Posted on 04/27/2007 4:13:27 PM PDT by a_Turk
The Turkish military has expressed concern about a disputed presidential election, and indicated that it is willing to become more openly involved in the process.
The military’s decision to add its voice to the issue raises the pressure on the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The military considers itself the key protector of Turkey’s secular establishment and has executed three coups in the past to restore order and guard the secular system.
“The Turkish armed forces have been monitoring the situation with concern,” the military said in a statement posted on its website. “It should not be forgotten that the Turkish armed forces is one of the sides in this debate and the absolute defender of secularism.”
Referring to the military, the statement also said: “When necessary, it will display its attitudes and actions very clearly. No one should doubt that.”
“The Turkish Armed Forces retains its solid determination to protect these qualities based on clearly stated missions it was given by laws,” the military said. Turkey’s military staged three coups since 1960 based on the same argument. Earlier yesterday, the ruling party’s presidential candidate failed to win enough votes in a first round of balloting in Parliament, reflecting the deep rift between the Islamic-rooted government and the secular establishment.
The military also complained about a series of public events where it said Islam had encroached on secular traditions. In particular, it mentioned a competition for children to memorise the Koran during the April 23 Children’s Day, a festival initiated by the country’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as a secular event. The competition was cancelled after the programme was publicised.
The military statement also said girls dressed in Islamic outfits were seen reciting prayers at an Islamic event in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa on April 22, as the organisers attempted to pull down Turkish flags and pictures of Ataturk.
“Those who are engaged in such activities do not refrain from exploiting our people’s holy religious sentiments and try to hide their real intentions, which amount to challenging the state, behind religion,” the military statement said.
“This radical Islamic understanding, which is against the Republic and has no goal but to erode the basic qualities of the state, has been expanding its span with encouragement” from politicians and local authorities, the statement claimed.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=93108714&p=93yx9xy6&n=93109094
Comment: I fully support the Turkish Armed Forces, and hopefully there will be a new election for the parliament soon. Furthermore, many problems in Pakistan would be reduced if they learn from Turkey.
Interesting. Thanks for the ping.
Interesting. Thanks for the ping.
Constitutional Court President Tulay Tugcu earlier said if an application to call off the presidential election was made to the court it would take only a couple of days to issue a ruling. However Deputy President Hasim Kilic stated in a recent declaration that the court might need more time in order to give its members and rapporteurs the opportunity to examine the situation in detail.
Kilic said according to the law their rapporteurs had the right to request up to a month to examine parliamentary bylaws and related constitutional provisions to decide whether the number of deputies who participated in the voting session was adequate.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=109740
ping
Bravo, a_Turk! Well said! I believe the Turkish military has (or had) the power and responsibility to intervene to prevent Islamic takeover.
Thanks AdmSmith for the ping.
Excerpts of Turkish army statement
The following are excerpts of a statement by the Turkish military, quoted by the Anatolia news agency, in which it said it would defend the country’s secular system.
The statement was in reaction to a disputed vote in the Turkish parliament in which the Islamist-rooted ruling party’s candidate narrowly failed to be elected president.
It is observed that some circles who have been carrying out endless efforts to disturb fundamental values of the Republic of Turkey, especially secularism, have escalated their efforts recently.
Those activities include requests for redefinition of fundamental values and attempts to organise alternative celebrations instead of our national festivals symbolizing unity and solidarity of our nation. Those who carry out the mentioned activities which have turned into an open challenge against the state, do not refrain from exploiting holy religious feelings of our people, and they try to hide their real aims under the guise of religion.
An important part of these activities were done with the permission and within the knowledge of administrative authorities, who were supposed to intervene and prevent such incidents, a fact which intensifies the gravity of the issue.
This fundamentalist understanding, which is anti-republic and harbours no aim other than eroding the basic characteristics of the state, finds courage in recent developments and discourses and extends the scope of its activities.
Developments in our region give numerous examples that playing on religion and manipulating the faith into a political discourse can cause disasters. There are accounts in our country and abroad that a political discourse or an ideology can destroy the faith itself and turn it into something else when it is imposed on faith... Doubtlessly, the sole condition for the Republic of Turkey to live in peace and stability as a contemporary democracy is through defending the basic characteristics of our state which are defined in the Constitution.
The problem that emerged in the presidential election process is focused on arguments over secularism. Turkish Armed Forces are concerned about the recent situation. It should not be forgotten that the Turkish Armed Forces are a party in those arguments, and absolute defender of secularism. Also, the Turkish Armed Forces is definitely opposed to those arguments and negative comments. It will display its attitude and action openly and clearly whenever it is necessary.
