In Germany the press is closely following what is happening in Turkey, following the huge public rallies that led to the annulment of the presidential elections. “After the sentence of the Constitutional Court, Turkish constitutionalists are knitting their brows. But from a political point of view, the decision to annul the elections is the best solution for all parties”, writes Rainer Hermann in the FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG (3/5). He adds: “For the time being a further exacerbation of the struggle for power has been averted”. “The mass protest rallies in Ankara and more recently in Istanbul reflect past years […] It’s true that the AKP has brought Turkey closer to the EU than any previous government and that Turkey is more distant than ever from the Islamic Sharia. Nonetheless, the part of society represented by the demonstrators awaits a clear pronouncement from Erdogan, spelling out that the AKP does not intend to tamper with the Constitution or touch the secular nature of the Republic”. “Now it’s Turkish electors who will have the say”, says an editorial in the FRANKFURTER RUNDSCHAU (2/5): “Turkey is heading towards the dissolution of Parliament and new elections. Erdogan ought not to fear them. The conflict with the army could escalate following the general elections, if Erdogan’s party were to win enough votes to be able to modify the Constitution without the consent of the opposition. This could arouse new fears of a progressive islamization” of Turkey. Writing in the SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (3/5), Christiane Schlötzer observes: “Erdogan has been governing the country for four and a half years and the successes are great. Per capita income has doubled, foreign investments are at record levels and inflation is low. But that’s not enough to solve current problems that arise from the contradictions with which the country has had to live for some 80 years”. “Like it or not: there’s a new and incredible strategy of tension at work in our country: a strategy especially of the media, aimed at digging, with a bent and backward-pulled plough, unnatural furrows of incomprehension and mistrust in Italian society. It’s an operation planned by those who think they can cultivate political ambitions and electoral successes thereby, with the aim of driving a wedge between secularists and Catholics”, writes Marco Tarquinio in an editorial in the Italian Catholic daily AVVENIRE (03/05), with reference to the recent attacks on the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, and to the harsh criticisms expressed about Pope Benedict XVI by one of the presenters of a pop concert in Rome on 1st May. According to Tarquinio this campaign of abuse is “a mediocre project but one that is potentially devastating, as was intuited yesterday by the Osservatore Romano, because even the most laughable and malign of allegations – such as that of defaming the commitment of Catholics to the affirmation of the culture of life and the defence of the family – may become the spark of a conflagration not only of words”. “The President of the Republic, in significant convergence with the Vatican Secretary of State, has with serenity and clarity repudiated this divisive project. And continuing to speak with serenity and clarity is the declared objective of the Italian Church. This, and this alone – concludes the editorialist -, is the reality of our country. And it must be respected”. “For the first time in the history of France, a woman is now in a position democratically to conquer the very symbol of political power, the Elysée”. To Ségolène Royal, candidate in the runoff with Nicolas Sarkozy in the presidential elections on 6 May, the French daily LE MONDE (02/05) dedicates an analysis signed by Anne Chemin . Not until 1944 did women obtain the right to vote in France, points out Chemin, “and for many years relations between women and politics have been marked by a series of missed opportunities”. “Today, the law on equal opportunities approved by the Jospin government in 2000 has permitted the ‘femininization’ of political life”: “in the regional and municipal council in towns with over 3500 inhabitants, women now represent over 45% of those elected; but, vice versa, the face of the National Assembly has only slightly altered its appearance: the Palais Bourbon comprises only 12.3% of women, thus putting France in 88th place in the world league table of women’s representation in parliament, behind Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Pakistan or Senegal”. In Chemin’s view “equality of the sexes is still a distant dream in France” and “the political parties continue to cultivate a decidedly male culture within their own ranks”. In spite of French backwardness, however, “in all countries of the world women are gradually increasing their presence on the political scene: in 2007 the average percentage of women in parliaments (17%) reached an all-time record”. “If Royal is elected President of the French Republic – points out Chemin – she will, on 6 May, enter the club – still very small – of the seven women Heads of State in the planet”. “The club of women heads of government, to which Angela Merkel belongs – concludes the journalist – also comprises no more than seven members”.
