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Turkish Islamic Party Leaders Inquire Non-Invitation to Victory Day Party
ANKARA, Sept 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Leaders of Islamic parties questioned Tuesday as to why they were not invited to the General Staff's Victory Day reception, a national event in Turkey, news agencies reported Tuesday.
Saadet (Happiness and Contentment) Party (SP) deputy leader, Mehmet Bekaroglu, submitted a question to the Parliament Speaker's Office asking why SP leader Recai Kutan, and Justice and Development (AK Party/AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan were not invited to the General Staff's Victory Day reception, the Anatolia news agency reported Monday.
Bekaroglu's note states that "due to austerity measures" the number of guests invited to the reception had been kept restricted and that only leaders of the coalition parties and the main opposition party had been invited.
He also noted that despite his party not being represented in Parliament, unlike the Islamic SP and AKP parties, the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Deniz Baykal, had been invited to the reception, reported the
Turkish Daily News.
In his inquiry, Bekaroglu asks if there is a protocol list held by state institutions including, the General Staff, noting who to invite.
He also demanded information on who prepares the list and under what criteria?
Questions like: "Is it true that the leaders of certain parties represented at Parliament were not invited to the General Staff's Victory Day reception? If they were not, what is the real excuse as to why? Does the failure to invite the leaders of parties represented at Parliament not constitute discrimination? What does the Prime Ministry intend to do about those officials whose actions have led to speculation about discrimination and who have cast a shadow over the democratic parliamentary system?" were also included his inquiry.
The formation of the SP was announced in Turkey on July 22nd in the ruins of the Virtue Party, which was banned in June on the grounds of being anti-secular.
Recai Kutan, head of the now defunct Virtue Party, declared the formation of the Saadet party - a word with Arabic roots meaning the "blissful contentment" one feels on becoming spiritually enlightened - as a result.
Turkey, a mainly Muslim country ruled by a strict secular elite, has banned more than 40 Islamic parties in the past 40 years.
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