Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka<br />
Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basm Öz<strong>et</strong>i<br />
Turkey's Generals Face Ne'U)Kin4of_<br />
. .<br />
.Challenger: The .EU<br />
By Richard Boudrèaux<br />
Lost Angeles Times Service<br />
balked at complying, the comman<strong>de</strong>rs<br />
oréhestrated, a campaign by pro-secular<br />
business, labor and women's groupsbacked<br />
with threats of armed intervention<br />
- that forced Mr. Erbakan to resign .<br />
The armed' forces have powers, privileges<br />
and obsessions that would be un-<br />
ANKARA - At home and in their<br />
troubled neighborhood, which inclu<strong>de</strong>s<br />
the Balkans, the Caucasus mountain<br />
.range and the. Middle East, the generals<br />
of Turkeyare accustomed to g<strong>et</strong>ting<br />
theirway.<br />
In the past three years, they have rid<br />
their nation of an Islamist-Ied government,<br />
crushed a Kurdish separatist insurgency,<br />
dissua<strong>de</strong>d Greek Cypriots<br />
from <strong>de</strong>ploying Russian-ma<strong>de</strong> missiles<br />
against Turkish planes, forged a <strong>de</strong>fense<br />
pact with Israel and begun a shopping<br />
spree for tanks and attack helicopters.<br />
. Threats to Turkey's security, by their<br />
. own assessment, are at the lowest point<br />
in <strong>de</strong>ca<strong>de</strong>s.<br />
Now the comman<strong>de</strong>rs of NATO's<br />
second-largest conventional, military<br />
force are staring uneasily at a most unconventional<br />
challenger: the European<br />
Union. Europe's lea<strong>de</strong>rs have accepted.<br />
Turkeyas a candidate for membership in<br />
the EU and now expect Turkey' s military<br />
to give up the powerful role it has played<br />
for 76 years as self-appointed guardian<br />
of the republic's internal or<strong>de</strong>r.<br />
That is a <strong>de</strong>motion the comman<strong>de</strong>rs<br />
are clt~arly reluctant to accept.<br />
Arguing that Turkey' s elected civilian<br />
lea<strong>de</strong>rs are often lax in <strong>de</strong>aling with<br />
Kurdish separatists and Islamic' fundamentalists,<br />
the military exercises broad<br />
constitutional authority to intru<strong>de</strong> in the<br />
governance of this mostly Muslim nation.<br />
In view ofTurkey's strategic value,<br />
its strongest ally, the United States, has<br />
tolerated much of this meddling. Euro-<br />
, peans, however, want it stopped.<br />
Negotiations over Turkey's entry to<br />
the EU are expected to last for years and<br />
cover thousands of laws and regulations<br />
on i~sues ranging from child labor to the<br />
. size of bananas. But of all the changes<br />
. the EU is seeking, none would transform<br />
Turkey as <strong>de</strong>eply as the generals' submission<br />
to civilian control.<br />
That prospect has energized Turkey's<br />
beleaguered advocates of <strong>de</strong>mocracy<br />
and human rights, who contend that the<br />
military must surren<strong>de</strong>r its Big Brother<br />
role to join the EU.<br />
. "There should be a revision of the<br />
, entire security doctrine, the <strong>de</strong>ployment<br />
and the structure of the armed forces of<br />
Turkey, whose territorial integrity can<br />
be placed un<strong>de</strong>r' European guarantee,"<br />
Cengiz Candar, a columnist persecuted<br />
in the past for challenging the military,<br />
wrOte recently in the mass-circulation<br />
Istanbul newspaper Sabah.<br />
Publicly, the generals say they sup-<br />
. port EU membership beç:ause it would<br />
, fulfill the secular, European-oriented vi-<br />
.sion of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the gen-<br />
eral who foun<strong>de</strong>d the army ànd the TurK- ,<br />
ish republic on the Ottoman Empire's<br />
ruins. More practically, they do not want<br />
to be exclu<strong>de</strong>d as Europe forms <strong>de</strong>fense<br />
organizations in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nt of the North<br />
Atlantic Treaty Organization.<br />
But only in recent weeks have the<br />
generals begun a <strong>de</strong>tailed study of how<br />
they might be affected by the EU imperative<br />
that aspiring members achieve<br />
"stability of institutions guaranteeing<br />
<strong>de</strong>mocracy, the rule of law, human rights<br />
and respect for minorities. " .<br />
Signs of irritation and resistance have<br />