Those who are opposed to Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s understanding ‘How happy is the one who says I am a Turk’ are enemies of the Republic of Turkey and will remain so. The Turkish Armed Forces maintain their sound determination to carry out their duties stemming from laws to protect the unchangeable characteristics of the Republic of Turkey. Their loyalty to this determination is absolute.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6602775.stm
The organizers said Sunday’s mass rally in Istanbul — supported by some 400 non-governmental organizations - will follow a similar demonstration in Ankara on April 14 which drew up to 1.5 million people according to some estimates.” “Let us unite for the Republic, tomorrow may be too late,” the organizers said in their call for the Istanbul rally.
The dispute which brought Turkey to the brink of a political crisis erupted when the Muslim government’s candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, narrowly missed becoming the next president in a first round of voting in parliament Friday. The prospect of Gul becoming head of state alarmed secularists about Islam creeping into all fields of life and prompted the opposition to boycott the vote, robbing the government of the required two-thirds majority.
In a harsh statement issued hours after Friday’s vote, the army, which has carried out three coups in the past, said it was determined to defend the secular order against what it saw as a growing Islamist influence.
The government lashed out on Saturday, calling the armed forces to order.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=7881§ionid=351020204
Comment: I hope that there will be many participants in the rally.
“Turkey is secular and will remain secular,” shouted demonstrators from all over the country as they waved flags and pictures of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.
Many sang nationalist songs and called for the government’s resignation.
Our correspondent describes the rally as an enormous show of force. More than 300,000 people attended a similar event two weeks ago.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6604643.stm
I can see how the EU bootlickers would want to see another Islamic dictatorship — they think it will help them usher in their own monolithic single party state in a united Europe — oh, and keep their Moslem yoots from burning cars (as if that will work).
And simultaneously, it undermines US influence and foreign policy.
And simultaneously, it gives yet another alibi for denying Turkish membership in the EU, something dangled in front of Turkey since the EEC days, in 1960.
I think that the main reason for the position of the EU officials is that they can only think that a political system has to converge to the one that they have in the EU. They just can’t get it that if there is a Muslim majority there has to be system that guarantees the civil rights and freedom as we understand it in the West. In Turkey this guarantor is the Turkish Armed Forces. I think that there will be a new general election soon.
Whatever his faults, Erdogan has tried to walk down the white line in the middle of the road; his first major humiliation was his (mostly unexpected) inability to deliver a favorable vote on the use of Turkish bases for the US-led liberation of Iraq. The Muzzie fundies want to drag him and Turkey their way, and a very large part of the country (including most of the military) does not want to go. Since he couldn’t count on his supposed supporters and coreligionists when it counted, and since the rest of the country didn’t vote for him in the first place, the past couple of years has seen a shift toward the view that his party won’t hold on to power.
This business with the EU opposing the intervention of the Turkish military is analogous (but not identical) to the situation where Carter (or Europe) didn’t lift a finger to keep the Shah in power. His toppling was the tipping point for the Middle East. There are three possible outcomes, IMHO: one, that the fundies will take over everywhere (apart from Israel); two, that the fundies will be smashed by US forces and/or their own internal internecine conflicts, ushering in a return to a containment mode; or three, the annihilation of Islam. I think two is best in the short term, provided it leads to number three. Number one is unacceptable, because the long term of that is world domination.
The main problem with Islamic fundamentalists occurs when they have access to state money. The Sunni camp with their fundamentalist wahabbis in the cleptocracy Saudi Arabia and the Shias in the Iranian theocrazy. The Iranians are not happy with the present administration, and if there is a change Iran will return to the secular world. The problem with Saudi is deeper, a regime change there will probably produce a more backward wahhabi administration. But we need to deal with the Saudi export of madrassas and mosques sooner than later.
I wholeheartedly agree. The fastest way to defeat the Islamofascist terrorists is to cut their budget, and the best way to do that is to take the US out of the world market for petroleum.
Or, nuke the Saudis, plant the flag, and let the Euros and Chinese know what they’ll be paying in the future.
Stark reality of Islam world:
Only military can check Islamists to safeguard secular society.
Perhaps the CHP leader Deniz Baykal, that it is difficult to work with, should resign in order to find a winning-coalition. This case is bigger than his personal career.
Is this being discussed in Turkish newspapers?
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