1.
Excellency
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Excellency is an honorific style given to certain members of an organisation or state. Generally people addressed as Excellency are heads of state, heads of government, governors, ambassadors, certain ecclesiastics, royalty, and others holding equivalent rank and the FIFA President. It is sometimes misinterpreted as a title of office in itself, in reference to such an official, it takes the form His or Her Excellency, in direct address, Your Excellency, or, less formally, simply Excellency. The abbreviation HE is often used instead of His/Her Excellency, alternatively it may stand for His/Her Eminence, in most republican nations, the head of state is formally addressed as His Excellency. If a republic has a head of government, that official is often addressed as Excellency as well. If the nation is a monarchy, however, the customs may vary, in the case of Australia, all ambassadors, high commissioners, governors and the governor-general and their spouses are entitled to the use of Excellency. Governors of colonies in the British Empire were entitled to be addressed as Excellency, in various international organizations, notably the UN and its agencies, Excellency is used as a generic form of address for all republican heads of state and heads of government. Judges of the International Court of Justice are also called Your Excellency, in some monarchies the husbands, wives, or children, of a royal prince or princess, who do not possess a princely title themselves, may be entitled to the style. For example, in Spain spouses or children of a born infante or infanta are addressed as Excellency, also, former members of a royal house or family, who did have a royal title but forfeited it, may be awarded the style afterwards. Examples are former husbands or wives of a prince or princess, including Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg. In some emirates, only the Emir, heir apparent and prime minister are called His Highness and their children are styled with the lower treatment of His/Her Excellency. In Spain members of the nobility, holding the dignity of grandee, are addressed as The Most Excellent Lord/Lady. Some of the high ranking counts, Excellency can also attach to a prestigious quality, notably in an order of knighthood. By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Ceremonial of 31 December 1930 the Holy See granted bishops of the Roman Catholic Church the title of Most Reverend Excellency. In the years following the First World War, the title of Excellency. The adjective Most Reverend was intended to distinguish the title from that of Excellency given to civil officials. The instruction Ut sive sollicite of the Holy Sees Secretariat of State, dated 28 March 1969, cardinals, even those who were bishops, continued to use the title of Eminence. In some English-speaking countries, the honorific of Excellency does not apply to other than the nuncio
2.
President of Turkey
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The President of the Republic of Turkey is the head of state of the Republic of Turkey. The Presidency is largely a ceremonial office but has important functions. The articles from 101 to 106 of the Constitution establish all the requirements, election, duties, the office of the President of Turkey was established with the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey on October 29,1923. The President of Turkey is often referred to as the Cumhurbaşkanı. The current office-holder is the 12th President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since August 28,2014, in order to become the President of Turkey, the candidate must have completed higher education, and be at least forty years of age. The president-elect has to sever his relations, if any, with his political party, candidates must be declared to the bureau of the parliament within the first 10 days of this period, and elections must be completed within the remaining 20 days. Formerly, the President was elected by the members of the Turkish Parliament, according to an amendment that was drafted in 2007, the future Presidents shall be elected by the citizens through a public vote. The candidates must be over forty years old and must have completed their higher education and they can either be members of the Turkish Parliament, or common Turkish citizens who fulfill these requirements and who are eligible to become members of parliament. The President is selected for a term of office of five years, the term of office of the incumbent president continues until the President-elect takes office. The president performs also the duties of selection and appointment, and other duties conferred by the constitution, thus the prime minister and the concerned ministers are accountable for these decrees. The decisions and orders signed by the president on his own initiatives may not be appealed against to any judicial authority, including the Constitutional Court
3.
Ahmet Necdet Sezer
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Ahmet Necdet Sezer is a Turkish politician who was the tenth President of Turkey, serving from 2000 to 2007. Previously he was President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from 1998 to 2000, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey elected Sezer as President in 2000 after Süleyman Demirels seven-year term expired. He was succeeded by Abdullah Gül in 2007, following his legal career, Sezer became a candidate for the Presidency jointly supported by many political parties in Parliament. Following the 2000 presidential election, he took an ardent secularist approach on issues such as the headscarf and these included laws on banking reform and the lifting of Recep Tayyip Erdoğans political ban. Erdoğan later publicly stated that he had suffered a lot from Sezer, during the 2014 presidential election, Sezer openly refused to vote, citing the lack of a secularist candidate as his reason. Sezer was born at Afyonkarahisar to Ahmet Hamdi Sezer and Hatice Sezer, after finishing Afyonkarahisar High School in 1958, he graduated from the Ankara University Faculty of Law in 1962 and began his career as a judge in Ankara. Following his military service at the Military Academy, he served first as a judge in Dicle and Yerköy, in 1978, he received LL. M. in civil law from the Faculty of Law in Ankara University. On March 7,1983, Sezer was elected as a member to the High Court of Appeals, on September 27,1988, he was appointed by the President Kenan Evren as a member of the Constitutional Court. On January 6,1998, Ahmet Necdet Sezer was elected justice of the Constitutional Court. He was elected president in May 2000, becoming Turkeys first head of state to come from a judicial background and he was sworn in on May 16,2000. His term was to expire on May 16,2007, but because the Grand National Assembly of Turkey failed to elect a new president, he retained the office pro tempore until August 28,2007. On February 21,2001, during a quarrel in a National Security Council meeting, according to some circles, this falling-out was the main obvious reason for Black Wednesday, a big economic crisis. Others claimed that the reforms for the accession negotiations with the European Union. Sezer was a defender of secularism in Turkey, which was a point of contention between him and the ruling AKP party on many issues. On many occasions, he stated that the secular regime in Turkey was under threat. He believes that Islam does not require women to wear headscarves, Sezer went so far as to exclude from official receptions at the Presidential Palace legislators wives who wore headscarves. During his presidency, he pardoned 260 convicted felons,202 of whom were captured leftist militants and this type of pardon can be requested directly by the felon or the legal representative of the felon, but no political or court referral is necessary. Some organizations have used such pardons to criticize Sezers presidency, on the other hand, Sezer also enacted new harsh laws to punish people who are connected with terrorism
4.
Prime Minister of Turkey
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The Prime Minister of Turkey is the head of government of Turkey. The prime minister is the leader of a coalition in the Turkish parliament. The current holder of the position is Binali Yıldırım of the Justice and Development Party, in the Ottoman Empire, the prime minister of the Ottoman sultan held the title of Grand Vizier. After the Tanzimat period in the 19th century, the grand viziers came to assume a more like that of the prime ministers of contemporary Western European monarchies. Later, with the Ottoman constitution of 1876, a parliament was established to oversee the prime minister, with the amendments to the constitution during the Second Constitutional Era, the prime minister was made answerable to the parliament rather than the sultan. Finally, with the declaration of republic in 1923, the appointer of the minister became the president
5.
