Nine months have passed since a group of Turkish legislators took action that brought down the first Islamist-led coalition in modern Turkish history.
The leader of the deserters was Cefi Kamhi, the only Jewish member of the Turkish Parliament.
“I was Ciller’s Trojan horse,” Kamhi said in an interview, referring to the head of the True Path Party, who was foreign minister in the Islamist-led coalition of Necmettin Erbakan.
Despite concerns that Erbakan would steer Turkey away from its traditional relationship with the West, his government continued to strengthen military ties with Israel. Indeed, Kamhi was instrumental in putting the finishing touches on parliament’s approval of a military accord with Israel.
But Kamhi quit the coalition because he believed that the Islamists had acquired too much power — a view held by Turkey’s military as well.
The army, acting by its mandate in the constitution to be the guardian of the secular character of the country according to the legacy of the founding father of Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, forced Erbakan to step down.
“The army acts, and then it goes back to its bases,” said Kamhi, who is the son of a prominent
“We are very much concerned by the growing popular support of the Islamic Party,” Daniel Navaro, deputy vice president of the Jewish community in Istanbul. “We had a pretty bad experience last year.
“But,” he added after a short pause, “we hope for the better.”
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