Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
INTERNATIONAL HERÀLD TRIBL~E, MONDAY,APRIL 21. 1997
rAnkara Under Pressure
ToTemper RadicalIslam
By Kelly Couturier
Wash'ington Post Service
ANKARA - With Prime Minister;
Necmettin Erbakan and many of his
dosest aides on a pilgrimage to the
Islamic holy city of Mecca, the government'
s secular wing last week
handed the nation' s governors a list of
instructions aimed at stamping out radical
Muslim activity.
Interior Minister Meral Aksener de-
Uvered the instructions to a gathering of
80 provincial governors. They include
orders to rrre any civil servant involved
in subversive religious activities, to close;
illegally operating schools and hostel~
run by religious foundations, to shut
down unauthorized Koran study groups
and to enforce secular dress codes.
The action came as pressure mounted
on the government coalition, especially.
on the secular True Path Party, to implement.
a broad military-backed plan
designed to crack down on Islamic radicalism.
The National Security CoUncil,
which issued the plan, is expected to
review the government' s progress il}
implementing the plan at its monthly
meeting, scheduled for Saturday.
. A senior military official, General
Cevik Bir, recently called Islamicanti;.
secular movements a greater national
secûritY .thfeat .than the Kurdish separatist
insurgency that has preoccupied
the government for the last 12 years.
Some political analysts were skeptical
that the instructions to the governors.
would satisfy the security council, which
ïssued its I8-point plan in February. .
. The councillikely will demand fur-:
ther progress in areas not a~dressed by
:the interior minister's directives, said a
:political analyst, Rasit Gurdilek,
:Among them, he said, are overhauling:
the national education system.in a way'
'that discourages enrollment in religious
schools and enacting tighter regulations
on private donations, especially frop~
religious organizations, to politÏc81
parties. .
Mr. Erbakan's Welfare Party ha~;
pushed an Islamic-oriented agend\l;including
proposals to relax dress codes to
allow women to wear religious head
scarves in public buildings. In the process,
Welfare has drawn the ire of the'
armed forees, the nation's sworn guarantor
ofseculansm. .
The lO-month-old government. the
first in modem Turkey to be led by an
Islam-bàsed party, has also caused coneern
within the armed forces, analysts
say, by failing to crack down on a small
radical element both within and outside
,the Welfare. faqy that seeks to alter;
Tiirkey's secular foundations.
,Welfare has dragged its feet on implementing
the I8-point plan, whic,l"
calls for constitutional amendments and'
other changes in law. In particular, ti}l~
J;~\rtyhas resisted enacting a new edu.-
:cation project that would phase out r~~.
't:gious middle schools and make ~r
l :\rder for religious school graduates to
f:lter universities. :
An estimated 500,000 male and fe>-
J'lale students are enrolled in religiou'!!
rniddle and high schools, known as im~
am-cleric training schools, many of
which are funded by private religious:
foundations based in Turkey. Some als~
receive funds from Saudi Arabia ang
other Muslim countries, government ofi
ficials said. The military-backed plat
calls for enrollment in such schools tc,
be scaled back to only those student$
who plan to become clerics.
Many Welfare supporters and otherS.
in the conservative religious commu~
nity oppose phasing out the religiou!>
schools. They argue that the schools ar~
not hotbeds of religious fanaticism, as
portrayed by the secular establishment,
but rather provide an alternative to the
state system, offering children a good
education as they learn the principles of
Islam. .
But many in the secular camp say
they fear that students in such schools
have become vulnerable to radical Islamic
propaganda.
A.F.P.- Agence France Presse-A.F.P.- Agence France Presse-A.F.P.- Agence France Presse
Soutien de Suleyman Demirel au général critiquant les islamistes
ANKARA, 21 avr (AFP) - Les déclarations d'un général turc mettant en garde les
islamistes au pouvoir contre toute atteinte à la démocratie ont reçu l~ soutien du
chef de l'Etat Suleyman Demirel et de l'armée, affirme lundi la presse.
Le général Osman Ozbek, commandant de la gendarmerie de la région d'Erzurum
(est), avait mis en garde vendredi contre toute atteinte à la démocratie le Parti de
la prospérité (Refah) du premier ministre islamiste Necmettin Erbakan, chef de la
coalition gouvernementale à dominante islamiste.
"Il aurait été mieux si le général n'avait pasparlé de cette façon mais il faut
comprendre les raisons qui l'ont conduit à faire ces déclarations", a dit à son
entourage M. Demirel, cité par la presse. Il est actuellement dans la région
d'Antalya (sud).
Les propos du général Ozbek ont monté d'un cran la tension existant entre l'armée
et le Refah dont des porte-parole ont remis en cause ces.derniers mois le caractère
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