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A milestone in Turkeys civilian-military power game
MURAT YETK
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan gave a speech condemning the traditional elite of Turkey, speaking in the southern city of Kahramanmaraþ on Friday. He started with the snobbish stance of the half-baked intellectuals in the popular debate over the state-supported theaters. He reiterated that from now on there would be no public theater system, but that the government could sponsor plays at will, preferably those in line with the values of the people, while making sure those values will be conservative ones.
Then Erdoðan linked the debate with another one: the painful power game between Turkeys political and military establishments, which has resulted in a series of coups and interventions in politics over the past five decades. He said those kinds of so-called intellectuals dare to criticize the Turkish Armed Forces because they are not attempting to overthrow the elected government anymore. They have no idea what democracy is about, Erdoðan said. But they should understand that the humiliation of people and their choices is over, thanks to his Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
That was in reference to a statement issued by the military and the chief of General Staff on Thursday. The statement said that there were those who are trying to provoke the army by insulting the army and its eternal leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, but that they will in no way be successful, and that the army is determined to remained loyal to the Constitution and the parliamentary democracy.
The statement came a after Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel to Erdoðan paid Erdoðan a rather unexpected visit on Tuesday which lasted for more than three hours. It appears that Özel mentioned provocations amid the ongoing court cases in which hundreds of retired and on-duty officers, including Ýlker Baþbuð, a former chief of General Staff, are being tried and arrested on charges of attempting to overthrow Erdoðans government.
The Özel statement has been interpreted by the Turkish media as targeting a Bekir Coþkun column published in the Cumhuriyet newspaper and the words of Ümit Kocasakal, the head of the Istanbul bar, mainly criticizing the army for not opposing the government. Well, Coþkuns column was like a fable, a hypothetical dialogue between a wolf and a pet dog with the name Pasha, an Ottoman term meaning general that is still in colloquial use, who is doing whatever his master orders. It can be taken as a fact that Özel must have told Erdoðan about his discomfort with the harsh criticism of the army in the pro-government media due to past wrongdoing; one could expect a toning down of criticism of the army in the pro-government press as a result.
But Erdoðans speech on Friday, backing the soldiers against those who want to pull them into politics again could be taken as a milestone on the path toward a European-style relationship between politics and the military.
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Dont dare to bash army for not staging coup: Turkish prime minister
KAHRAMANMARAŞ
Throwing a staunch support behind the Turkish military, Prime Minister Erdoğan challenges those who are targeting the army at a party meeting in the southeast
Turkeys President Gül (2nd R) shakes hands with Chief of Staff Gen Özel (R) as PM Erdoğan and other top figures watch. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Criticism of the army for not staging a coup is a sign of helplessness and a reflection of the main opposition Republican Peoples Partys (CHP) despotic democratic understanding, according to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The prime minister also accused intellectuals of targeting the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
Describing the army as unarmed forces or a paper tiger; swearing at its commander because they are not staging a coup, of not interfering into democracy and the national will has nothing to do with democracy and the universal rule of law, Erdoğan said at his partys meeting in the southeastern town of Kahramanmaraş. This is the mentality of the CHP and its product of despotic, half-portion intellectuals, something Ive been trying to expose for years, he said.
Erdoğans statement came as support for Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel, who issued a harsh statement on May 3 criticizing some journalists and civil society representatives for trying to provoke the army. Özel met with Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül and expressed the armys uneasiness about growing public criticism against the army. Critics, mostly from staunchly secular circles, blame the current military echelon for ignoring its duty to protect the countrys secular and republican values.
Those who are severely disturbed by democratization and democracy, who can no longer benefit from the status quo, have now started an affront [against the army] as they cannot provoke it, Erdoğan said. According to Erdoğan the same circles who swear at the army now have tried to call on the TSK to stage a coup in recent years. These insults against the Turkish Armed Forces and its honorable members are immoral, impudent and presumptuous.
The prime minister vowed to continue forward with the way the ruling party has designed to strengthen Turkey through its civilian population, stressing that no force would be able to prevent them from doing so. Even though we received 50 percent of votes in elections, we are working for 100 percent of the Turkish people. The Justice and Development Party is the party of 75 million, he said.
The army said in a statement Tuesday that it was watching in sorrow as provocative statements outside constructive boundaries target members of the armed forces in order to curb their motivation.
