Comments on: Erdoğan, AKP and their victory in the Turkish Municipal Elections

By: Sal

Sal — Thu, 15 May 2014 19:06:37 +0000

Erdogan is a great leader, until he turned against Israel which made turkey economy on decline, Erdogan should better its relation with Israel again cuz if not then Israel is gonna become a pain in the path for turkey’s economic development.

By: O H

O H — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 00:05:42 +0000

Good to see this article being approved on here. Sadly many of the things you have mentioned is considered taboo to discuss and is unknown to the gullible masses whose source of ‘facts’ is Fox news, CNN etc. Common sense is not so common nowadays so its refreshing to know these things

By: Shibli Zaman

Shibli Zaman — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 20:51:14 +0000

In reply to Sasha Ajaz. Thank you, Sasha. That's not nitpicking at all. We've made edits to make things more clear. Istanbul was the capital until 1922 and in spite of Ankara being the "de jure" capital since that time, Istanbul retained its position of prominence as a "de facto" capital of the country.

By: Sasha Ajaz

Sasha Ajaz — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 00:49:12 +0000

Just wanted to clarify, but you refer to Istanbul as Turkey’s capital in your “A country’s capital rarely represents it” point? Ankara is the capital.

Nitpickiness aside, there are some nice, enlightening comparisons to Turkish politics made it in this article such as the Taliban being preferred over the alternative in Afghanistan. Spot on with the comments on Israel.

By: MI-R15

MI-R15 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 17:20:10 +0000

great political read.
The political reality in Turkey and around the muslim World deserve an objective and logical reasoning. As far as we muslims are concerned, Erdorghan political aspiration, policies and concerned for the Ummah is the best we can get from any leader with the ummah at heart.
As human we all have short comming so also Erghoghan and his AKP. Therefore advicebly as the political strugling is becomming hotter in Turkey, he is suppose to be nurturing a replacement aside not necessary his child.
May Allah grant the World thousands of Erghogan we see today.

By: Shibli Zaman

Shibli Zaman — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 16:39:50 +0000

In reply to Matt Aikins.

Matt, news gradually trickled since this article was written but initially the news outlets were completely mute on it. However, as you have correctly noted the big news outlets did eventually report it. I don’t see that they would have any other choice.

You said, “The losses suffered from the opposition say more about the quality of the opposition parties than Erdogan. This analysis sums up the situation very well.”

I agree 100% and I think Erdoğan has been banking on that far too long, along with his initial economic successes (which are now waning), and it will cost him dearly in the long run. Unless, of course, he changes his attitude and approach.

By: Shahid

Shahid — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 15:38:05 +0000

The way america is able to influence our decisions and our governments shows us that as a society we are a failure. And we are so weak that anyone could easily manipulate us to do things against our own intrests. What we lack is not a political uprising but moral and social. We have to either HI Jack thier technological superiority or construct an entirely new one. Only a pro literian and socially aware Ummah can make the difference

Let us pray for it

By: Zak

Zak — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 12:00:18 +0000

That was refreshing… Glad SuheibWebb.com approved this post!

By: AbdulLateeph

AbdulLateeph — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 05:35:17 +0000

Nice article! Is the reason I’m of the opinion people need to determine to nurture the politics of true democracy and be ready to show maturity. Instead of accepting mobocracy now being employed and sanctioned by the same advocates of democracy as a method to forcefully change leaders, democratically elected by at least the majority . The thing about democracy is sometimes majority “may have voted wrong”, the supposed right minority must then learn to wait to change or turn the table by using the ballots at the next elections. The opposition must learn to organize and mobilize towards winning elections and not use mob or not so popular but popular protests to grab power.
As for Erdogan his popularity as well as that of the AKP may not have declined to the extent we are made to believe in the mainstream press. What is clear however is that he needs to thread with caution and the AKP needs to put it’s house in order in order to properly and adequately management decent /the opposition. Failure to do so as u rightly stated in ur article may be self destructive. Sometimes powers enjoy their popularity or majority powers too much that they self destruct.

By: Matt Aikins

Matt Aikins — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 01:39:46 +0000

I’m not quite sure what you mean in your opening paragraph. A quick glance through well-known outlets give you the following results:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26807067

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/da760d76-b806-11e3-af5e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2xgkSRYVd

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/30/turkey-elections-erdogan-truth

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/30/us-turkey-election-idUSBREA2R12X20140330

The losses suffered from the opposition say more about the quality of the opposition parties than Erdogan. This analysis sums up the situation very well:

http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/2014/04/01/erdogan-jumps-out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire/