Russia's parliament announced it would rush through a constitutional amendment that could see Vladimir Putin return to the presidency within weeks.
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Last Updated: 8:25PM GMT 13 Nov 2008
Vladimir Putin to return to the presidency within weeks
Kremlinologists have long predicted Mr Putin's return as president Photo: AP
Amid growing signs of panic in the Kremlin, the State Duma said it would meet on Friday to pass legislation that could allow Mr Putin to return to the Kremlin for 12 years.
Giving short shrift to the supposed inviolability of Russia's 1993 constitution, all three readings of the bill will be compressed into a single sitting, rather than dragged out over several weeks or months as convention normally dictates.
The proposal to extend the length of time a president can serve from two consecutive terms of four years to two consecutive terms of six was made by Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian leader, just last week.
Mr Medvedev's declaration marked a watershed in Russian politics. Ever since it was drafted 14 years ago, the idea of changing the country's constitution has been considered taboo.
Yet Kremlinologists, many of whom have long predicted Mr Putin's return as president, regarded the constitutional amendment as inevitable. Once passed, Mr Putin will be allowed to serve 12 years rather than eight.
Existing constitutional restrictions forced Mr Putin to stand down in May after completing two consecutive four years terms. He did not go far, however, changing jobs to become prime minister.
Few commentators expect Mr Medvedev to mount a challenge should he be asked to go. Even so, political analysts had generally predicted that Mr Putin would wait for his protege to serve a full four-year term before replacing him in 2012.
Opinion has quickly shifted, however, as the financial crisis has taken hold, threatening the wealth of Russia's oligarchs and power brokers.
With oil and commodity prices sliding and fortunes dissolving, analysts say that an uneasy truce between the Kremlin's rival factions is in danger of disintegrating.
"It is evident that there has been a collapse in the consensus of the Kremlin's elite factions," said Dmitry Oreshkin, a leading political analyst. "The situation is deteriorating in such a way that Putin's team has to consolidate power by whatever means it can as quickly as it can."
The big question that remains unanswered, commentators say, is whether or not a crisis will have to be engineered to create a pretext under which power can be transferred. Georgia, relations with other ex-Soviet neighbours, or a row with the United States over missile defence are all areas which the Kremlin can manipulate to its own ends, analysts say.
Others suggest that a the idea of a union with Belarus could be revived, with Minsk's growing dependency on Russian aid used to justify an expedited treaty joining the two countries.
"One scenario we could see is the creation of a mini-USSR by joining together Russia, Belarus and South Ossetia and making Putin the leader of the Union." said Olga Kryshtanovskaya, another Kremlin analyst.
Verse:
John 3:16; Jn 3:16; John 3
Keyword:
Salvation, Jesus, Gospel
With Operators:
AND, OR, NOT, “ â€
Showing posts with label Magog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magog. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
Russia plans biggest missile test in 24 years
Russia is to carry out live fire exercises with all of its cruise missiles for the first time since 1984, the country's air force has announced.
The operations will take place in the far north of the country - within the Arctic circle - and last until October 12.
With Russia and the West suffering poor relations recently, the tests might be seen as a way for the Kremlin to flex its muscles.
Western countries angrily rebuked Russia when it invaded Georgia in August, while Moscow has been enraged by attempts to expand Nato to Russian borders and place a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.
The exercises are part of the Stability-2008 strategic maneuvers in Russia and Belarus aimed at practicing defenses against any threats near the Russian border.
"During these exercises, for the first time in many years, the crews of Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers will fly missions carrying the maximum combat payload and fire all the cruise missiles on board," said Lt Col Vladimir Drik said.
The Blackjack aircraft can carry six 12 Kh-55 long-range cruise missiles, while the Bear-H aircraft can carry 12 of the bombs.
"The number and variety of aircraft involved in the drills shows the wide range of tasks that will be accomplished during the week-long exercise," Lt Col Drik said.
The operations will take place in the far north of the country - within the Arctic circle - and last until October 12.
With Russia and the West suffering poor relations recently, the tests might be seen as a way for the Kremlin to flex its muscles.
Western countries angrily rebuked Russia when it invaded Georgia in August, while Moscow has been enraged by attempts to expand Nato to Russian borders and place a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.
The exercises are part of the Stability-2008 strategic maneuvers in Russia and Belarus aimed at practicing defenses against any threats near the Russian border.