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Turkey)
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey is the government minister who heads the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is a member of the Cabinet of Turkey. The office was established in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence, the incumbent officeholder is Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who took office on 24 November 2015 after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu formed his third government. Before the establishment of the Turkish Republic, foreign affairs were handled by the Reis-ül Küttap of the Ottoman Empire until the 19th century,1154 in 1927 laying down the legal functions of the Foreign Ministry. The Turkish diplomatic service was expanded after the Second World War despite ASALA terrorist attacks against Turkish diplomats occurring in the 1970s. Since the office was established in 1920, there have been 43 Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Ministers are appointed by the Prime Minister of Turkey as part of his or her cabinet, after which the President of Turkey validates the appointment of the minister. The minister is usually a Member of Parliament, though Prime Ministers reserve the right to appoint ministers from outside parliament if they see fit, a notable example was the appointment of Ahmet Davutoğlu as foreign minister in 2009 despite not being an MP. Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign policy of the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government Neo-Ottomanism Biography of the Minister
6.
Ali Babacan
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Ali Babacan is a Turkish politician. He is member of the parliament and former Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey responsible for the Economy and he fırst served as the Minister of State in charge of economic affairs in the 58th cabinet from the Justice and Development Party. He retained this position throughout the 58th and 59th Governments of the Republic of Turkey, on August 29,2007, he was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the 60th Government of the Republic of Turkey. During 2009-2015 he served as the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and he is married with three children. Babacan graduated from Ankara College ranking first among the class of 1985 and he attended the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and in 1989 was awarded a BSc in Industrial Engineering with the highest marks. He went to the U. S. Babacan worked then for two years as an associate at QRM, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois, a company doing financial consulting to the top executives of banks in the United States. He returned to Turkey in 1994 and, served as advisor to the mayor of Ankara the same year. He was the chairman of his family owned company between 1994 and 2002. He entered politics in 2001 as a co-founder and a Board member of the Justice and he was appointed Minister of Economy on November 18,2002 and became the youngest member of the cabinet, then at the age of 35. He stayed always away from the rough-and-tumble of the Turkish political arena and focused solely on the economic reform, acting rather as a technocrat without indulging into populism. On May 24,2005, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced his appointment as negotiator in Turkeys accession talks with the European Union. As government minister Babacan has attended several international meetings including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, appearances on C-SPAN Ali Babacan on Charlie Rose Ali Babacan at the Internet Movie Database Biography at Biyografi. info Works by or about Ali Babacan in libraries
7.
Necmettin Erbakan
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Necmettin Erbakan was a Turkish politician, engineer, and academic who was the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997. Erbakans political views conflicted with the principle of secularism in Turkey. Erbakan was born in Sinop, at the coast of Black Sea in northern Turkey and his father was Mehmet Sabri, a judge from the prestigious Kozanoğlu family of Cilicia and his mother Kamer was a native of Sinop and the second wife of Mehmet Sabri. After returning to Turkey, Erbakan became lecturer at the İTÜ and was appointed professor in 1965 at the same university, after working some time in leading positions in the industry, he switched over to politics, and was elected deputy of Konya in 1969. He was a member of the Community of İskenderpaşa, a Turkish sufistic community of the Naqshbandi tariqah, Erbakans ideology is set forth in a manifesto, entitled Millî Görüş, which he published in 1969. The organisation of the name, which he founded and of which he was the leader. One of the names in Turkish politics for decades, Erbakan was the leader of a series of Islamic political parties that he founded or inspired. These parties rose to only to be banned by Turkeys secular authorities. In the wake of the 1980 military coup, Erbakan and his party were banned from politics and he reemerged following a referendum to lift the ban in 1987 and became the leader of Refah Partisi. His party benefited in the 1990s from the acrimony between the leaders of Turkeys two most prominent conservative parties, Mesut Yılmaz and Tansu Çiller and he led his party to a surprise success in the general elections of 1995. He became Prime Minister in 1996 in coalition with Çillers Doğru Yol Partisi, as prime minister, he attempted to further Turkeys relations with the Arab nations. Erbakans image was damaged by his famous speech making fun of the demonstrations against the Susurluk scandal. He was widely blamed at the time for his indifference, the Turkish military gradually increased the urgency and frequency of its public warnings to Erbakans government, eventually prompting Erbakan to step down in 1997. At the time there was a deal between Erbakan and Tansu Çiller, the leaders of the coalition, for a period based premiership. According to this, Erbakan was to act as the minister for a certain period. He had argued that a democratic country should not shut down a political party for its beliefs. e. One million in todays currency following the ban of the party in 1997, Erbakan died on 27 February 2011 at 11,40 local time of heart failure at Güven Hospital in Çankaya, Ankara. He did not wish a state funeral, however his funeral was attended by highest state, according to The Economist, at his death Erbakan was acknowledged as a moderating force on Turkeys Islamists, and made Turkey as a possible model for the Arab world as well
8.
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
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The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament, is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence. The parliament was fundamental in the efforts of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey has had a history of parliamentary government before the establishment of the current national parliament. There were two parliamentary governments during the Ottoman period in what is now Turkey, the First Constitutional Era lasted for only two years, elections being held only twice. The Second Constitutional Era is considered to have begun on 23 July 1908, freedom to hold meetings and establish political parties was recognized, and the government was held responsible to the assembly, not to the sultan. During the two eras of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman parliament was called the General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire and was bicameral. The upper house was the Senate of the Ottoman Empire, the members of which were selected by the sultan, the lower chamber of the General Assembly was the Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire, the members of which were elected by the general public. After World War I, the victorious Allied Powers sought the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire through the Treaty of Sèvres, the political existence of the Turkish nation was to be completely eliminated under these plans, except for a small region. Nationalist Turkish sentiment rose in the Anatolian peninsula, engendering the establishment of the Turkish national movement, the political developments during this period have made a lasting impact which continues to affect the character of the Turkish nation. The Sultanate was abolished by the newly founded parliament in 1922 and he also stated that the members of the dispersed Ottoman Chamber of Deputies could also participate in the assembly in Ankara, to increase the representative power of the parliament. These elections were held as planned, in the style of the elections of the preceding Chamber of Deputies and this Grand National Assembly, established on national sovereignty, held its inaugural session on 23 April 1920. From this date until the end of the Turkish War of Independence in 1923, the Liberal Party was dissolved on 17 November 1930 and no further attempt at a multiparty democracy was made until 1945. The multi-party period in Turkey was resumed by the founding of the National Development Party, by Nuri Demirağ, under the constitution of 1961, the Grand National Assembly was a bicameral parliament with over 600 members, the newly established upper house being the Senate of the Republic. Following the 1980 military coup, the Senate was dissolved and the Turkish parliament again became unicameral under the current constitution approved in a referendum in 1982. To avoid a hung parliament and its political fragmentation, a party must win at least 10% of the national vote to qualify for representation in the parliament. As a result of this threshold, only two won seats in the legislature after the 2002 elections and three in 2007. The 2002 elections saw every party represented in the previous parliament ejected from the chamber and this rather high threshold has been internationally criticised, but a complaint with the European Court for Human Rights was turned down
9.
