E-memorandum

The constitutional obligation of garnering 50 percent plus one vote for being elected as the president causes serious political and systemic problems, a senior presidential aide and veteran politician has said, calling on both the government and the opposition to come together to fix it.

Former Chief of General Staff Gen. Ya?ar Büyükan?t has said in his testimony that he did not intend to stage a military coup in Turkey, but merely sought to "protect the constitutional order and the wellbeing of the military," as part of the April 27, 2007 "e-memorandum" case.

Turkish prosecutors have summoned former chief of General Staff Gen. Ya?ar Büyükan?t to present his testimony in his capacity as a "suspect" as part of an investigation into the April 27, 2007, "e-memorandum" case.

If the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had opted to continue the democratic reform process rather than opting for authoritarian rule after 2010, it would have been recalled in the future as a government that left an immensely positive legacy behind. Unfortunately, it has been destroying with its own hands the progressive legacy it had built after over a decade in power.

Turkey's main opposition party has called on Islamic countries to adopt secularism in order to end the roots of terrorism, denouncing last week's deadly Paris attacks and stressing that "killing innocent people has nothing to do with Islam."