Turkey Analysis: Erdogan's "One Leader, One Nation, One Market" --- Will It Succeed?

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoganIt is a busy and tricky time for the Erdogan Government : relations stuck with the European Union, a possible peace process to solve the Kurdish question, the long-awaited new Constitution, prospects of switching to a Presidential system, and next year's elections.

>The combination requires finely-adjusted diplomatic steps with opposition parties. For instance, the support of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) takes on importance in the Constitution-making process, while the main opposition faction, the Republican People's Party (CHP), has a role in the consensus over counter-terrorism.

So how to hold all this together? Despite some inconsistencies by the Government in its approach, there are three notions that are immutable: "One Leader, One Nation, One Market".

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Iran Feature: "Britain Rebuffs US Pleas to Use Its Military Bases for Attack" (Hopkins)

Britain has rebuffed US pleas to use military bases in the UK to support the build-up of forces in the Gulf, citing secret legal advice which states that any pre-emptive strike on Iran could be in breach of international law.

US diplomats have also lobbied for the use of British bases in Cyprus, and for permission to fly from US bases on Ascension Island in the Atlantic and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, both of which are British territories.

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Turkey Live Coverage (8 March): Erdogan's Kurdish Problem

1620 GMT: The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) MP Nursel Aydogan has said that there will be more deaths unless meetings between the State and PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) take place. Aydogan added:

The pathway towards peace and freedom shall be opened. And its way, as we have expressed before, is going through Imrali (the small island where PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is imprisoned). Just as there were meetings, dialogue and negotiations between PKK and the state for a year, we express that meetings with Imrali shall re-start and the door of the pathway leading to the solution of the problem shall be opened.

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Turkey Feature: Erdoğan at UN --- A Blast at Israel, A Criticism of Assad, and a Warning to Cyprus

Israel's rulers must make a choice. They must see the fact that the real security comes with the real peace. They must see that it is not possible to maintain the state of conflict in the Middle East permanently. It is necessary to show that Israel is not above the law.

The most important step to be taken in this matter is the Palestine's taking part in the UN. Turkey's support to Palestine is unconditional.

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Turkey's Erdogan Threatening Cyprus: "We Will Do What is Necessary!"

This feature has been re-titled, "Turkey Feature: Erdoğan at UN --- A Blast at Israel, A Criticism of Assad, and a Warning to Cyprus", and moved to the top of EA Worldview....

Turkey Analysis: The Shortcomings of Prime Minister Erdogan's "The Best Defence is a Good Offence"

UPDATE 22 APRIL: The Supreme Election Board, after eight hours of discussions, has reinstated the candidacy of seven independent candidates.

The Baord had vetoed 12 mostly Kurdish applicants, including two current MPs.

Six Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) candidates and one independent were re-instated. There was no word about the other five who had been blocked.

Protests broke out in several cities across Turkey, with at least one person shot and killed by police on Wednesday, after the board's initial decision.
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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Strasbourg, France last week, taking questions from the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly. When French MP Muriel Marland-Militello, whose grandfather was an Armenian born in Istanbul and escaped Turkey in 1915, asked how he would guarantee freedoms for religious minorities in Turkey, Erdogan said, “I believe this friend is French. She is also 'French” to Turkey', which is a saying in Turkish meaning that 'you don’t know anything about it'."

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Turkey Special: Erdogan Government Reaches Out Abroad, Talks Tough at Home

Prime Minister Erdogan is striking a conservative posture at home, even as it holds out the unclenched first abroad. This does not mean he is seeking confrontation as an election strategy: there is no desire for a military clash with PKK, any more than there is a wish to use Iran and Syria against the US, but he is going to the leave no doubts. He is the man in charge.

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