POLITICS - Don
MURAT YETK
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan gave a speech condemning the traditional elite of Turkey, speaking in the southern city of Kahramanmaraþ on Friday. He started with the snobbish stance of the half-baked intellectuals in the popular debate over the state-supported theaters. He reiterated that from now on there would be no public theater system, but that the government could sponsor plays at will, preferably those in line with the values of the people, while making sure those values will be conservative ones.
Then Erdoðan linked the debate with another one: the painful power game between Turkeys political and military establishments, which has resulted in a series of coups and interventions in politics over the past five decades. He said those kinds of so-called intellectuals dare to criticize the Turkish Armed Forces because they are not attempting to overthrow the elected government anymore. They have no idea what democracy is about, Erdoðan said. But they should understand that the humiliation of people and their choices is over, thanks to his Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
That was in reference to a statement issued by the military and the chief of General Staff on Thursday. The statement said that there were those who are trying to provoke the army by insulting the army and its eternal leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, but that they will in no way be successful, and that the army is determined to remained loyal to the Constitution and the parliamentary democracy.
The statement came a after Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel to Erdoðan paid Erdoðan a rather unexpected visit on Tuesday which lasted for more than three hours. It appears that Özel mentioned provocations amid the ongoing court cases in which hundreds of retired and on-duty officers, including Ýlker Baþbuð, a former chief of General Staff, are being tried and arrested on charges of attempting to overthrow Erdoðans government.
The Özel statement has been interpreted by the Turkish media as targeting a Bekir Coþkun column published in the Cumhuriyet newspaper and the words of Ümit Kocasakal, the head of the Istanbul bar, mainly criticizing the army for not opposing the government. Well, Coþkuns column was like a fable, a hypothetical dialogue between a wolf and a pet dog with the name Pasha, an Ottoman term meaning general that is still in colloquial use, who is doing whatever his master orders. It can be taken as a fact that Özel must have told Erdoðan about his discomfort with the harsh criticism of the army in the pro-government media due to past wrongdoing; one could expect a toning down of criticism of the army in the pro-government press as a result.
But Erdoðans speech on Friday, backing the soldiers against those who want to pull them into politics again could be taken as a milestone on the path toward a European-style relationship between politics and the military.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dont dare to bash army for not staging coup: Turkish prime minister
KAHRAMANMARAŞ
Throwing a staunch support behind the Turkish military, Prime Minister Erdoğan challenges those who are targeting the army at a party meeting in the southeast
Turkeys President Gül (2nd R) shakes hands with Chief of Staff Gen Özel (R) as PM Erdoğan and other top figures watch. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Criticism of the army for not staging a coup is a sign of helplessness and a reflection of the main opposition Republican Peoples Partys (CHP) despotic democratic understanding, according to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The prime minister also accused intellectuals of targeting the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
Describing the army as unarmed forces or a paper tiger; swearing at its commander because they are not staging a coup, of not interfering into democracy and the national will has nothing to do with democracy and the universal rule of law, Erdoğan said at his partys meeting in the southeastern town of Kahramanmaraş. This is the mentality of the CHP and its product of despotic, half-portion intellectuals, something Ive been trying to expose for years, he said.
Erdoğans statement came as support for Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel, who issued a harsh statement on May 3 criticizing some journalists and civil society representatives for trying to provoke the army. Özel met with Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül and expressed the armys uneasiness about growing public criticism against the army. Critics, mostly from staunchly secular circles, blame the current military echelon for ignoring its duty to protect the countrys secular and republican values.
Those who are severely disturbed by democratization and democracy, who can no longer benefit from the status quo, have now started an affront [against the army] as they cannot provoke it, Erdoğan said. According to Erdoğan the same circles who swear at the army now have tried to call on the TSK to stage a coup in recent years. These insults against the Turkish Armed Forces and its honorable members are immoral, impudent and presumptuous.
The prime minister vowed to continue forward with the way the ruling party has designed to strengthen Turkey through its civilian population, stressing that no force would be able to prevent them from doing so. Even though we received 50 percent of votes in elections, we are working for 100 percent of the Turkish people. The Justice and Development Party is the party of 75 million, he said.
The army said in a statement Tuesday that it was watching in sorrow as provocative statements outside constructive boundaries target members of the armed forces in order to curb their motivation.
POLITICS - Don
