Recep Tayyip Erdogan Quotes
Democracy is not my main aim. It is just a tool.
In his early political career he talked and acted like a democrat forcing the military out of politics which they had been active in. He obtained the support of the democrats in Turkey and the Western Democratic governments. However as he amassed power he weakened or eliminated most of the4 democartic aspects of Turkish society. He eradicated the independence of the judiciary, gained control over the schools and the universities,, adopted many Islamic aspects of government eradicating the secular government which was the cornerstone of the Attaturk bloodless revolution, prohibited demonstrations against the government and jailed over 150 journalists and forcing many others to flee thereby controlling the press and other information sources. Ironically, despite his one-man autocratic rule, about half the population, many of whom had supported him when he pretended to be a democrat, opposed him causing him to become even more autocratic.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Statement to some of his religious and fundamentalist aides, 1996
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The country had just returned to civilian rule after years of murder and government atrocities under a military junta.
This quotation of a very popular Muslim cleric illustrates the wide range of political views of Islamic leaders and authorities. Whereas most shun democracy as placing public opinion over the word of God, there are many like al-Qaradawi who have a modernist interpretation of Islam.
De Tocqueville was generally concerned about what he saw as an inherent conflict between freedom and equality. Efforts to produce equality can lead in some cases to impingements on some freedoms or rights. Unlimited free rights can produce inequality and a de facto autocracy. Even in modern times America is struggling to find a proper balance.
This quotation is very interesting in that many of Mrs. Roosevelt’s detractors constantly accused her of being a communist. They obviously had not read this column of any of the many where she shows antipathy to Communism.
While this has been one of the great American principles of political philosophy, in reality we have on many occasions interfered when a people chose an enemy of the United States or made a choice of a government which would seize power and not allow any further free choices. However, from the time JFK made this statement to today, our foreign policy record has become much better on implementing this principle.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a Turkish politician serving as the current President of Turkey. He previously served as Prime Minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He founded the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001, leading it to election victories in 2002, 2007, and 2011 before being required to stand down upon his election as President in 2014. He later returned to the AKP leadership in 2017 following the constitutional referendum that year. Coming from an Islamist political background and self-describing as a conservative democrat, he has promoted socially conservative and populist policies during his administration.
