Military sharpens debate in Turkey
A rally Sunday backed a secular Turkey. The military weighed in, warning against Islamization.
from the April 30, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
The government pushed back against the General Staff on Saturday. It was "inconceivable in a democratic state based on the rule of law" for the military to trump civilian rule, said Justice Minister Cemil Cicek.
The European Union, which has looked with a degree of favor on AKP reforms and economic growth, added its voice Saturday. Gul has pushed Turkey's EU candidacy hard. But part of the EU program is firm civilian control over the military –a requirement that has riled the generals.
"This is a test case if the ... armed forces respect democratic secularism and the democratic arrangement of civil-military relations," said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn in Brussels.
The secular standard was laid down decades ago by Ataturk. When a British journalist asked him about his own faith, Ataturk answered: "I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea."Islamic politics began moving into the social fabric in the 1970s, surged after Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, and was then shepherded – always with grassroots activists and social help programs – by Necmettin Erbakan. His Welfare Party – with members Erdogan and Gul –came to power in 1996. But after one year of uncompromising rhetoric that promised future Islamic domination of Turkey, whether the path was "sweet or bloody," Mr. Erbakan was forced out by the military.
In 1998, Welfare was outlawed, but some of its remnants formed the more moderate AKP.
"Other parties believe the state is holy, but we don't believe that," Gul told the Monitor in 1996. "Turkey is 99 percent Muslim and so I reflect the values of my people. US senators do the same thing. But if we [Islam-minded officials] are pressed into a corner, then of course we will change our feelings."The Army, Gul said then, "will get used to us." But it did not. "They are not the secular elite‚ they are anti-religious," Gul complained in an interview in 1998. "They want to create another religion, which is atheism. It's the secular people who are not tolerant, and they want to impose their lifestyle here."
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