Turkish general election, 1991
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General elections were held in Turkey on 20 October 1991, to elect members to the 19th Grand National Assembly. It was the first by the ruling Motherland Party to be contested without its leader, Turgut Özal. The result was a swing against Özals former party in favour of its fierce centre-right rival, the vote saw two additional parties cross the 10 percent barrier to enter parliament. Necmettin Erbakan and his Welfare Party saw a party of religious background returned for the first time in 14 years, Welfare had a greatly increased share of the vote and took several key provinces, including Istanbul in 1994 local elections. Bülent Ecevits Democratic Left Party also scraped through to win seven seats
10.
Turkish general election, 1995
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Turkeys 13th general election was held on Sunday December 24,1995, triggered by the newly reformed Republican Peoples Partys withdrawal from a coalition with the True Path Party. The coalition had been in government for four years, having formed by the Social Democratic Populist Party. The vote was the first to elect 550 deputies to parliament, the religious Welfare Party achieved an unprecedented victory, but not an overall majority. The Democratic Left Party also made significant gains at the expense of the CHP, the election was also the first time an openly Kurdish party – the Peoples Democracy Party – contested. It was the party in several provinces, but received no MPs due to missing the 10% electoral threshold. Not since before the declaration of the republic had a religious party emerged as the largest political force in Turkey. There were fears of the armed forces refusing to accept the election result. He chose the latter, and the DYP switched allegiances to form Turkeys first Islamist government with the RP in June 1996. The newly reformed CHP had withdrawn as junior partner of a coalition with the DYP to contest an election on an agenda that boasted its Kemalist. The gamble turned out to be a disaster, far from returning to government, the partys unpopularity led to its complete ejection from parliament in the next election
11.
Turkish general election, 1999
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Turkeys 14th general election was held on Sunday April 18,1999 and was the first election in Turkish history to combine local, council and parliamentary elections on the same day. Bülent Ecevits Democratic Left Party, soaring in popularity after the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, emerged as the biggest party and it failed, however, to obtain an overall majority, and did not do nearly as well in the eastern provinces. The second largest party became the Nationalist Movement Party, which performed strongly nationwide, the largest party of the last election, the Virtue Party, returned to opposition after shedding forty-seven seats and a million votes. The decline of the Republican Peoples Party continued, this was the first time the party failed to exceed the 10 percent threshold for parliamentary representation. Bülent Ecevit formed the countrys latest coalition government, against the FP, with the second-placed MHP, the DYP was consulted during coalition negotiations, but ended up in opposition
12.
Turkish general election, 2002
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The 15th Turkish general election was held on 3 November 2002 following the collapse of the DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition led by Bülent Ecevit. It was the 15th general election to be held in Turkey, all 550 members of the Grand National Assembly were up for election. The Justice and Development Party, which had only formed in 2001 by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The protest vote was such that every sitting party previously represented in parliament was ejected, the only other party which passed the 10% threshold to gain representation was the Republican Peoples Party, which came second with 19. 38% of the vote and 178 seats. The election produced Turkeys first single party government since 1987 and the countrys first two-party parliament since 1960, the moderate Islamism advocated by the AKP was at odds with the secular establishment of the Republic of Turkey. While serving as the Mayor of Istanbul, Erdoğan was sentenced to a 10 month prison term in 1998 for reciting a poem in Siirt which incited racial intolerance. This barred him from seeking a seat in parliament, meaning that the AKPs co-founder Abdullah Gül became Prime Minister following their election victory. With the help of the CHP, the government overturned Erdoğans political ban in 2003, Erdoğan became Prime Minister in March 2003, with Abdullah Gül concurrently assuming the role of Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Voting ended in the countrys 32 eastern provinces at 3pm, having begun an hour earlier in morning, although the AKPs victory was indisputable, Erdoğans appointment as prime minister was delayed owing to his previous criminal conviction, which prevented him from standing for parliament. The result prompted the resignations of several prominent figures in Turkish politics, Mesut Yılmaz. He was succeeded by Ali Talip Özdemir Tansu Çiller, former minister and leader of the True Path Party. Çiller was succeeded by her former interior minister, Mehmet Ağar, devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party and senior coalition partner in the outgoing government. His resignation was not accepted by his partys central committee, outgoing prime minister Bülent Ecevit was widely expected to resign as leader of his Democratic Left party, but did not end up leaving until a party conference in 2004
13.
Turkish general election, 2007
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The Turkish general election of 2007 was held on July 22,2007 to elect 550 members to the Grand National Assembly. The election was the 22nd general election to be held in the history of the Turkish Republic, originally scheduled for November, the elections were pulled forward after Parliament failed to elect a new president to replace Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The result was a victory for the incumbent Justice and Development Party. The partys leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was consequently re-elected as Prime Minister of Turkey, the opposition Republican Peoples Party came second with 20. 9% of the vote and took 112 seats. Originally due to be held in November, the election was called early after the 2007 presidential election resulted in parliamentary deadlock, the controversy was largely caused due to the Turkish Presidencys symbolic role in safeguarding secularism. As required by the constitution, an early general election was called for 22 July 2007. Over 42 million people were eligible to vote in the election, According to a recent change in election law, the minimum age for candidates for parliament was reduced from 30 to 25. But due to the fact that laws do not take effect for one year after passage, Turkey, NATO, UN, United States and EU recognizes the Kurdistan Workers Party as a terrorist organization. With the exception of DTP all candidates in Van and Hakkari from CHP, MHP, DYP and AKP must annul themselves and our people must demonstrate their kurdishness in the elections. If any different approach develops, our approach will also be different, whoever continues the activities we mentioned here will be punished. Who ever damages our movement or our party will not be forgiven in any way and they should know that they are facing death According to Turkish election laws, a party must gain at least 10% of national vote to be represented in the Grand Assembly. Ostensibly, this law is aimed at preventing a highly fragmented parliament, many parties that failed to cross this threshold in the last election will seek a return to Parliament. As the 10% threshold requirement only holds for political parties, to bypass this requirement, on 13 May DTP announced that if they wanted to, they could lock up the elections by putting in five to ten thousand independent candidates. The next day in a statement, the Supreme Election Committee responded to DTPs threat by stating there is no issue. In a statement regarding some of the candidates in prison, DTP leader Türk said that hundreds of people support them, even though some are associated with murder cases. DTP leader Türk said, DTP took the decision to show people as candidates because Kurdish people see Ankara. Erdoğan, it is said, wants to divert the attention of the voters from local issues to theoretical and ideological ones by making the election a platform for the Presidential election, the capacity of Turkish higher educational institutions falls short compared to the number of high school graduates. The Higher Education Council is responsible from the planning, implementation and accreditation of higher education in Turkey, the Higher Education Council limits the number of the available educational institutions based on the available educators in the public sector
14.
