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

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
EUROPE
The battle-lines
ANKARA
in Turkey
Can the Turks who want their country to become a modem democracy stand
up to the generals?
F
OR Turkey, 2001 got off tQ a grey start. In rule of law to be upheld, and for Turkey's
the past few weeks, the country has had politics to meet European standards. The
its worst financial crisis in recent years, a series
unpretentious new president, whose motor-
ofbloody prison rebellions that claimed cade actually stops at red traffic lights, has
32lives, and a wave of terrorist attacks in its warmed millions of Turkish hearts; for the
business capital, Istanbul. Pictures of dead first time since Ataturk, a president is beating
policemen and the mangled remains of a the army in the opinion polls. And the government
suicide bomber have reminded many Turks
since 1999,an unlikely-looking alli-
of the street violence between right-wing ance of a leftish prime minister, Bulent Ecevit,
and left-wing extremists which led to their
the conservative Mr Yilmaz and a hard-
generals' most recent military coup, in 198. nosed right-winger, Devlet Bahceli of the
Indeed, on January 9th Mesut Yilmaz, the Nationalist Action Party, has given Turkey its
leader of the centre-right Motherland party most stable administration in years.
and a deputy prime minister in Turkey's Under this coalition, Turkey has embarked
three-party coalition, publicly accused "certain
on an ambitious economic-reform
forces" of "seeking to push the country programme, helped by the IMF, which has
towards a military regime".
Mr Yilmaz's uncharacteristically brave
brought inflation down to its lowest annual
figure in over a decade, from 70% a year ago
remark sums up the confrontation that has to 39% now. Just as strikingly, the interior
been taking shape ever since 1999,when the minister, Sadettin Tantan, has been waging
European Union's leaders at last got round to an unprecedented waron corruption.
saying that Turkey was a candidate for full Entire gangs have been arrested, and
EU membership.The battle pits a majority of some very big fish have been netted. Yahya
Turks, who want their country to become a Murat Demirel, a nephew of ex-President
proper European democracy, against those Suleyman Demirel, is now in an Ankara jail,
senior soldiers and other rich and powerful accused of siphoning off billions of dollars
people who willlose much of their clout if
Turkey makes the changes needed tojoin the
European club.
Only months ago, it looked as if the liberal
side was winning.The man who became
the country's president last May, Ahmet
Necdet Sezer, a former head of the constitutional
court, has repeatedly called for the
from a bank he owned before it collapsed.
Half a dozen senior people in the energy
ministry, recently sacked on suspicion of
taking bribes, may well join him.
Last year the interior minister also managed
to crush Turkey's most vicious group of
armed Islamists, Hizbullah. This was all the
more heartening because some powerful
people in the security forces have egged on
Hizbullah, whose targets were the same as
their own-nationalist Kurds and guerrillas
of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK.
The Kurdish problem had already been
eased by the PKK'S decision to call off its 15-
year war for Kurdish independence after the
capture in 1999 of its leader, Abdullah
Ocalan. The trial of Mr Ocalan on treason
charges was described by most European
observers as largely fair and free, not least
because the government passed legislation
removing military judges from the court before
a verdict was reached. The death sentence
passed on Mr Ocalan has been stayed
pending a review ofhis case by the European
Court ofHuman Rights, a process that could
take years. Few believe he will be hanged.
In November the national intelligence
chief, Senkal Atasagun, said it was in Turkey's
interest to lift the ban on broadcasting
in the Kurdish language. Togeneral astonishment,
he was supported by Mr Ecevit. Previously
the prime minister could not bring
himself to pronounce the word "Kurd", preferring
to call the country's 12m or so Kurds
"our south-eastern citizens".
So far, so good. But then things began to
go wrong.The Turkish general staff chose the
day on which Mr Ecevit flew to France for
last month's EU summit meeting to liken
people who advocate Kurdish cultural rights
to those "who speak the same tongue as the
PKK". Relations between Turkey and Greece,
which had seemed to be on the mend, blew
up again in a row during NATO exercises in
the Aegean. The gap between Turkey and
Europe seemed once more to be widening.
There followed the financial mess, set off
by a government investigation into ten
failed banks; an IMF pledge to provide more
than $7 billion in emergency loans over the
next year was needed to fend off a serious
crisis. And on December 19th Turkish troops
started to attack 20 prisons across the coun-
THE ECONOMIST JANUARY 13TH 2001
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