TURKEY:Supporting Egypt’s opposition, but Iran’s government !

Hypocrisy and double standards  in the neighborhood  through its force or money ...

Supporting Egypt’s opposition, but Iran’s government 

Turkish President Abdullah Gül recently paid a state visit to Iran after years. On the first day of the visit, Iranian opposition tried to hold a protest in the streets of Tehran, a protestor was killed. On Tuesday, 200 deputies in support of the regime called for the death of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

During a press briefing and at his meeting with the religious leader, Ali Khamanei, Gül underlined the importance of popular legitimacy of governments. This is the whole support Turkey could give to Iranian dissidents! In the meantime, news was that Gül wanted to meet with the Iranian opposition, but his Iranian counterpart Ahmadinejad prevented the meeting. The news was denied later on. I wish it hadn’t been. But when Egypt was the case, the government provided support – though late – to Egyptian protesters despite the demands of dissidents in both countries are very similar.

Demands of the Green Movement of Iran

Demands voiced in the Iranian Reform Movement’s manifesto signed by movement founder and scholar Abdolkarim Soroush, dissident cleric Mohsen Kadivar, former parliamentarian and Islamic Guidance Minister Ataollah Mohajerani, journalist Akbar Ganji and Abdolali Bazargan, an Islamic thinker and son of former prime minister Mehdi Bazargan and published on the movement’s website, Jaras (www.rahesabz.net), read as follows:

1. Resignation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and holding a new presidential election under the supervision of neutral organs; abolish the vetting process of candidates by the Guardian Council and formation of an independent election commission that includes the representatives of the opposition and protestors, in order to draft the rules and regulations for holding free and fair elections.

2. Release of all the political prisoners, and investigating the torture and murder of the protestors over the past several months in open courts in the presence of a jury and the attorneys of their choice, and compensating those who have been hurt and their families.

3. Free means of mass communication, including the press, the Internet, radio and television; abolishing censorship and allowing banned publications, such as dailies to resume; expanding non-governmental TV and satellite channels; ending the filtering of the Internet and making it easily accessible to the public, and purging liars and provocateurs from national radio and television.

4. Recognizing the rights of all lawful political groups, university student and women movements, NGOs and civil organizations, and labor unions for lawful activities and the right to peaceful protest according to Article 27 of the constitution.

5. Independence of universities; running the universities democratically by the academics themselves; evacuating the military and paramilitary forces from the universities, and abolishing the illegal Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution that interferes in the affairs of the universities.

6. Putting on trial all those who have tortured and murdered people, and those who ordered past crimes, particularly over the past several months.

7. Independence of the judiciary by electing rather than appointing its head; abolishing illegal and special courts such as the Special Court for the Clergy; purging the judiciary from inequitable judges and banning judiciary officials from giving political speeches and carrying out orders of higher officials, i.e. the president and the Supreme Leader, instead of implementing laws fairly and neutrally.

8. Banning the military, police and security forces from intervening in politics, the economy and culture, and ordering them to act professionally.

9. Economic and political independence of the religious seminaries, and preventing politicizing the clerics to support the government, and banning the clerics to use Friday prayers sermons for issuing illegal and anti-religious preaches.

Demands of Egyptian opposition

1. Ending emergency law that suspends constitutional guarantees for human rights.

2. Releasing all political prisoners.

3. Dissolving both houses of parliament and forming an official committee comprising independent constitutional and legal experts to propose the required constitutional changes.

4. Shelving the current Constitution.

5. Forming a new government composed of independent and popular individuals and highly experienced executives /bureaucrats.

6. Forming a collective council for transition period.

7. Forming a working group to prepare a democratic constitutional draft to be put on a popular vote.

8. Abolishing all obstacles in front of formation of political parties that will to work in civilian, democratic and peaceful way.

9. Freedom of press.

10. Formation of labor unions and non-governmental organizations with no official permission required.

11. Abolishing all military courts and all past military court decisions regarding civilians.

Today’s million-dollar question is:

“What is the regional model for Arab countries following their revolutions?” What people have in mind is of course Turkey’s Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and its transformation. But Turkey can make a difference in the neighborhood only by its democracy, not through its force or money.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his parliamentary group meeting last Tuesday empathized with the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq. Perfect! Now in line are the peoples of Iran, Syria, Sudan, Algeria, Libya and Cyprus. Go for it

Friday, February 18, 2011

CENGİZ AKTAR

ΠΗΓΗ:

www.hurriyetdailynews. com


ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ:
Turkish shameless hypocrisy and double standard on ''Human rights'' ...


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