Kayseri
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Kayseri is a large and industrialised city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province, Kayseri is located at the foot of the extinct volcano Mount Erciyes that towers 3,916 metres over the city. The city is cited in the first ranks among Turkeys cities that fit the definition of Anatolian Tigers. The city retains a number of monuments, including several from the Seljuk period. Kayseri is served by Erkilet International Airport and is home to Erciyes University, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute, as of 2011 the city of Kayseri had a population of 844,656, while Kayseri Province had a population of 1,234,651. The name was changed again by Archelaus, last King of Cappadocia, the city has been continuously inhabited since perhaps c.3000 BC with the establishment of the ancient trading colony at Kultepe which is associated with the Hittites. The city has always been a trade centre as it is located on major trade routes. Kültepe, one of the oldest cities in Asia Minor, lies nearby, as Mazaca, the city served as the residence of the kings of Cappadocia. In Roman times, a route from Ephesus to the East also crossed the city. The city stood on a low spur on the side of Mount Erciyes. Only a few traces of the ancient site survive in the old town, in the ensuing period, the city came under the sway of Hellenistic influence, and was given the Greek name of Eusebia in honor of the Cappadocian king Ariarathes V Eusebes Philopator of Cappadocia. Under the new name of Caesarea, by which it has since been known, given to it by the last Cappadocian King Archelaus or perhaps by Tiberius, Caesarea was destroyed by the Sassanid king Shapur I after his victory over the Emperor Valerian I in AD260. At the time it was recorded to have around 400,000 inhabitants, the city gradually recovered, and became home to several early Christian saints, saints Dorothea and Theophilus the martyrs, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa and Basil of Caesarea. In the 4th century, bishop Basil established a centre on the plain, about one mile to the northeast. It included a system of almshouses, an orphanage, old homes. A 10th-century list gives it 15 suffragans, Caesarea was also the seat of an Armenian diocese. No longer a residential bishopric, Caesarea in Cappadocia is today listed by the Catholic Church as a see of the Armenian Catholic Church. A portion of Basils new city was surrounded with strong walls, Caesarea in the 9th century became a Byzantine administrative centre as the capital of the Byzantine Theme of Charsianon
15.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
16.
Welfare Party
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The Welfare Party was an Islamic political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two parties, and, which were banned from politics. The RP participated in elections at that time and won in three cities Konya, Şanlıurfa, and Van. Their vote percentage was approximately 5%, the Welfare Party participated in the 1991 elections in a triple alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party and the Reformist Democracy Party. They gained 16. 9% of the vote and they won 62 deputies to parliament, but 19 ones of MHP and 3 ones of IDP left the Welfare Party after it. Their popular vote increased over the years until they became the largest party under Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan in 1996, the coalition government of Erbakan was forced out of power by the Turkish military in 1997, due to being suspected of having an Islamist agenda. In 1998, the Welfare Party was banned from politics by the Constitutional Court of Turkey for violating the separation of religion, the ban was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights on 13 February 2003. The ECHRs decision was criticized by Human Rights Watch for lack of consistency, as the ECHR had refused disbanding of other parties on several occasions, the incumbent president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was a former member of the party, but later founded Justice and Development Party. Abdullah Gül, the former President of Turkey was the deputy leader of the party until its dissolution, after the closure of the party, the Treasury demanded the return of grands worth around one trillion lira, i. e. one million in todays currency. Party officials stated that the funds were spent on party activities, however, an investigation revealed that the official documents were forged. In the beginning of 1999, Necmettin Erbakan and 78 party officials stood trial in Ankara for embezzlement charges, the case became known as the Lost Trillion Case or the Missing Trillion Case. In March 2002, the court sentenced Erbakan to two years and four months in prison,68 party officials received sentences of up to one year and two months in prison. The sentences were approved by the Supreme Court of Appeals, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the ban as well. ECHR Third Section judgment ECHR Grand Chamber judgment
17.
Virtue Party
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Virtue Party was an Islamist political party established in December 1998 in Turkey. It was found unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and then banned on 22 June 2001 for violating the secularist articles of the Constitution, after the partys ban, the party MPs founded two sections of parties, reformist Justice and Development Party and traditionalist Felicity Party. Founders of the Virtue Party were also members of the National Order Party, National Salvation Party. Merve Kavakçı, the elected as the MP who was banned from swearing her oath in Turkish Grand National Assembly because she wore a headscarf, was a Virtue Party member. Former party chairman Mehmet Recai Kutan submitted a case on behalf of the party to the European Court of Human Rights, alleging infringement of Articles 10 and 11 among others. In December 2005, Kutan told the court that he intended to withdraw the application, possibly influenced by the result in Leyla Şahin v. Turkey. Explaining Religious Politics at the Crossroad, AKP-SP
18.
Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
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The Justice and Development Party, abbreviated AKP in Turkish, is a conservative political party in Turkey. Developed from the tradition of moderate Islamism, the party is the largest in Turkey, the party held a majority of seats for 13 years, but lost it in June 2015, only to regain it in the snap election of November 2015. Its electoral success has been mirrored in the three elections held since the partys establishment, coming first in 2004,2009 and 2014 respectively. The current party leader Binali Yıldırım is the Prime Minister of Turkey, the party has for a long time been supported by the Cemaat Movement of exiled Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, whose influence in the judiciary has helped to weaken the opposition against the AKP. Having been an observer in the center-right European Peoples Party since 2005, it left to join the eurosceptic Alliance of Conservatives. Since then, the party has brought about tighter regulations on use, abortion and alcohol consumption, having temporarily blocked access to Twitter. Especially after the government corruption scandal involving several AKP ministers in 2013, the AKP favours a strong centralized leadership, having long advocated a presidential system of government and significantly reduced the number of elected local government positions in 2013. The AK Party was established by a range of politicians of various political parties. The core of the party was formed from the reformist faction of the Islamist Virtue Party, including such as Abdullah Gül. A second founding group consisted of members of the social conservative Motherland Party who had close to Turgut Özal, such as Cemil Çiçek. Some members of the True Path Party, such as Hüseyin Çelik and Köksal Toptan, some members, such as Kürşad Tüzmen had nationalist or Ertuğrul Günay, had center-left backgrounds while representatives of the nascent Muslim left current were largely excluded. In addition a number of people joined a political party for the first time, such as Ali Babacan, Selma Aliye Kavaf, Egemen Bağış. All of these people joined Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to found the new party, although the party is described as an Islamist party in some media, party officials reject those claims. These characterizations do not reflect the truth, and they sadden us, Çelik added, The AK Party is a conservative democratic party. The AK Partys conservatism is limited to moral and social issues, also in a separate speech made in 2005, Prime Minister Erdoğan stated, We are not an Islamic party, and we also refuse labels such as Muslim-democrat. Erdoğan went on to say that the AK Partys agenda is limited to conservative democracy, however, the partys leadership has also rejected this label. In 2005, the party was granted membership in the European Peoples Party. In November 2013, the party left the EPP to join the Alliance of European Conservatives
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Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
20.
