Hurriyet.com.tr
Ümit Boyner. AA photo
The power struggle within the Turkish state apparatus that burst into the open with the recent crackdown on intelligence officers has “horrified” the Turkish people, according to a top businesswoman.
“We are moving away from the rule of law day by day. We regular people are watching the power struggle within the Turkish state with horror and an increased sense of insecurity,” Turkish Industry & Business Association (TÜSİAD) Chairwoman Ümit Boyner said at a press conference in Istanbul today during which she announced the association’s 2012 program.
The sense of insecurity stems from the belief that the rule of law does not exist, that justice is not being served in Turkey and the existence of “the prominence of the law of the powerful over the power of the law,” Boyner said.
Boyner said Turkey had launched a democratization initiative in the early 2000s but added that the gains it had made so far were “insignificant.”
“The most important power of democracies is an objective media. We hope freedom of expression and freedom of the press will [reach] standards more becoming of an ‘advanced democracy,'” Boyner said.
