Version française ICI
TARIQ RAMADAN: ERDOĞAN SHOULD PRACTICE WHAT HE PREACHED TO MUBARAK
On Day 3 of the Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) convention in Toronto (December 29), Tariq Ramadan joined those who have been asking for PM Erdogan’s resignation since a corruption scandal came to light in Turkey: “I said what Erdogan said to [then Egyptian President] Mubarak. One day you have to know how to leave. […] Power is for a time and then you leave. Leave. Leave and let the people come.”
On January 2nd, after his call for the resignation of his former ally made the headlines in Turkey, Tariq Ramadan claimed that he was quoted “out of context.” In order to demonstrate his good faith, Ramadan argued that he did not wait for the corruption scandal to break out in order to ask for Erdogan’s resignation but that he had already done so last year. Ramadan described his call for Erdogan’s resignation as “constructive criticism.” It is quite unlikely that these clarifications will restore Ramadan’s credibility in the minds of Erdogan’s supporters who were, in large part until recently, also his supporters.
#Turkey #Erdogan #Revolution TURKEY : STATEMENT OUT OF CONTEXT
Last Sunday, during my final RIS lectures, I (cont) http://tl.gd/n_1rvbud9
4:59 AM – 2 Jan 14
In a televised year end address, Erdogan replied to Fethullah Gülen, Tariq Ramadan and his other critics “who have become mixed up in this [corruption scandal] game” that “history will not forgive th[em].” During his RIS speech criticizing PM Erdogan, Tariq Ramadan revealed that, in the past, he has also been brushed aside by the Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Egypt after he came up with more “constructive criticism.” Ramadan was offended by the situation and mentioned it in front of thousands of people who came to listen to him in Toronto. This portion of his speech is transcribed in Excerpt 4 of a previous article about the RIS 2013 convention.
http://www.onislam.net/english/news/europe/467679-erdogan-rallies-turks-against-foreign-plots.html
Transcript of Tariq Ramadan’s RIS 2013 speech asking PM Erdogan to resign – “Power is for a time and then you leave. Leave. Leave.”
Day 3 (Video TR 10:41) People are coming to me and say: “You know what? Turkey is the model.” I say: I have been critical. Turkey is not the model for all the Muslim majority countries. Turkey has a specific history. And I was critical even with the government, here. I repeated when I was there, I repeated when I was at the United Nations… I said what [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan said to [former Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak. One day you have to know how to leave. He [Erdogan] have [sic] to get this also right because in the understanding of the people in power… was to go from Prime Minister to President and to keep… This is something that you have to think about. A very interesting strategy but sometimes you have to be critical by… Power is for a time and then you leave. Leave. Leave and let the people come. Don’t go from… You know…
Day 3 (Video TR 11:30) I was so critical with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin [when he switched jobs with current Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev]. To see this happening in Turkey. No. We have to be self-critical. These are constructive criticisms. Not to destroy but to share. But with some of our brothers and sisters, when you are constructively critical, they get it as “You are against me,” and sometimes for some of them, you have lose [sic] your faith.
Earlier in his speech, Ramadan alluded to corruption plaguing Turkey and Muslim countries in general:
Day 3 (Video TR 07:58) There are other challenges. The first has to do, after the nature of the State… is corruption. Corruption is one of the main challenges that we have to face in Muslim majority countries.
Headlines about the corruption scandal in Turkey
TURKISH CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION THROWS GOVERNMENT INTO CRISIS
Charles Recknagel (Radio Free Europe (December 19, 2013)
A Turkish police investigation into an alleged multimillion-dollar gold-buying scheme involving Iran is creating a major political crisis for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The complicated affair has seen Erdogan this week accuse police officials of launching a “dirty operation” against his government as they have targeted the sons of three cabinet members along with some 80 other businesspeople and bureaucrats in the bribery and fraud investigation.
At the same time, Erdogan has hinted that those who launched the investigation belong to an organization seeking to tarnish his government and “become a state within a state.”
