Thursday, February 17, 2011

The Council Has Spoken!



Once again, the votes have been cast, the Council has spoken and the results of this week's Watcher’s Council contest of are history.

This week's winner was Joshuapundit for Turkish PM Erdogan Consolidates His Islamist Regime By Purging The Military, my examination of what's going on under the wire in Turkey while the West's eyes are focused on Egypt and the Arab world...and why it may end up being much more significant Here's a slice:

Turkey's 1982 constitution proclaims Turkey's system of government as democratic, secular, and parliamentary and the country's original Constitution makes the military the guardian of Turkey's secular rule. The largely secular Turkish military has historically been a check on both Islamist and Leftist elements in the country.

Erdogan and the AKP party checkmated that role by winning a referendum on September 12, 2010 on constitutional amendments that removed the remaining obstacles to its absolute power, targeting the courts and the military.

Among other things, the referendum allowed Erdogan to change the rules and try retired members of the Turkish military in civil court who participated in the last military coup against an Islamist government, back in 1980 when Turkey was beset by internal violence. It also allows him to try the current 'conspirators' in civilian rather than military courts. This ensures that the Turkish military will no longer be the guard of secularism that it was, and to guarantee that, the very composition of the military is being changed as AKP President Abdullah Gul has been intervening in promotions and appointments of generals to block all non-Islamists from acquiring command positions.

Second, to make sure the outcome of the trials aren't in doubt, the new changes expanded the nation’s constitutional court from 11 to 17 judges and provides that the prime minister, Erdogan appointed 14 of them, with the legislature - that's Erdogan's AKP Party - choosing the other three.

Having finished appointing his hand picked new judges, Erdogan is using them to get rid of political opposition to him in the military and civil society, and to further consolidate the AKP's rule and the increasing Islamization of Turkish law and society.


Our non-council winner, Gulag Bound scored with Top 5 Revolutions Backed by George Soros an examination of how busy the ex-Nazi collaborator and outlaw billionaire has been in fomenting Hope n' Change around the world.

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners


Non-Council Winners



See you next week!


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