Istanbul University
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Istanbul University is a prominent Turkish university located in Istanbul. The main campus is adjacent to Beyazıt Square in Fatih, the district of the province. Istanbul University was established in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, education in a number of sciences and fields became available, and, until the 19th century, they were instrumental in educating the ruling cadres of the Ottoman society. An institution of higher education named the Darülfünûn-u Osmanî was created in 1863 and its first rector was Hasan Tahsini, regarded as one of the most important Ottoman scholars of the 19th century. In 1874 the Imperial University started classes in law in French, the Imperial University, now known as Darülfünûn-u Şahâne was refounded in 1900, with the departments of theology, arts, mathematics, science and philology. In 1924, the faculties of law, medicine, arts and sciences were established in Istanbul University, islamic theology was added in 1925, but in 1933 the university was reorganized without the latter. Starting from 1874, some classes of Literature, Law and Applied Sciences were given at the building of Galatasaray High School, on 1 September 1900, the school was renamed and reorganized as the Darülfünûn-u Şahâne with courses on Mathematics, Literature and Theology. On 1 August 1933, İstanbul Darülfünûnu was reorganized as İstanbul Üniversitesi following the reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Classes officially began on 1 November 1933, the main campus building with its landmark gate was previously used as the headquarters of the Harbiye Nezareti by the Ottoman government. Located on the grounds is the Beyazıt Tower, a 85 m tall fire-watch tower, the grounds were previously the location of the Ottoman era Eski Saray. Some Roman and Byzantine ruins are visible on the grounds. The university has a staff of 2,000 professors and associates and 4,000 assistants. More than 60,000 undergraduate and 8,000 postgraduate students follow the courses offered by Istanbul University every year, the main gate was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 500 lira banknotes of 1971–1984
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University of Exeter
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The University of Exeter is a public research university located in Exeter, Devon, South West England, United Kingdom. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. and is the given to honorary. The university has four campuses, Streatham and St Lukes, and Truro, the university is centred in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University under the Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative, the university was named the Sunday Times University of the Year in 2013 and was the Times Higher Education University of the Year in 2007. Exeter has maintained a top ten position in the National Student Survey since the survey was launched in 2005, for 2015-16, Exeter had a turnover of £371.5 million, including £61.4 million from research grants and contracts. Exeter is a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive UK universities, the university is also a member of Universities UK, the European University Association, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities and is an accredited institution of the Association of MBAs. The universitys origins can be traced back to three educational institutions that existed in the city of Exeter and in Cornwall in the middle of the nineteenth century. To celebrate the educational and scientific work of Prince Albert, and inspired by the Great Exhibition of 1851, Exeter School of Art in 1855, in 1900 its official title was changed to the Royal Albert Memorial College and the college moved to Bradninch Place in Gandy Street. As was customary for new university institutions in England in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, alderman W H Reed, a former mayor of Exeter, donated Streatham Hall on the Streatham Estate to the new University College in 1922. Streatham Hall was renamed to Reed Hall after its benefactor, at the same time, the first principal of the University College, later Sir Hector Hetherington, persuaded the Council of the College to buy a major portion of the Streatham Estate. A slow move to the Streatham Estate from the centre of the city occurred over time, the building was opened in 1931. The first of the halls of residence, Mardon Hall. Roborough Library was completed around 1939, Queen Elizabeth II presented the Charter to the university on a visit to Streatham the following year. The university underwent a period of expansion in the 1960s. These included homes for the Chemistry and Physics departments, the Newman, Laver and Engineering Buildings, queens Building had been opened for the Arts Faculty in 1959 and the Amory Building, housing Law and Social Sciences, followed in 1974. In the following two decades, considerable investment was made in developing new self-catering accommodation for students, gifts from the Gulf States made it possible to build a new university library in 1983 and more recently have allowed for the creation of a new Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. A further major donation enabled the completion of the Xfi Centre for Finance, since 2009, significant further investment has been made into new student accommodation, new buildings in The Business School, and the Forum, a new development for the centre of Streatham Campus
22.
Turkish people
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Turkish people, or the Turks, also known as Anatolian Turks, are a Turkic ethnic group and nation living mainly in Turkey and speaking Turkish, the most widely spoken Turkic language. They are the largest ethnic group in Turkey, as well as by far the largest ethnic group among the speakers of Turkic languages, ethnic Turkish minorities exist in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire. In addition, a Turkish diaspora has been established with modern migration, the ethnonym Turk may be first discerned in Herodotus reference to Targitas, first king of the Scythians, furthermore, during the first century AD. Pomponius Mela refers to the Turcae in the north of the Sea of Azov. The first definite references to the Turks come mainly from Chinese sources in the sixth century, in these sources, Turk appears as Tujue, which referred to the Göktürks. Although Turk refers to Turkish people, it may sometimes refer to the wider language group of Turkic peoples. In the 19th century, the word Türk only referred to Anatolian villagers, the Ottoman ruling class identified themselves as Ottomans, not usually as Turks. In the late 19th century, as the Ottoman upper classes adopted European ideas of nationalism the term Türk took on a more positive connotation. The Turkish-speakers of Anatolia were the most loyal supporters of Ottoman rule, Turkish Jews, Christians, or even Alevis may be considered non-Turks. On the other hand, Kurdish Arab followers of the Sunni branch of Islam who live in eastern Anatolia are sometimes considered Turks, article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a Turk as anyone who is bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship. Anatolia was first inhabited by hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic era, most of the Turkic peoples were followers of Tengriism, sharing the cult of the sky god Tengri, although there were also adherents of Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism. However, during the Muslim conquests, the Turks entered the Muslim world proper as servants, during the booty of Arab raids, the Turks began converting to Islam after Muslim conquest of Transoxiana through the efforts of missionaries, Sufis, and merchants. Although initiated by the Arabs, the conversion of the Turks to Islam was filtered through Persian, under the Umayyads, most were domestic servants, whilst under the Abbasids, increasing numbers were trained as soldiers. By the ninth century, Turkish commanders were leading the caliphs’ Turkish troops into battle, as the Abbasid caliphate declined, Turkish officers assumed more military and political power taking over or establishing provincial dynasties with their own corps of Turkish troops. During the 11th century the Seljuk Turks who were admirers of the Persian civilization grew in number and were able to occupy the province of the Abbasid Empire. By 1055, the Seljuk Empire captured Baghdad and began to make their first incursions into the edges of Anatolia, when the Seljuk Turks won the Battle of Manzikert against the Byzantine Empire in 1071, it opened the gates of Anatolia to them. Although ethnically Turkish, the Seljuk Turks appreciated and became the purveyors of the Persian culture rather than the Turkish culture, in dire straits, the Byzantine Empire turned to the West for help setting in motion the pleas that led to the First Crusade. Once the Crusaders took Iznik, the Seljuk Turks established the Sultanate of Rum from their new capital, Konya, by the 12th century the Europeans had begun to call the Anatolian region Turchia or Turkey, meaning the land of the Turks
