Turkey: Erdogan celebrates win over anti-Islamic coups
15th anniversary speech, yesterday's victims in power today
Monday, 5 March 2012
(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, FEBRUARY 28 - With a speech in front of a crowd of cheering MPs, Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his own way celebrated an anniversary involving a recent historical event in Turkey: the anti-Islamic military coup on 28 February 1997. He did so while stressing his desire to remain at the helm in the long-term, despite a recent intestinal surgery and an internally-divided social democratic opposition. Broadcast live on television, his speech today in front of the parliamentary group of his near-absolute majority party (AKP) was highly anticipated because it was pronounced after an absence from the capital lasting over two weeks, as he was recovering and under observation after a second round of surgery in the last three months to remove benign intestinal polyps. "This heart will continue to beat for my citizens", " this path will definitely continue", assured the central figure of Turkey's political world, who had already denied having cancer. After reassuring the crowd, which paid tribute to him with stadium chants such as "Turkey is proud of you", Erdogan reminisced about the so-called "post-modern" coup in which the Army - guardians of Turkey's secular state on the order of the founder of the Turkish state, Kemal Ataturk - forced the first pro-Islamic government in the country, led by Necmettin Erbakan, to step down 15 years ago. "We are the victims of February 28", of the coup that went "against the will of the people", the premier underlined, stating that "a government that was installed through elections was overturned". "History will not pardon the architects of the February 28 coup even after 1000 years", said Erdogan, echoing an historic statement made by the head of the perpetrators of the coup, Huseyin Kivrikoglu, and making a veiled reference to the ongoing investigations into the liability of the generals. "But we are proud to be standing here," the premier stated (meaning to govern Turkey with an Islamic-inspired government). In a highly rhetorical style, Erdogan made use of pauses and soft tones while speaking about the psychological suffering of "two girls" who were hospitalised for the pain they experienced because they were not allowed to wear their veils, banned by the Army in the country's universities. The most energetic and ferocious attacks were reserved for CHP, the main opposition social democratic party, which on Sunday and yesterday held a 2-day congress in which reformist leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu rejected an attack by a faction associated with ousted head Deniz Baykal. Despite the victory, the TV networks focussed on how security dragged two opposition members out of the congress.
Although accused of being an autocrat, Erdogan had no troubles making his MPs laugh when he said that the CHP "has a platonic love for democracy" (meaning "from afar") and that "instead of watching TV shows" this weekend, Turkish people watched Kilicdarglu's congress: there was "action and scheming", he assured, referring to the physical altercations and internal opposing factions. Confirming speculation in the press, Erdogan announced an about-face on his education reform leaked to the media recently, specifying that compulsory schooling will not be reduced by half to four years. The proposed cut was viewed as a way to push students to attend Islamic schools after education in elementary schools, realising one of Erdogan's professed wishes: forming a new generation of more conservative Muslims.
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