surfaced in comments by senior officers<br />
and in a memo by the general staff to rankand-file<br />
units just before the EU voted in<br />
December to make Turkey a candidate .<br />
The memo focused on two membership<br />
conditions often spelled out by European<br />
lea<strong>de</strong>rs: that Turkey abolish its mil- .<br />
itary-dominated National Security Council<br />
and that it subordinate the general staff<br />
to the civilian Defense Ministry.<br />
"These efforts to change the administrative<br />
structure of Turkey ," the memo<br />
said, "result either from an ignorance of<br />
history or, worse, a <strong>de</strong>sire to unjustly<br />
attack and weaken the Turkish armed<br />
forces." .<br />
Turkey has been un<strong>de</strong>r direct military<br />
rule three times since 1960. Before withdrawing<br />
for the third time, in 1983, the<br />
generals wrote a constitution enhancing<br />
their power to govern from behind the<br />
scenes.<br />
In the military's view, "practically<br />
:e.v~rything in public life is related to<br />
nlltional security," said a civilian who<br />
:works in the National Security Council' s<br />
policy planning center and likens it to a<br />
parallel government. "Everything must<br />
be seCure." . .<br />
.Control of the planning operation<br />
'gives the armed forces the upper hand in<br />
<strong>de</strong>cision-ml,lking by the Security Council<br />
its~lf, which is ma<strong>de</strong> up of the presi<strong>de</strong>nt,<br />
four senior cabin<strong>et</strong> ministers and the five<br />
top military comman<strong>de</strong>rs. "The military<br />
alwayS comes b<strong>et</strong>ter prepared ,than the .<br />
civilians and takes the initiative," said a<br />
r<strong>et</strong>ired army general, Dogan Gures, who<br />
'is a.former council member. .<br />
" Some of the military's initiatives are<br />
ultimatums.<br />
,_.In 1997, the comman<strong>de</strong>rs used the<br />
Security Council's monthly me<strong>et</strong>ings to<br />
badger Neem<strong>et</strong>tii1 Erbakan, the nation's<br />
fIrst Islamist prime minister, into agreeing<br />
to curb MUlllimreligious schools and'<br />
foundations. When the government-<br />
Presslink<br />
Kemal Ataturk, the officerwho<br />
foun<strong>de</strong>d mo<strong>de</strong>rn Turkeyafter the<br />
fall of the Ottoman Empire.<br />
thinkable in the <strong>de</strong>mocracies of Europe.<br />
They report to the prime minister, not<br />
the <strong>de</strong>fense minister - and they once<br />
attacked Kurdish rebel bases in Iraq with-<br />
. out telling either minister. They take 9<br />
percent of the national budg<strong>et</strong> without a<br />
word of <strong>de</strong>bate in Parliament and spend<br />
without civilian oversight. They cç>ntrol<br />
arms procurement, much of it from <strong>de</strong>fense<br />
companies they own, and have extensive<br />
holdings in Turkey's automotive,<br />
cement, food and chemical industries.<br />
Senior officers lobby qui<strong>et</strong>ly to maintain<br />
laws curbing free expression and<br />
encourage prosecutors to open criminal<br />
cases against those who challenge the<br />
military's views. .<br />
A general once <strong>de</strong>man<strong>de</strong>d that an<br />
Istanbul soccer club take disciplinary<br />
action against its British coach, who had<br />
protested ..the army's conscription of a<br />
star player. The club and the coach ma<strong>de</strong><br />
a public apology.<br />
A Turkish officer's swagger comes<br />
with. his training and is sustained by<br />
genuine respect from most of this soci<strong>et</strong>y.<br />
From age 14, military school ca<strong>de</strong>ts<br />
are taught that they are superior to<br />
civilians, especially in un<strong>de</strong>rstanding the<br />
national interest.<br />
"They teach you to obey the rules of<br />
<strong>de</strong>mocracy as long as there is stability in<br />
the country," said a r<strong>et</strong>ired air force<br />
lieutenant colonel, M<strong>et</strong>ehan Demir.<br />
"But they also teach that if there is<br />
instability, you have a special duty to<br />
intervene. "<br />
T,he anti-militarist sentiment prevalent<br />
10 much of Western Europe is weak<br />
in Turkey, where politicians are held in<br />
low esteem. But the military was wi<strong>de</strong>ly<br />
criticized for a sluggish search-and-rescue<br />
effort after a magnitu<strong>de</strong> 7.4 earthquake<br />
last August. .<br />
32