<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> WorldTribune.com: Mobile Ñ Turkey's military yields in showdown with PM

Turkey's military yields in showdown with PM

Monday, May 4, 2009   E-Mail this story   Free Headline Alerts

ANKARA Ñ Turkey's powerful military has backed down in its confrontation with the pro-Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.

Turkish sources said Chief of Staff Ilker Basbug has decided not to push back against Erdogan in the wake of the arrest of more than 150 officers and other secular critics of the government. The sources said Basbug has determined that a public dispute would harm the military and lead to violence by Erdogan supporters.

"Basbug and the rest of the General Staff are very worried by the Islamization of Turkey carried out by Erdogan," a Turkish source close to the military said. "But the generals feel that any confrontation would play right into the hands of Erdogan supporters."

On April 14, Basbug stressed that the military sought to establish what he termed "healthy relations" with the Erdogan government. In an address to the War Academy in Istanbul, the chief of staff stressed that the military, regarded as the bastion of secularism, was not opposed to religion.

"The military has never been against religion," Basbug said. "What we oppose is the abuse of religion for personal and political interests."

The speech, which broke months of silence by the chief of staff, was meant to outline a new military doctrine. Over the last eight months, Turkish police, in a campaign said to target secular critics of Erdogan, have arrested hundreds of people and prosecuted 150 officers, journalists and professors on charges of being linked to a coup plot.

"Turkey has come to a dangerous point," Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu, president of the Judges and Prosecutors Association, said.

In his address, Basbug did not address the crackdown on secular critics of Erdogan. Instead, the chief of staff urged the government to recognize the military as an important element in national policy.

"The responsibilities of military leaders are important," Basbug said. "The final decision belongs to the civilian authority. However, politicians would be responsible for any outcome that may emerge from a failure to consider sincere and realistic recommendations made by the military."

On April 29, Basbug continued his cautious attitude, playing down the prospect of a U.S. request from Turkey for American troops to help in the withdrawal from Iraq. Regarding the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border, Basbug cited Erdogan's demand for an Armenian withdrawal from Azerbaijan territory.

"We share this [Erdogan's] view," Basbug said.

The sources said Basbug's new reconciliation policy was influenced by the new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama. They said the General Staff was stunned by Obama's support for Erdogan and the president's definition of Turkey as a model for Islamic states.

Obama also supported Erdogan's opposition to Sweden's Anders Fogh Rasmussen to become NATO's new secretary-general on grounds that he was anti-Islamic. The U.S. president backed down under pressure from France and Germany.

"At this point, Basbug and his generals realized that nobody was going to support the military in any confrontation with Erdogan," the source said.

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