Erdogan reproved
The opinions of Turkey’s National Security Council are a significant indication of the country’s political momentum and therefore worthy of study by the Greek government. The council, which convened earlier this week under the chairmanship of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, has apparently been trying to bring Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan back into line following his declarations on the «Kurdish problem» by citing other sources of societal problems. A written statement by the council even suggested that Erdogan’s declared stance on the Kurdish issue was on the verge of violating constitutional principles. The council proceeded to define sovereignty and underscore the protection of secularism as the «basic aims of the state» – an obvious comeback to the country’s Islamist premier and his government. But the severest admonition of Erdogan, who pledged to solve the Kurdish problem «in a more democratic way,» lies in the council’s declaration that the most successful way of curbing terrorism is by «increasing efforts toward economic and cultural development with the aim of curbing inequalities in development between different prefectures and regions.» So according to the council, the problem is not that Kurds are being treated undemocratically but that the government is unable to level out economic and cultural differences…
