Turkish president signs controversial Internet legislation
Turkish President Abdullah Gul inflamed controversy by signing restrictive Internet legislation into law.
On Feb.18, Turkish President Abdullah Gul signed the controversial Internet legislation in full compliance with his record of total alignment with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), of which he is a founding member. This is yet another good example of how the country is left without a working checks-and-balances system. It is a disservice to democracy, to say the least, when members of the same party control the presidency and the parliament.
While many Turkish analysts had seen a good cop-bad cop scenario in their analysis of the newly chilled relationship between Gul and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, particularly over their differences in approaching the Syrian crisis, it is no surprise that Gul and Erdogan are both on the same boat when it comes to prioritizing their own political futures, rather than putting the nation first and respecting freedoms and democracy.