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Islamism
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Islamism is a concept whose meaning has been debated in both public and academic contexts. It is commonly used interchangeably with the terms political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism and these movements have arguably altered the Middle East more than any trend since the modern states gained independence, redefining politics and even borders according to Robin Wright. Some authors hold the term Islamic activism to be synonymous and preferable to Islamism, Central and prominent figures of modern Islamism include Hasan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Abul Ala Maududi, and Ruhollah Khomeini. Some Islamist thinkers emphasize peaceful political processes, whereas Sayyid Qutb in particular called for violence, however, Qutb, unlike modern extremists, denounced the killing of innocents. Following the Arab Spring, some Islamist currents became heavily involved in politics, while others spawned the most aggressive and ambitious Islamist militia to date. A theocratic ideology that seeks to impose any version of Islam over society by law, subsequently, clarified to be, the desire to impose any given interpretation of Islam on society. A movement so broad and flexible it reaches out to everything to everyone in Islam, making it unsustainable. and at the extremes, a violent vehicle for rejectionists and radicals. All who seek to Islamize their environment, whether in relation to their lives in society, their circumstances, or the workplace. Moderate and reformist Islamists who accept and work within the process include parties like the Tunisian Ennahda Movement. Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan is basically a socio-political and democratic Vanguard party but has gained political influence through military coup détats in the past. The Islamist groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine participate in the democratic, following the Arab Spring, Roy has described Islamism as increasingly interdependent with democracy in much of the Arab Muslim world, such that neither can now survive without the other. While Islamist political culture itself may not be democratic, Islamists need democratic elections to maintain their legitimacy, at the same time, their popularity is such that no government can call itself democratic that excludes mainstream Islamist groups. The term, which denoted the religion of Islam, first appeared in English as Islamismus in 1696. The term appears in the U. S. Supreme Court decision in In Re Ross, the term Islamism acquired its contemporary connotations in French academia in the late 1970s and early 1980s. From French, it began to migrate to the English language in the mid-1980s, a 2003 article in Middle East Quarterly states, In summation, the term Islamism enjoyed its first run, lasting from Voltaire to the First World War, as a synonym for Islam. Enlightened scholars and writers generally preferred it to Mohammedanism, eventually both terms yielded to Islam, the Arabic name of the faith, and a word free of either pejorative or comparative associations. To all intents and purposes, Islamic fundamentalism and Islamism have become synonyms in contemporary American usage, the AP Stylebook entry for Islamist now reads as follows, An advocate or supporter of a political movement that favors reordering government and society in accordance with laws prescribed by Islam. Do not use as a synonym for Islamic fighters, militants, extremists or radicals, where possible, be specific and use the name of militant affiliations, al-Qaida-linked, Hezbollah, Taliban, etc
24.
Recai Kutan
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Mehmet Recai Kutan is a Turkish politician and the former leader of Felicity Party. Kutan graduated from Istanbul Technical University, Department of Civil Engineering in 1952, until 1973, he worked as an engineer in various projects including the Southeastern Anatolia Project. His political career started 1973 in National Salvation Party and after 1983 he served in Welfare Party and he was Minister of Energy in 1996 in a coalition led by Welfare Party. At the 3rd party congress held on 26 October 2008 in Ankara, he did not run for his re-election as the leader of the Felicity Party and he is a member of the Community of İskenderpaşa, a Turkish sufistic community of the Naqshbandi tariqah
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Felicity Party
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The Felicity Party is an Islamist Turkish political party founded in 2001. It is mainly supported by conservative Muslims in Turkey and it was founded on 20 July 2001 after the Virtue Party was banned by the Constitutional Court. While the partys reformist wing formed the Justice and Development Party, although an Islamist party, its policy platform covers the whole span of political issues in Turkey. It has argued that Turkey must adapt its military and foreign policy stance to meet what it argues are increasing threats coming from the West to all Muslim countries, the Felicity Partys policy platform is based strongly around Erbakans ideas and philosophy. The Felicity Party works both as a party and an enormous social organization. It has party branches in every district, small town. In the past it has organized demonstrations on a range of issues. It was slightly successful in the local elections of 29 March 2004, winning 4. 1% of the vote. In the 2011 election they were reduced to 1. 24% on the vote, during the period, Recai Kutan, Necmettin Erbakan and Numan Kurtulmuş were leaders. In June 2015 elections it won 2. 06% of the votes, the new alliance was named the National Alliance. This meant that an SP candidate was placed first in 55 provinces, the remaining positions subsequently alternated between SP and BBP candidates. Politics of Turkey List of political parties in Turkey Official home page English pages
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Siirt
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Siirt is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of Siirt Province. The population of the city according to the 2009 census was 129,188, the majority of the citys population is Arabic and Kurdish. Previously known as Saird, in pre-Islamic times Siirt was an episcopacy of the Byzantine Church, the Chronicle of Seert was preserved in the city, it describes the ecclesiastical history of the Persian realm through the middle of the seventh century. From 1858 to 1915 the city was the seat of a bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church, most of the citys Assyrians, including their archbishop were killed during the Assyrian Genocide. The mosque was restored in 1965, Siirt is famous in Turkey for its hand-made blankets. Many visitors find themselves departing with one offered as a present, the traditional kilims produced by the Jirikan clan and revived since 1996 through joint efforts involving official instances and citizens are also much prized. Another product of interest is the Bıttım soaps proper to the region, Siirt also has an extremely rich culinary and spa culture. Depending district centers of Aydınlar with its historical medrese is renowned as a religious center, Siirt was Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğans constituency from 2003 to 2007. His wife, Mrs. Emine Erdoğan, is from Siirt, although Siirt remains one of the poorer cities in Turkey, some neighborhoods have fine and modern housing including new shops, banks and hotels. Siirt has a continental and Mediterranean climate with very hot and dry summers and cold. During winter months there is frequent frost and occasional snowfall, Siirt George_Grigore, Les principales caracteristiques de larabe parle a Siirt
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Siirt Province by-election, 2003
