And
neither could this [link] ever happen." He said the wiretapping
scandal was now in hands of the judiciary and would be sorted out
in the legal process. He said, "We see wiretapping without legal
permission as disrespect for a person, whoever that person might be."