ANKARA, 18 August 2007 — An influential Turkish business association urged the country’s likely new president to keep his promises to respect the country’s secular constitution, an official said yesterday. Critics fear that if Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a devout Muslim, becomes president, he might help Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan chip away at the separation of state and religion.
Parliament will hold the first round of voting for the new president Monday. Gul has pledged to adhere to the secular principles of the constitution and abandon his political affiliations to be a neutral president.
“If elected, we believe that Mr. Gul will heed his public statements to take the constitution as his guide,” said Arzuhan Yalcindag, the head of the Turkish Industrialists and Business Association, or TUSIAD. The duty of the president was “extremely sensitive,” Yalcindag told reporters after meeting Gul. She said her group would monitor the president’s actions and issue “warnings and criticisms” if needed.
“We place importance on the principles of political impartiality, the inseparable integrity of democracy and secularism ... that Mr. Gul pledges,” Yalcindag added. “Like in all modern democracies, it will be our duty as a civic organization to monitor (his) performance and criticize and issue warnings when necessary.”
Also yesterday, an opposition party announced one of its legislators would run for president, Turkish media reported. The Nationalist Action Party officials said they would nominate Sebahattin Cakmakoglu, a former Defense Minister, for the post, private NTV said. The move is mostly symbolic since the party holds 70 seats in the 550-seat Parliament.
Gul, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) candidate, is almost certain to be elected in later rounds thanks to his party’s solid parliamentary majority. His first bid at the presidency in April failed as a secularist campaign blocked the vote in parliament and the army threatened to step in to protect the secular system.
Meanwhile, Turkey yesterday slammed Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis for “inappropriate” comments about the Turkish military, accusing Nicosia of “provocative” attitudes. “Marcoullis is not in a position to make evaluations on Turkey’s domestic issues,” a Foreign Ministry statement said. “Moreover, it is beyond her limits to criticize the Turkish armed forces and our chief of general staff.”
The statement said Ankara’s Cyprus policy was a “national” one and that any comments by army chief Gen. Yasar Buyukanit on the long-standing conflict reflected that policy. “The international community should not ignore the provocative and irresponsible attitudes of the Greek Cypriot administration, which continues to be an element of instability in the Eastern Mediterranean,” it said.
