Saturday, July 16, 2011

Turkey's AKP resolves parliament seating dispute


The major opposition party (CHP) to Recep Tayyip Erdogan's political party (AKP) in Turkey was boycotting the parliament, refusing to be sworn in because of a dispute over the arrest and imprisonment of CHP members who had won seats in the election.
The 135 members of the Republican People's Party (CHP) began taking their oaths in the 550-seat parliament in the afternoon, after three hours of negotiations with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdgogan.


With that issue moving behind us, we still have Kurdish political party maintaining the boycott. The story of the Kurdish dispute is strategically the story of Turkey today. US/Israeli support for the Kurds in Iraq is far more than Gaza the root of Turkey's distancing itself from Israel recently. Far more than for Syria, Iraq or Iran, the Kurds in Turkey are a fundamental strategic threat to the country.

The Kurdish party the BDP has not yet ended their boycott. While they will and this in itself will not pose a problem for Erdogan and his AKP, the issue of how Kurds fit into Turkey is still a sensitive one.

We will see how it resolves itself.

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