Erdoğan wants Egypt election under int'l monitoring

09 February 2011, Wednesday

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated calls on Tuesday for a transition of power in Egypt, saying a government upholding universal principles of democracy should be established through free and fair elections to be held under international monitoring.

Erdoğan, addressing his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputies, said Turkey had no intention to interfere in the internal affairs of Egypt or another country, but emphasized that peoples' outcries for the right to live under humane conditions cannot be considered a matter of internal affairs, just like the Palestinian issue cannot be considered part of the internal affairs of Israel due to its potential to have repercussions across the entire Middle East.

“We are looking at the issue from the perspective of humanity, brotherhood, good neighborliness. We have no intention to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs. What we want is peace, stability and welfare in our region,” Erdoğan said. “The Middle East has suffered a lot from wars, conflicts, internal unrest, instability and administrations that pay no attention to what people want. … The duty of the governments is to listen to what their people say.”

Erdoğan’s remarks came as the Egyptian ambassador in Ankara met with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, reportedly to convey a message from the Egyptian government complaining in a diplomatic manner about Turkish statements regarding protests in Egypt over the past two weeks that demand resignation of long-time President Hosni Mubarak.

The prime minister noted that he had discussed the situation in Egypt twice in the past in one week. “Transition to a government based on universal democratic principles should take place in Egypt through fair and free elections to be monitored by international observers. The transition period must begin immediately and it should be orderly. The transitional government should be built on consensus and those who resorted to violence during demonstrations should face justice,” said Erdoğan. He also said elections should be concluded in a short period of time, at most in a week and called for an international donors conference to discuss ways to prevent Egyptians from suffering from hunger or economic hardships.

Warning on Israel

Meanwhile, Erdoğan has also said Israel should avoid any involvement as events unfold in Egypt. Speaking to a group of reporters en route to Turkey from Syria, where he had talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, Erdoğan said Israeli involvement would have negative repercussions.

“I have told Mr. Obama, too; Israel’s involvement will cause provocations, it will negatively affect the course of events,” he was quoted as saying by the Milliyet daily. A US diplomatic cable disclosed by WikiLeaks showed that Israel has long regarded Omar Suleiman, just appointed Egypt’s vice president, as its preferred successor to President Mubarak. “We defer to Embassy Cairo for analysis of Egyptian succession scenarios, but there is no question that Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of Omar Soliman,” said the cable written by the US Embassy in Tel Aviv in 2008, using its own spelling for his name.

Some analysts say Turkey, a fierce critic of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians, has emerged as a model for Arab countries, long ruled by authoritarian regimes. Erdoğan told reporters that Turkey had no intention to “export [governance] models” to other countries, emphasizing that his AK Party only came to power through a democratic vote.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-234967-erdogan-wants-egypt-election-under-intl-monitoring.html.