‘REPUBLIC ON ITS WAY TO BECOMING REAL REPUBLIC NOW’

Today’s Zaman
Nov 25 2009
Turkey

German Green Party co-chair Cem Ozdemir has stated that the Turkish
Republic has always exploited the state’s laic structure to stall
democratization, adding that the republic is now becoming a real
republic thanks to recent reforms.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman about a recent plot devised by some military
officers called the Cage Action Plan that aimed to assassinate minority
leaders, Ozdemir said it was impossible for a country that eliminates
its religious minorities to be laic. "If Turkey today was a country
which still had its [non-Muslim] minorities, maybe its membership in
the EU would have gone smoothly."

Criticizing the application of the principle of laicism in Turkey,
Ozdemir said that the republic has always abused this principle.

Noting that the Cage plan was despicable, he added that there still
remained many questions to be answered such as whether those who have
been spreading a fear of religious fundamentalism until now have used
laicism to intervene in politics.

He also shared his opinion on the murder of his close friend Turkish
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed on Jan. 19, 2007 in
broad daylight by an ultra-nationalist teenager. Saying that he has
been following the murder trial closely, Ozdemir stated that there
was a deeper structure behind the murder.

He said Turkey has lost a lot of its values due to atrocities such
as the killing of Hrant Dink, the killing of an Italian Priest in
2006, the incidents of Sept. 6-7 [1955], the exodus of the Greeks
and the assets tax [imposed on non-Muslims in the early republican
era]. "What kind of laicité is this? How can a Turkey purged from
its non-Muslims possibly be laic?" he said.

He said Turkey was just beginning to emerge from the legacy of the
Sept. 12 [1980] coup d’état. "Turkey has always been ruled with fear.

There have always been fear mongers speaking of traitors, external
enemies and other forces trying to destroy Turkey. From now on, the
republic is on its way to becoming a real republic. They tried to
hold the republic together with fear. But a country cannot stand on
its feet with fear, but with a Constitution, rule of law and justice."