Erdoрan will have to pay for the policy that takes Turkey back to the times of the Ottoman Empire

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Supreme Court also dwelt on the Prime-Minister's other statements, especially on his phrase stating that religion is the basis of the Turkish society. The story began still back in the spring of 2008, when the Prosecutor General of Turkey filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court demanding the closure of the AKP, the ruling party of Turkey. Only 2 votes lacked then for banning the activity of the AK party. The Court decided not to close the party then, but it made a resolution to cut off state funding to it.

The accusation against Erdoрan is related to the charge against "Ergenekon", whose members, according to the charge version, prepared state overturn. It should be noted here that there used to be a silent agreement between the Kemalists and the AKP not to harm each other. However under certain circumstances the agreement was broken. The organization now consists of high-ranking military officers, well-known journalists, and politicians. In all probability "Ergenekon" truly attempted to overthrow the Islamist-rooted Government, realizing perfectly that it is leading Turkey through the same path of Iran. And all the talks about readiness to continue reforms for integration into the EU are nothing more than just talks. In fact, 80 per cent of the population are religious Muslims and they share neither make up with Europe nor relations with the USA. On this background there is a new war breaking out against Kurdish rebels, who have been struggling against Ankara for 30 years and are in no way going to surrender. Failures of Turkish regular forces, the inability to solve the Kurdish problem and the Cyprus problem, not to mention the relations with Armenia seriously destroyed the image of Erdogan government. Actually the Turkish Prime-Minister will have to pay for the policy that does not lead Turkey to prosperity, but takes it back to the times of the Ottoman Empire. Beyond doubt, bases of the Republic founded by Ataturk are pretty far from the Turkish mentality. Ataturk was able to make Turks change at least in appearance. But it was impossible to achieve a final adaptation: Islam does not tolerate shifts from certain dogmas. The only power that represents Kemalism is the General Staff of Turkey, but, according to the Turkish press, it has been weakening its positions lately. More and more officers are bending towards the AKP as the only power capable of rescuing the Turkish Government from collapse. And that the Turkish Government will collapse is beyond doubt as the way of searching one's identity is full of difficulties.

Alongside with all these issues the problem of recognizing the Armenian Genocide again comes to the fore. Here a great role is also played by the upcoming US Presidential Elections and by aspiration of Turkey to play a leading role in the process of stabilizing the atmosphere in the Caucasus. However, Ankara is reluctant to shift its positions. President Abdullah Gul once more declares that "Everybody was in a state of war at that time (i.e. in 1915). Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Turkey defected to the enemy, while our troops fought on three fronts." Nothing new can be observed in his statements. We see the same attempts of shifting the blame on the victim. "We have opened all our archive files, even the top secret ones. So, let historians study the issue," the Turkish President said.

Meanwhile the President assures that he is happy to visit Armenia. "We can't be enemies forever. The Armenian Diaspora impedes normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia. In spite of all the difficulties I am optimistic about the future. I call for all the interested sides to help with the existing problems: the press, the minorities, the Diaspora. I call for good sense and assistance in normalization of relations between our states," Abdullah Gul added.

All this is good of course, if we do not take into account the already traditional accusations against the Armenian Diaspora, and the Armenian nation, who simply strive for recognition of mass killings. By the way, recognition of the Genocide will ease Turkey's way into the EU. Besides, Turkey will finally become a more civilized country that does not evade its history. However, the latter is rather unlikely to happen.

It is quite probable that the AKP once again appears before the court, but we should bear it in mind that about 60% of the population voted for it, and it was not a voting under pressure.

Karine Ter-Sahakyan