"During these exercises, for the first time in many years, the crews of Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers will fly missions carrying the maximum combat payload and fire all the cruise missiles on board," said Lt Col Vladimir Drik said.
The Blackjack aircraft can carry six 12 Kh-55 long-range cruise missiles, while the Bear-H aircraft can carry 12 of the bombs.
"The number and variety of aircraft involved in the drills shows the wide range of tasks that will be accomplished during the week-long exercise," Lt Col Drik said.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Russia to cut all military ties with NATO
Aug 20 05:19 PM US/Eastern
By BJOERN H. AMLAND
Associated Press Writer
OSLO, Norway (AP) - Russia has informed Norway that it plans to suspend all military ties with NATO, Norway's Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
The report comes a day after NATO foreign ministers said they would make further ties with Russia dependent on Moscow making good on a pledge to pull its troops back to pre-conflict positions in Georgia. However, they stopped short of calling an immediate halt to all cooperation.
The Nordic country's embassy in Moscow received a telephone call from "a well-placed official in the Russian Ministry of Defense," who said Moscow plans "to freeze all military cooperation with NATO and allied countries," Espen Barth Eide, state secretary with the Norwegian ministry said.
Eide told The Associated Press that the Russian official notified Norway it will receive a written note about this soon. He said Norwegian diplomats in Moscow would meet Russian officials on Thursday morning to clarify the implications of the freeze.
"It is our understanding that other NATO countries will receive similar notes," Eide said. The ministry said the Russian official is known to the embassy, but Norway declined to provide a name or any further identifying information.
A Kremlin official declined to comment on the report. But the Interfax news agency, citing what it called a military-diplomatic source in Moscow whom it did not identify, reported that Russia is reviewing its 2008 military cooperation plans with NATO.
Officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels said Moscow had not informed the alliance it was taking such a step.
Washington described the reported move as unfortunate.
"If this indeed is the case, it would be unfortunate. We need to work with Russia on a range of security issues, but we are obviously very concerned about Russian behavior in Georgia," U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
The ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies, citing an unidentified member of the Russian mission to NATO in Brussels, reported that Russia's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin has been called back to Moscow for consultations on relations and between Russia and NATO, including military cooperation.
RIA-Novosti said Rogozin would return to Moscow late this week.
Eide said he hoped NATO and Moscow would get back on track with dialogue and cooperation but said that Russia would first have to comply with a cease-fire in Georgia.
"I regret the situation has come to this," he said.
The hostilities between Russia and Georgia began earlier this month when Georgia cracked down on South Ossetia. The region is internationally recognized as being within Georgian borders but leans toward Moscow and regards itself as independent. Russia answered by sending its troops and tanks across the Georgian border.
By BJOERN H. AMLAND
Associated Press Writer
OSLO, Norway (AP) - Russia has informed Norway that it plans to suspend all military ties with NATO, Norway's Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
The report comes a day after NATO foreign ministers said they would make further ties with Russia dependent on Moscow making good on a pledge to pull its troops back to pre-conflict positions in Georgia. However, they stopped short of calling an immediate halt to all cooperation.
The Nordic country's embassy in Moscow received a telephone call from "a well-placed official in the Russian Ministry of Defense," who said Moscow plans "to freeze all military cooperation with NATO and allied countries," Espen Barth Eide, state secretary with the Norwegian ministry said.
Eide told The Associated Press that the Russian official notified Norway it will receive a written note about this soon. He said Norwegian diplomats in Moscow would meet Russian officials on Thursday morning to clarify the implications of the freeze.
"It is our understanding that other NATO countries will receive similar notes," Eide said. The ministry said the Russian official is known to the embassy, but Norway declined to provide a name or any further identifying information.
A Kremlin official declined to comment on the report. But the Interfax news agency, citing what it called a military-diplomatic source in Moscow whom it did not identify, reported that Russia is reviewing its 2008 military cooperation plans with NATO.
Officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels said Moscow had not informed the alliance it was taking such a step.
Washington described the reported move as unfortunate.
"If this indeed is the case, it would be unfortunate. We need to work with Russia on a range of security issues, but we are obviously very concerned about Russian behavior in Georgia," U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
The ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies, citing an unidentified member of the Russian mission to NATO in Brussels, reported that Russia's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin has been called back to Moscow for consultations on relations and between Russia and NATO, including military cooperation.
RIA-Novosti said Rogozin would return to Moscow late this week.