Erdogan has not named the organization but used references that make it clear to Turkish listeners that he is accusing the followers of Fethullah Gulen, an influential Muslim cleric who lives in the United States.
TURKISH PM, CLERIC IN WAR OF WORDS OVER GRAFT SCANDAL
Ayla Jean Yackley and Seda Sezer (Reuters – December 24, 2013)
A war of words escalated on Monday between Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and a cleric with powerful influence in the police and judiciary, worsening political turmoil unleashed by a corruption scandal.
The public has been riveted by the case, with news channels showing police footage of shoeboxes stuffed with millions of euros in cash allegedly found in homes of corruption suspects.
In the latest rift, the government attracted unprecedented, open condemnation from Fethullah Gulen, whose Hizmet movement claims at least a million followers, including senior police and judges, and runs schools and charities across Turkey and abroad.
Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, lashed out against the government on Friday by praying that “God bring fire to their houses”. Erdogan shot back on Sunday with remarks that, while not naming Gulen directly, accused unnamed outsiders of “setting wicked and dark traps in our country, using their local pawns to disrupt Turkey’s unity and integrity.”
ERDOĞAN: CORRUPTION SCANDAL A US-ISRAEL CONSPIRACY
Arutz Sheva / Israel (December 24, 2013)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel and the United States of a conspiracy, Thursday, in connection with a corruption scandal that is undermining his government.
Erdoğan said, “Everyone is aware that this is not an investigation into corruption, but a clear conspiracy,” adding that this is “an attempt to libel Turkish politics and the Turkish people.” Earlier this week, Erdoğan said that foreign elements are behind the investigation against the government and threatened to expel the US ambassador because of the American part in alleged corruption scandal.
TURKISH PM ERDOGAN STRUGGLES TO HOLD ON TO JOB AS CORRUPTION SCANDAL WIDENS
Richard Spencer (The Telegraph / UK – December 26, 2013)
Mr Erdogan came out fighting after the loss of three ministers who decided to resign after their sons were detained in the investigation. He rejected calls, including from one of the ministers, for him to step down.
The corruption allegations have frozen much of the work of the government and of the police and judiciary. The latter are a stronghold of a former Islamist ally of Mr Erdogan’s, now bitter enemy – the US-based leader of a religious and educational charity, Fethullah Gulen.
ERDOGAN RALLIES TURKS AGAINST ‘FOREIGN’ PLOTS
On Islam (January 2, 2014)
In a strongly worded end-of-year address televised on Tuesday, Erdogan spoke about a corruption investigation that has been engineered in police and judiciary, and how he sees this as an attempt to undermine his government and sap its influence in the Middle East and beyond.
Erdogan responded by purging up to 70 officers connected with the inquiry and blocking an additional investigation into big infrastructure projects promoted by him.
A total of seven MPs have resigned from the AKP since the end of November, five since the December police raids.
ERDOGAN FAVORS RETRIAL OF JAILED OFFICERS
Press TV / Iran (January 5, 2014)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he favors retrials for hundreds of military officers jailed for allegedly plotting a coup against the government.
In a speech in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdogan said the corruption scandal was cover for an assassination attempt. “What they wanted to do was an attempted assassination of the national will.”
“They tried to carry out a judicial coup in Turkey…. But we are going to oppose this operation, this December 17 plot that targeted the future, the stability of our country,” he noted.
.ERDOGAN FAMILY DRAWN INTO CORRUPTION PROBE
Thomas Siebert (Deutsche Welle / Germany – January 6, 2014)
In mid-December 2013, Istanbul prosecutors arrested several dozen people who allegedly took bribes from an Iranian businessman, who was also detained. Two sons of Turkish ministers and the head of the state-owned bank Halkbank are in investigative custody.
A week later, the prosecution was preparing to order a second wave of arrests when head prosecutor Muammer Akkas was removed from the ongoing case at short notice. According to media reports, the premier’s son, Bilal Erdogan, was due to be summoned as well.
