Leaders of the G20 Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy pose for a family portrait at the National Building Museum in Washington on November 15, 2008. Back row, left to right, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. Front row, left to right, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, U.S. President George W. Bush, and President Hu Jinta of China. (UPI Photo/Ekaterina Shtukina)
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the subject or is mentioned in the following stories:
The Real World: Turkey Dodging the Bullet – For Now
Turkeys Constitutional Court on July 30 averted a potentially explosive political crisis when its judges rejected an attempt by the State Prosecutor to ban the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The ban would have prohibited 71 senior members of the AKP from taking part in politics for five years and would have effectively brought down the government. AKP leader and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Turkeys President Abdullah Gül were among the AKP leadership facing exclusion from political life. The ban, if enacted, also would have negated the will of 47 percent of Turkish voters who supported the party and would have dashed the countrys hopes of entering the European Union.
Turkey Steps Back From Political Brink
AMMAN -- Turkey stepped back from the edge of a precipice that would have plunged the country into its worst political crisis in years, possibly decades, when the highest court Wednesday narrowly avoided outlawing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), but instead gave the Islamist-rooted party a slap on the wrist and a chance to seek compromise with the powerful secular forces.
Double Bombing Rips Into Divided Turkey
AMMAN -- Istanbul was the target of the deadliest terror attack in Turkey since 2003 when on Sunday night two bombs exploded just minutes and meters apart in a busy square killing at least 17 people and injuring more than 150 others, only hours before the countrys highest court began to deliberate on whether to outlaw the ruling party.
Assad Boosted by West Reaching Out
AMMAN, Jordan -- Syrian President Bashar Assad is drawing his country back into the Western-led international fold, thanks to the French leadership, raising mixed expectations on how the Syrian rapprochement with the West will affect its "rejectionist" role and alliances with Iran and anti-Israeli movements.
Headlines From the Arab Press
What the Arab papers said on July 8:
Turkey's Ruling Party Stands Ground in Court
AMMAN -- The Turkish ruling party was Thursday fighting for its legal survival in a very lengthy defense argument to the constitutional court, refuting charges that it poses a threat to the secular system and using the European Union card to pressure the highest court against attempts to ban the party.