Eide said he hoped NATO and Moscow would get back on track with dialogue and cooperation but said that Russia would first have to comply with a cease-fire in Georgia.
"I regret the situation has come to this," he said.
The hostilities between Russia and Georgia began earlier this month when Georgia cracked down on South Ossetia. The region is internationally recognized as being within Georgian borders but leans toward Moscow and regards itself as independent. Russia answered by sending its troops and tanks across the Georgian border.
Russia warns of response to US missile shield
Aug 20 01:42 PM US/Eastern
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia says its response to the further development of a U.S. missile shield in Poland will go beyond diplomacy.
Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the U.S. missile shield plans are clearly aimed at weakening Russia.
The U.S. says the missile defense system is aimed at protecting the U.S. and Europe from future attacks from states like Iran.
The United States and Poland signed a deal Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defense base just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost fringe.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal Wednesday to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, an agreement that prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former Soviet satellite.
Rice dismissed blustery comments from Russian leaders who say Warsaw's hosting of 10 U.S. interceptor missiles just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost frontier opens the country up to attack.
Such comments "border on the bizarre frankly," Rice said, speaking to reporters traveling with her in Warsaw.
"When you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988," Rice said. "It's 2008 and the United States has a ... firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland's territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it's probably not wise to throw these threats around."
The deal, which Washington sought as a way of defending the U.S. and Europe from a hypothetical threat of long-distance missiles from Iran, has strained relations between Moscow and the West. Those ties were already troubled by Russia's invasion of its former Soviet neighbor, U.S. ally Georgia, earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters traveling with her, Rice said, "the Russians are losing their credibility."
Rice and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski signed the deal Wednesday morning.
"It is an agreement which will help us to respond to the threats of the 21st century," she said afterward.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the agreement came after tough but friendly negotiations.
"We have achieved our main goals, which means that our country and the United States will be more secure," he said.
After Warsaw and Washington announced the agreement on the deal last week, top Russian Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn warned that Poland is risking attack, and possibly a nuclear one, by deploying the American missile defense system, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.
Poles have been shaken by the threats, but NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop dismissed them Tuesday as "pathetic rhetoric."
"It is unhelpful and it leads nowhere," he told reporters at a NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
Many Poles consider the agreement a form of protection at a time when Russia's invasion of Georgia has generated alarm throughout Eastern Europe. Poland is a member of the European Union and NATO, and the deal is expected to deepen its military partnership with Washington.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski also expressed "great satisfaction" at the outcome of the long months of negotiations.
Poland and the United States spent a year and a half negotiating, and talks recently had snagged on Poland's demands that the U.S. bolster Polish security with Patriot missiles in exchange for hosting the missile defense base.
Washington agreed to do so last week, as Poland invoked the Georgia conflict to strengthen its case.
The Patriots are meant to protect Poland from short-range missiles from neighbors—such as Russia.
The U.S. already has reached an agreement with the government in Prague to place the second component of the missile defense shield—a radar tracking system—in the Czech Republic, Poland's southwestern neighbor and another formerly communist country.
Approval is still needed the Czech and Polish parliaments.
No date has been set for the Polish parliament to consider the agreement, but it should face no difficulties in Warsaw, where it enjoys the support of the largest opposition party as well as the government.
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia says its response to the further development of a U.S. missile shield in Poland will go beyond diplomacy.
Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the U.S. missile shield plans are clearly aimed at weakening Russia.
The U.S. says the missile defense system is aimed at protecting the U.S. and Europe from future attacks from states like Iran.
The United States and Poland signed a deal Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defense base just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost fringe.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal Wednesday to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, an agreement that prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former Soviet satellite.
Rice dismissed blustery comments from Russian leaders who say Warsaw's hosting of 10 U.S. interceptor missiles just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost frontier opens the country up to attack.
Such comments "border on the bizarre frankly," Rice said, speaking to reporters traveling with her in Warsaw.
"When you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988," Rice said. "It's 2008 and the United States has a ... firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland's territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it's probably not wise to throw these threats around."
The deal, which Washington sought as a way of defending the U.S. and Europe from a hypothetical threat of long-distance missiles from Iran, has strained relations between Moscow and the West. Those ties were already troubled by Russia's invasion of its former Soviet neighbor, U.S. ally Georgia, earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters traveling with her, Rice said, "the Russians are losing their credibility."
Rice and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski signed the deal Wednesday morning.
"It is an agreement which will help us to respond to the threats of the 21st century," she said afterward.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the agreement came after tough but friendly negotiations.
"We have achieved our main goals, which means that our country and the United States will be more secure," he said.
After Warsaw and Washington announced the agreement on the deal last week, top Russian Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn warned that Poland is risking attack, and possibly a nuclear one, by deploying the American missile defense system, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.
Poles have been shaken by the threats, but NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop dismissed them Tuesday as "pathetic rhetoric."
"It is unhelpful and it leads nowhere," he told reporters at a NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
Many Poles consider the agreement a form of protection at a time when Russia's invasion of Georgia has generated alarm throughout Eastern Europe. Poland is a member of the European Union and NATO, and the deal is expected to deepen its military partnership with Washington.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski also expressed "great satisfaction" at the outcome of the long months of negotiations.
Poland and the United States spent a year and a half negotiating, and talks recently had snagged on Poland's demands that the U.S. bolster Polish security with Patriot missiles in exchange for hosting the missile defense base.
Washington agreed to do so last week, as Poland invoked the Georgia conflict to strengthen its case.
The Patriots are meant to protect Poland from short-range missiles from neighbors—such as Russia.
The U.S. already has reached an agreement with the government in Prague to place the second component of the missile defense shield—a radar tracking system—in the Czech Republic, Poland's southwestern neighbor and another formerly communist country.
Approval is still needed the Czech and Polish parliaments.
No date has been set for the Polish parliament to consider the agreement, but it should face no difficulties in Warsaw, where it enjoys the support of the largest opposition party as well as the government.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
The Big Question: Why is tension rising in Turkey, and is the country turning Islamist?
By Nicholas Birch in Istanbul
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Why are we asking this now?
For Turkey's more radical secularists, there is a war going on between the defenders of Kemalism – the mix of authoritarian secularism, statism and nationalism that is still Turkey's official ideology – and a government intent on imposing Islam on the country. The AKP government insists the struggle is between democrats and defenders of an outdated authoritarian political vision. Cynics see a battle between two sides linked by their obsession with controlling the state apparatus and their cavalier attitude to democracy.
Since March, eight months after it swept to victory at general elections with 47 per cent of the vote, AKP has been facing closure on charges of anti-secular activities. The prosecutor who opened the case called for five-year political bans for 71 AKP members including the prime minister and the president.
Tensions soared again last week when police – for the first time in Turkey's history – arrested two retired top generals suspected of planning a coup attempt just two hours before the prosecutor pleaded for AKP's closure in court. Secularists insist the arrests were the AKP's revenge for the closure case.
What are the generals accused of?
Turkish newspapers said yesterday that the two generals will be charged with "leading an armed gang." For months, Turkey's press has reported that the 60-odd people in custody were planning a series of assassinations to destabilise society and force military intervention. One of the generals, however, is implicated in a different affair – two aborted coup attempts against the AKP in 2003 and 2004. The trigger for the plots was the Cyprus issue, not AKP's alleged threat to secularism. Many in the state apparatus saw the government's support for a UN-sponsored plan to reunite the divided Mediterranean island as a betrayal of Turkey's strategic interests.
Why do secularism and the military go hand-in-hand?
A soldier himself, Turkey's founder Kemal Ataturk repeatedly warned that "politics and soldiering have no place together." His secularist descendants ignored him, increasingly turning to the army to make up for their weakness at the polling booth. And the army, after each of the three coups and new constitutions Turkey has lived through since 1960, has more and more firmly cemented its position at the heart of the country's politics. Today, it has a constitutional duty to protect the Republic and its values. That doesn't just mean secularism. The enemy No.1 has changed over the years. It was leftists in the 1970s, and Kurds – a threat to Turkey's "indivisible unity" – in the 1980s and 1990s. Political Islam only topped the danger list in the mid-1990s.
So is Turkey really turning Islamist?
In power since 2002, AKP spent its first three years pushing through some of the most radical reforms in Turkey's history, including a rewriting of the Civil Code that won the plaudits of many secular-minded feminists.
Since 2004, though, reforms have ground to a halt. Reformist rhetoric has increasingly given way to authoritarian talk about "the will of the people" typical of right-wing Turkish parties drunk on power. AKP continues to insist it supports rights for all. But its ill-conceived efforts this February to end a headscarf ban in universities made it clear it saw some rights as more important than others.
What other signs of secularist fear is there?