AMID CORRUPTION SCANDAL, ERDOGAN REASSIGNS 350 ANKARA POLICE
Voice of America (January 7, 2014)
Turkish media say Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has removed nearly 350 police from their posts in the capital, amid a widening corruption scandal that has threatened his rule.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said Tuesday top officials were among those removed from their posts at the Ankara Police Headquarters. Other reports said some were reassigned to traffic departments or police posts outside the city.
The move comes as Prime Minister Erdogan tries to contain the fall-out of a high-level bribery and corruption investigation he says is a foreign-backed plot to bring down his government.
The investigation has ensnared dozens of former top politicians and businessmen and prompted a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Erdogan after three ministers stepped down late last month.
Mr. Erdogan responded by firing hundreds of police officers he says were involved in the probe.
Erdogan’s “Turkish model” once praised by Tariq Ramadan
In his RIS 2013 speech criticizing Turkish PM Erdogan, Tariq Ramadan also told his listeners that he was critical of the “Turkish model.” That has not always been the case. In 2011, the French newspaper Le Monde quoted Ramadan while he praised Erdogan’s Turkey as a model for the Arab revolutions.
A “Turkish model” for the Arab revolutions?
Le Monde / Paris – February 15, 2011
“Democratic Turkey is an example to follow,” considers Tariq Ramadan, grand-son of the founder of the [Muslim] Brotherhood. As for the old Tunisian Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi, back from exile, he compared his own party to AKP, even approving the Tunisian personal status code and the possibility that a woman may become president. A type of concession to State secularism that the Islamo-conservative Turkish party agreed to in order to take power.
Two of Recep Erdogan’s notable quotations
As mayor of Istanbul, in 1996 Recep Erdogan compared democracy to a streetcar: “You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off.”
In 1998, Erdogan publicly read an Islamic poem including the following lines: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers…”
Tariq Ramadan’s call for Erdogan’s resignation made the headlines of the main English language newspaper in Turkey
Today’s Zaman (Istanbul)
January 2, 2014, pp.1 & 6
Today’s Zaman (Istanbul)
January 3, 2014, pp.1 & 6
Today’s Zaman journalists refute Tariq Ramadan’s claim that he was quoted “out of context” when they reported on his call for the resignation of Erdogan
Bülent Keneş and Mahir Zeynalov countered Tariq Ramadan’s claim on Twitter that he was quoted “out of context.” They both work for Today’s Zaman, the most circulated English daily in Turkey. Keneş is the editor in chief while Zeynalov works as a journalist from his base in Islanbul.
#Zaman still spreading false information, pretending it wasn’t on purpose. Video’s accessible http://bit.ly/1htlX57 & http://bit.ly/1a4RmmF
Baha Özşarlak @bahaozsarlak
fazla zorlama kasetini falan çıkarırlar @TariqRamadan
Mahir Zeynalov @MahirZeynalov
@TariqRamadan We wrote exactly what happened without any comment; it is astonishing how you describe it as ‘false information.’
Mahir Zeynalov @MahirZeynalov
@TariqRamadan What is false is your fabrication that we used your remarks out of context
Bulent Kenes @bkenes
Dear Mr @TariqRamadan, you are an honorable intellectual and you habe been expected to stand behind what you said. @todayszamancom +
Bulent Kenes @bkenes
+ there is no distortion or exegeration in Today’s Zaman reporting. TZ has also broadcasted your speech’s video@TariqRamadan. Pls be fair.
Bulent Kenes @bkenes
+What kind of “false information” you are talking about? TZ has written only what you said… All are available in the video. @TariqRamadanJan
Further reading
Point de Bascule: File Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan (RIS 2013 – December 27-29, 2013): VIDEO “We are not here to be accepted. We are here to change the society.”
Tariq Ramadan (ICNA Meeting in Dallas – July 27, 2011): VIDEO “It should be us, with our understanding of Islam, our principles, colonizing positively the United States of America.”
Wikipedia: 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey