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The council decided on 2 December 2002 that the complaints by the local electoral authorities had influenced on the election result, thus calling a by-election. The by-election remains a significant event in Turkish politics, since it allowed Justice, the Ak Parti government, led by the partys co-founder Prime Minister Abdullah Gül, annulled Erdoğans political ban and thus allowed him to run in the by-election. Gül subsequently resigned and Erdoğan became the 25th Prime Minister of Turkey on 14 March 2003, four parties contested the by-election, as opposed to the 19 that contested the 2002 general election. Similar to general elections, the by-election elected three MPs through a party-list proportional representation system using the DHondt method, the parties contesting the election were the Justice and Development Party, the Republican Peoples Party, the Workers Party and the Communist Party of Turkey. The Ak Parti won all three seats up for election with 84. 82% of the votes, gaining the two seats that had been won by the CHP and an independent candidate in November 2002. The CHP came second with 13. 79% of the vote, the Province of Siirt is a province in the south-east Anatolia region of Turkey with a predominantly Kurdish population. With an electorate in 2003 of approximately 119,198, it elects three of the 550 MPs to the Grand National Assembly, in the 2002 general election, the province was won by the Kurdish nationalist Democratic Peoples Party, which gained 32. 17% of the votes. Since the party polled below 10% nationally, it was unable to win any parliamentary seats. According to the Turkish electoral system, the DHPs votes were allocated to the party of the election, namely the Justice and Development Party. Turkish businessman Fadıl Akgündüz was elected as an independent with 13. 65% of the votes, coming third. The CHP came fifth with 8. 92% of the vote, in the 2002 general election, Recep Tayyip Erdoğans Ak Parti won 363 seats in Parliament and formed the first single-party government since 1987. While serving as Mayor of Istanbul in 1998, he had convicted of reciting a poem which incited religious intolerance in Siirt. His imprisonment forced him to give up the mayoralty and resulted in a political ban, despite being the Ak Parti leader, Erdoğan was unable to seek parliamentary election in 2002 and thus the partys co-founder Abdullah Gül became Prime Minister instead. With the help of the opposition CHP, Gül pushed forward constitutional reforms which nullified Erdoğans political ban, the by-election was held on 9 March 2003, four months after the 2002 general election. The local electoral authorities investigated irregularities in the district of Pervari in south-eastern Siirt, the alleged irregularities were the fact that three ballot boxes in a village named Doğan Köy were broken and thus could not be voted in, meaning 706 voters boycotted the election in protest. The number was significant since had the Ak Parti won 122 more votes, since Recep Tayyip Erdoğans political ban had been annulled, the Ak Partis first candidate Mervan Gül voluntarily stepped aside so that Erdoğan could take his place. Gül subsequently became the Ak Parti Mayor of Siirt in the 2004 local elections, the Workers Party legally contested Erdoğans candidacy, claiming that the by-elections were a repeat of the general elections and thus the party candidate lists could not be changed. This complaint was rejected by the Supreme Electoral Council, the council further ruled that independent candidates which did not run in 2002 would not be able to declare their candidacy in the by-election
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Secularism in Turkey
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Secularism in Turkey defines the relationship between religion and state in the country of Turkey. Nine years after its introduction, laïcité was explicitly stated in the article of the then Turkish constitution on February 5,1937. The current Constitution of 1982 neither recognizes an official religion nor promotes any and this includes Islam, to which more than 99% of its citizens subscribe. Turkeys laïcité does not call for a separation of religion and the state. Turkeys actions related with religion are carefully analyzed and evaluated through the Presidency of Religious Affairs, the history of secularism in Turkey extends to the Tanzimat reforms of Ottoman Empire. The second peak in secularism occurred during the Second Constitutional Era, the current form was achieved by Atatürks Reforms. The establishing structure of the Ottoman Empire was an Islamic state in which the head of the Ottoman state was the Sultan, the social system was organized around millet. The Ottoman-appointed governor collected taxes and provided security, while the religious or cultural matters were left to the regional communities to decide. On the other hand, the sultans were Muslims and the laws that bound them were based on the Sharia, the Sultan, beginning in 1516, was also a Caliph, the leader of all the Sunni Muslims in the world. By the turn of the 19th century the Ottoman ruling elite recognized the need to restructure the legislative, Sultan Selim III founded the first secular military schools by establishing the new military unit, Nizam-ı Cedid, as early as 1792. However the last century of the Ottoman Empire had many far reaching reforms and these reforms peaked with the tanzimat which was the initial reform era of the Ottoman Empire. The First World War brought about the fall of the Ottoman Empire, therefore, the Republic of Turkey was actually a nation-state built as a result of an empire lost. During the establishment of the Republic, there were two sections of the group at the helm of the discussions for the future. These were the Islamist reformists and Westerners and they shared a similar goal, the modernization of the new state. Many basic goals were common to both groups, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürks achievement was to amplify this common ground and put the country on a fast track of reforms, now known as Atatürks Reforms. Their first act was to give the Turkish nation the right to popular sovereignty via representative democracy. Prior to declaring the new Republic, the Turkish Grand National Assembly abolished the monarchy on November 1,1922. The Turkish Grand National Assembly then moved to replace the extant Islamic law structure with the laws it had passed during the Turkish War of Independence, the modernization of the Law had already begun at the point that the project was undertaken in earnest
29.
Turkish presidential election, 2007
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The 2007 Turkish presidential election refers to two attempts to elect the countrys 11th president, to succeed Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The most likely candidate for president was Abdullah Gül, the first attempt consisted of the first rounds on 27 April and its repeat on 6 May after Turkeys constitutional court annulled the first round on 27 April. The constitutional court decided that a quorum of two-thirds was necessary, both first rounds were almost entirely boycotted by opposition MPs to disable the voting to start. Therefore, the ruling Justice and Development Party was unsuccessful in electing its candidate, AK Party then called a snap election which was held on July 22,2007. The general elections saw it returned to government with a proportion of the vote. Subsequently, Gül was renominated and was elected in the third round of the second attempt of presidential election. The first round of voting was on 20 August, while a second was on 24 August. There was a quorum this time, since opposition parties, most importantly the Nationalist Movement Party. The presidential vote is held among MPs in parliament by secret ballot, a candidate requires a two-thirds majority to be elected in the first two rounds. If there is no clear winner before the round, the winning threshold is dropped to a simple majority. If there is no winner, the two candidates with the most votes from the third round progress to a runoff election, where the simple majority rule still applies. In the event of no clear winner among the two, the Constitution states that a general election must be called to overcome the parliamentary deadlock. In addition, the opposition party, CHP argued that a quorum of two-thirds was necessary while the ruling party. Later, the court ruled that a quorum of two-thirds was necessary. Abdullah Güls candidacy was announced by Erdoğan on April 24,2007 while calling Gül as his brother and he was the official candidate of the Justice and Development Party, thus making him the strongest candidate to be the 11th president of Turkey. During his campaign, he met the leaders of parties represented in the Parliament, none of the parties said that they would vote for Gül in the elections. After the Supreme Courts rule on the method, his chance to become the next president decreased since the support of Justice. On May 6,2007, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül withdrew his candidacy after the Parliament failed to achieve a quorum for a second time, ersönmez Yarbay was another candidate from the Justice and Development Party
30.
Constitution of Turkey
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The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, also known as the Constitution of 1982, is Turkeys fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government and sets out the principles and rules of the states conduct along with its responsibilities in regards to its citizens. The constitution also establishes the rights and responsibilities of the latter while setting the guidelines for the delegation, the constitution was ratified on 7 November 1982. It replaced the earlier Constitution of 1961, the constitution was amended seventeen times, two of them through a referendum,2007,2010, one of them partly through referendum,1987. Overall,113 of the 177 articles of the Constitution of 1982 were amended, another referendum concerning a new draft constitution that would increase the power of the President and abolish the office of the Prime Minister is scheduled to be held on April 16,2017. The first constitution of the Ottoman Empire was adopted in 1876, the current constitution was ratified by popular referendum during the military junta of 1980-1983. The last significant amendments were made in 2010, a minor amendment to Article 59, on the permissible means for challenging decisions of sport federations relating to administration and discipline of sportive activities, was made in March 2011. The Constitution asserts that Turkey is a secular and democratic, republic that derives its sovereignty from the people, the sovereignty rests with the Turkish Nation, who delegates its exercise to an elected unicameral parliament, the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The Article 4 declares the immovability of the principles of the Republic defined in the first three Articles and bans any proposals for their modification. The preamble also invokes the principles of nationalism, defined as the material and spiritual well-being of the Republic, the basic nature of Turkey is laïcité, social equality, equality before law, the Republican form of government, the indivisibility of the Republic and of the Turkish Nation. Thus, it out to found a unitary nation-state based on the principles of secular democracy. Fundamental Aims and Duties of the State is defined in Article 5, Constitution establishes a separation of powers between the Legislative Power, Executive Power, and Judicial Power of the state. The separation of powers between the legislative and the executive is a one, whereas the one between the executive and the legislative with the judiciary is a strict one. Part Two of the constitution is the bill of rights, borrowing from the French Revolutionary ideals of the nation and the Republic, Article 3 affirms that The Turkish State, with its territory and nation, is an indivisible entity. Article 66 defines a Turkish civic identity, everyone bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship is a Turk. Article 26 establishes freedom of expression and Articles 27 and 28 the freedom of the press, while Articles 33 and 34 affirm the freedom of association, classes are considered irrelevant in legal terms. The Constitution affirms the right of workers to labor unions without obtaining permission and to possess the right to become a member of a union. Articles 53 and 54 affirm the right of workers to collectively and to strike
31.
Gezi Park protests
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A wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Turkey began on 28 May 2013, initially to contest the urban development plan for Istanbuls Taksim Gezi Park. The protests were sparked by outrage at the violent eviction of a sit-in at the protesting the plan. With no centralised leadership beyond the small assembly that organized the original environmental protest, the protests have been compared to the Occupy movement and the May 1968 events. Social media played a key part in the protests, not least because much of the Turkish media downplayed the protests, three and a half million people are estimated to have taken an active part in almost 5,000 demonstrations across Turkey connected with the original Gezi Park protest. Eleven people were killed and more than 8,000 were injured, after the Gezi Park camp was cleared by riot police on 15 June, protesters began to meet in other parks all around Turkey and organised public forums to discuss ways forward for the protests. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dismissed the protesters as a few looters on 2 June, Police suppressed the protests with tear gas and water cannons. In addition to the 11 deaths and over 8,000 injuries, excessive use of force by police and the overall absence of government dialogue with the protesters was criticized by some foreign countries and international organisations. The range of the protesters was described as being broad, encompassing both right- and left-wing individuals, Protesters called themselves çapulcu, reappropriating Erdoğans insult for themselves. Many users on Twitter also changed their screenname and used çapulcu instead, according to various analysts, the protests are the most challenging events for Erdoğans ten-year term and the most significant nationwide disquiet in decades. The Justice and Development Party led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has governed since 2002, under its rule the economy of Turkey recovered from the 2001 financial crisis and recession, driven in particular by a construction boom. At the same time, particularly since 2011, it has accused of driving forward an Islamist agenda. Since 2011, the AKP has increased restrictions on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, Internet use, television content, and those who resist do so at their own risk. The sale and consumption of alcohol in university campuses has been banned, people have been given jail sentences for blasphemy. While construction in Turkey has boomed and has been a driver for the economy. For example, major projects in Istanbul have been opposed by widespread coalitions of diverse interests. Corruption concerns have also raised, particularly relating to the Kanal İstanbul. Environmental issues, especially since the 2010 decision of the government to build nuclear power plants. The Black Sea Region has seen dozens of protests against the construction of waste-dumps, nuclear and coal plants, mines, factories
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National Intelligence Organization (Turkey)
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The National Intelligence Organization is the governmental intelligence organization of Turkey. It was established in 1965 to replace the National Security Service, according to the former director of Foreign Operations, Yavuz Ataç, the military presence in the organization is negligible. This is a recent development, as the organization has a military heritage, in 1990, the fraction of military personnel was 35%. In order to ensure reliability, the organization has recruited from relatives of existing employees. The former undersecretary, Emre Taner, says that this is no longer the case and he is credited with reducing the turf war between the MİT and the police intelligence, as well as infighting inside the MİT itself. Taner announced a restructuring of the MİT at the start of 2009, the MİT co-operates with American and Russian intelligence agencies. The MİT is in charge of activities in Turkey. The MİT cannot be any other duty and cannot be led to any other field of activity than collecting intelligence concerning the security of the Republic. The MİT engages in a proactive cyber defence program for Turkey, the Turkish Ministry of National Defence considers cybersecurity as the countrys fifth frontier after land, air, sea and space. The MİT uses local cybersecurity solutions mostly developed by companies Havelsan, providing secrecy in the conduct of the duty and activities the MİT is responsible for is indisputably of utmost importance. The Organisations legal basis and structure can be found in Law No,2937, the Law on the State Intelligence Services and the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation, as well as several other laws. Before November 2016, when two main departments were added, had four main departments. 2937, high crimes levied against a MİT agent that fall within the jurisdiction of the Heavy Penal Courts must be approved by the Prime Minister or several other relevant officials, testimony in court may only be made with and by the permission of the Undersecretary of the MİT. According to Article 29 of Law No,2937, MİT agents must not give their testimony if it pertains to state secrets without further permission from the MİT Undersecretary. The Organization owns a non-public Museum of Espionage consisting of a variety of spy equipment, almanac Turkey 2005, Security Sector and Democratic Oversight. Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, frequently Asked Questions about the MİT Official Web Site about the MİT
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listen); Turkish: [abduɫˈɫɑh ˈɟyl]; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both Deputy Prime Minister and as Foreign Minister between 2003 and 2007. He is currently a member of the Advisory Panel for the President of the Islamic Development Bank.[2]
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