Secularists' fears tend to crystalise around what they see as AKP's efforts to cram the state with its appointees. They are undoubtedly right. Secular-minded newspapers, meanwhile, are full of stories about efforts to ban alcohol on TV, force bars beyond city limits, and impose a conservative morality on the country. (Prime Minister Erdogan raised a stink recently, for example, when he called on all women to have "at least three children.") Above all, there is the widespread conviction – not backed up by most surveys – that more women are wearing headscarves than in the past.
So what does Erdogan represent?
The former dauphin of an Islamist politician whose career was ended in 1997, Erdogan grew up steeped in the Islamist counter-culture of the 1970s and 80s: anti-democratic and anti-western. Since his break with Necmettin Erbakan late in the 90s, though, he has changed tack radically. A mishmash of former Islamists, traditional right-wingers and nationalists, the party he formed in 2001 has espoused pro-European, pro-western policies since the outset.
While his enthusiasm for the EU seems to have waned since 2004 – in large part because of the sometimes hypocritical stance of anti-Turks in Europe – he is still Turkey's most pro-European politician of any stature.
Who does the West see as the good guys?
Unsurprisingly, western politicians tend to incline towards the AKP. But they sometimes go too far. Earlier this year, the European commissioner for enlargement opined that the struggle in Turkey was between "authoritarian secularists" and "democratic Muslims." This is naive, although understandable from a politician who appears to use Orhan Pamuk's novel Snow as a political Baedekers.
AKP may be more approachable than the secularist opposition, but all parties in Turkey eat at the same authoritarian trough. There's no clearer symbol of that than a party law which permits leaders to act like petty despots. Apparently at the request of the Chief-of-Staff, Erdogan last year got rid of nearly half the MPs in his former government without even asking his closest advisers.
Where does Turkey go from here?
Analysts see three possible outcomes from today's crisis. The least likely is that Turkey reverts to full-on authoritarianism. Much more likely is that an uneasy truce will be signed between AKP and the state, almost certainly putting an end to hopes of reform in the near future. Liberals, meanwhile, hope AKP will realise that the freedoms it wants can only be guaranteed if it guarantees freedoms it doesn't want.
What Turkey needs, they argue, is a new democratic constitution to replace the one imposed on the Turkish people after the last military coup, and an end to a legal system which puts defending the state above defending the rights of its citizens. The chances of that are slim. In today's polarised atmosphere, it is difficult to see how anybody can create the consensus needed to rewrite Turkish politics completely.
Is Turkey's secularism under threat?
Yes...
* Turkey's secularism has weak roots, "like an odourless lily floating on water", to paraphrase the philosopher Ahmet Arslan
* Erdogan appears not to have understood what secularism is about, repeatedly insisting it is for states, not individuals
* Secular Turkey has long forced Sunni Islam upon all citizens, via the school curriculum and the state body for religion
No...
* Barely 10 per cent of Turks support Islamic law, and that number is decreasing
* Most Turks voted for AKP because it promised prosperity – if it fails to deliver they will kick it out
* With trade booming, Turkey's conservative heartlands are closer to the West than ever before
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Why are we asking this now?
For Turkey's more radical secularists, there is a war going on between the defenders of Kemalism – the mix of authoritarian secularism, statism and nationalism that is still Turkey's official ideology – and a government intent on imposing Islam on the country. The AKP government insists the struggle is between democrats and defenders of an outdated authoritarian political vision. Cynics see a battle between two sides linked by their obsession with controlling the state apparatus and their cavalier attitude to democracy.
Since March, eight months after it swept to victory at general elections with 47 per cent of the vote, AKP has been facing closure on charges of anti-secular activities. The prosecutor who opened the case called for five-year political bans for 71 AKP members including the prime minister and the president.
Tensions soared again last week when police – for the first time in Turkey's history – arrested two retired top generals suspected of planning a coup attempt just two hours before the prosecutor pleaded for AKP's closure in court. Secularists insist the arrests were the AKP's revenge for the closure case.
What are the generals accused of?
Turkish newspapers said yesterday that the two generals will be charged with "leading an armed gang." For months, Turkey's press has reported that the 60-odd people in custody were planning a series of assassinations to destabilise society and force military intervention. One of the generals, however, is implicated in a different affair – two aborted coup attempts against the AKP in 2003 and 2004. The trigger for the plots was the Cyprus issue, not AKP's alleged threat to secularism. Many in the state apparatus saw the government's support for a UN-sponsored plan to reunite the divided Mediterranean island as a betrayal of Turkey's strategic interests.
