WASHINGTON, 7 February — Tayyip Erdogan, the popular founder and chairman of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party is a leading candidate for prime minister in the next parliamentary elections — if he is allowed to run.
The current government has tried to bar him from running, and a court case against him has been decided, but the results have not been made public.
So it is currently unclear whether he will be allowed to run for office. At the very least, he cannot run as founder of his party. What remains clear is that, unlike his adversaries, thousands come to hear him when he speaks.
Elected mayor of Istanbul in 1994, Erdogan’s tenure ended when a court decision landed him in jail for five months in 1998 after he publicly recited a poem viewed as provocative by the current government.
In August 2001, Erdogan founded the Justice and Development Party (AK Parti).
His party has 53 members in the Turkish Parliament, and all recent polls indicate that if general elections were held today, Erdogan, and his AK Party, would easily win the majority vote.
Speaking at the Washington-based Middle East Institute last week, before sprinting off to confer with members of Congress, Erdogan spoke on his party, the repercussions of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, his party’s foreign policy, and the Israeli-Palestinian policy.
Called an "Islamic party" by critics, Erdogan said his party’s version of Islam has No negative connotations: "The power basis of our party is not limited to small sections of the society, or to a certain geographical region. It encompasses almost all sections of Turkey’s population... and composed mainly of conservatives and reflects the values of average Turkish citizens. The average Turk is a moderate Muslim. As a result, our party represents the common values of a moderate Muslim population of Turkey," he said.
Stronger international alliances should be built following the Sept. 11 attacks, he said, that "constitute a very important milestone in the initiation of the cooperation to combat international terrorism."
AK believes "military measure will not be sufficient to eliminate terrorism. Better mutual understand between the Muslim world and the West is perhaps as important as military measures, if not more."
In outlining his party’s foreign policy, Erdogan also advanced Turkey’s regional status, saying it borders three unstable regions that affect the security of the West — the Balkans, Caucasia, and the Middle East.
"The Caucasians and the Middle East are important regions as they are important energy sources for the West. Instability in the Balkans is important because of its potential negative impact on the security of western European countries," said Erdogan.
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Erdogan said his party believes "the most important and urgent task is to stop the bloodshed. The solution to the conflict can be achieved only through peaceful means. In our view, the excessive use of military force in the repression of Palestinians may achieve short-term success but in the long run this will unavoidably lead to an escalation of violence."