Why do secularism and the military go hand-in-hand?
A soldier himself, Turkey's founder Kemal Ataturk repeatedly warned that "politics and soldiering have no place together." His secularist descendants ignored him, increasingly turning to the army to make up for their weakness at the polling booth. And the army, after each of the three coups and new constitutions Turkey has lived through since 1960, has more and more firmly cemented its position at the heart of the country's politics. Today, it has a constitutional duty to protect the Republic and its values. That doesn't just mean secularism. The enemy No.1 has changed over the years. It was leftists in the 1970s, and Kurds – a threat to Turkey's "indivisible unity" – in the 1980s and 1990s. Political Islam only topped the danger list in the mid-1990s.
So is Turkey really turning Islamist?
In power since 2002, AKP spent its first three years pushing through some of the most radical reforms in Turkey's history, including a rewriting of the Civil Code that won the plaudits of many secular-minded feminists.
Since 2004, though, reforms have ground to a halt. Reformist rhetoric has increasingly given way to authoritarian talk about "the will of the people" typical of right-wing Turkish parties drunk on power. AKP continues to insist it supports rights for all. But its ill-conceived efforts this February to end a headscarf ban in universities made it clear it saw some rights as more important than others.
What other signs of secularist fear is there?
Secularists' fears tend to crystalise around what they see as AKP's efforts to cram the state with its appointees. They are undoubtedly right. Secular-minded newspapers, meanwhile, are full of stories about efforts to ban alcohol on TV, force bars beyond city limits, and impose a conservative morality on the country. (Prime Minister Erdogan raised a stink recently, for example, when he called on all women to have "at least three children.") Above all, there is the widespread conviction – not backed up by most surveys – that more women are wearing headscarves than in the past.
So what does Erdogan represent?
The former dauphin of an Islamist politician whose career was ended in 1997, Erdogan grew up steeped in the Islamist counter-culture of the 1970s and 80s: anti-democratic and anti-western. Since his break with Necmettin Erbakan late in the 90s, though, he has changed tack radically. A mishmash of former Islamists, traditional right-wingers and nationalists, the party he formed in 2001 has espoused pro-European, pro-western policies since the outset.
While his enthusiasm for the EU seems to have waned since 2004 – in large part because of the sometimes hypocritical stance of anti-Turks in Europe – he is still Turkey's most pro-European politician of any stature.
Who does the West see as the good guys?
Unsurprisingly, western politicians tend to incline towards the AKP. But they sometimes go too far. Earlier this year, the European commissioner for enlargement opined that the struggle in Turkey was between "authoritarian secularists" and "democratic Muslims." This is naive, although understandable from a politician who appears to use Orhan Pamuk's novel Snow as a political Baedekers.
AKP may be more approachable than the secularist opposition, but all parties in Turkey eat at the same authoritarian trough. There's no clearer symbol of that than a party law which permits leaders to act like petty despots. Apparently at the request of the Chief-of-Staff, Erdogan last year got rid of nearly half the MPs in his former government without even asking his closest advisers.
Where does Turkey go from here?
Analysts see three possible outcomes from today's crisis. The least likely is that Turkey reverts to full-on authoritarianism. Much more likely is that an uneasy truce will be signed between AKP and the state, almost certainly putting an end to hopes of reform in the near future. Liberals, meanwhile, hope AKP will realise that the freedoms it wants can only be guaranteed if it guarantees freedoms it doesn't want.
What Turkey needs, they argue, is a new democratic constitution to replace the one imposed on the Turkish people after the last military coup, and an end to a legal system which puts defending the state above defending the rights of its citizens. The chances of that are slim. In today's polarised atmosphere, it is difficult to see how anybody can create the consensus needed to rewrite Turkish politics completely.
Is Turkey's secularism under threat?
Yes...
* Turkey's secularism has weak roots, "like an odourless lily floating on water", to paraphrase the philosopher Ahmet Arslan
* Erdogan appears not to have understood what secularism is about, repeatedly insisting it is for states, not individuals
* Secular Turkey has long forced Sunni Islam upon all citizens, via the school curriculum and the state body for religion
No...
* Barely 10 per cent of Turks support Islamic law, and that number is decreasing
* Most Turks voted for AKP because it promised prosperity – if it fails to deliver they will kick it out
* With trade booming, Turkey's conservative heartlands are closer to the West than ever before
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