GUNNER
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Turkish Government Beats Army In Power Struggle
ANKARA, Aug 5, 2010 (AFP) - Turkey's Islamist-rooted government has won the latest round in a power struggle with the army after blocking the promotion of senior officers implicated in plots to discredit the ruling party, analysts said Thursday.
A four-day meeting of the Supreme Military Council -- overshadowed by a series of coup plots against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) -- ended with a twist late Wednesday, with the top posts of army chief and land forces' commander left vacant in the final list of promotions.
The council, which is chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had been expected to appoint General Isik Kosaner, the current commander of the land forces, as chief of staff to replace General Ilker Basbug who will retire on August 30.
But his appointment was delayed after Erdogan rejected the military's choice to replace him as head of ground forces, General Hasan Igsiz, media reports said.
Igsiz and 18 other officers were summoned -- as the council was in session -- to testify in an investigation about alleged Internet sites set up to discredit the AKP, in a move that analysts said undermined his candidacy.
The list of promotions, which were approved by Erdogan and signed by President Abdullah Gul, also did not include 11 other generals and admirals who are facing arrest warrants for conspiring to overthrow the AKP government in 2003.
Analysts say that the government and the army now have until the end of August to reach an agreement on a new ground forces' commander that will also allow Kosaner's appointment as the head of the armed forces.
"This quarrel will end the way the government wants it to end. The army made a mistake in its evaluation and entered a battle with a high risk of defeat. It now looks like it will have to endure the results," Murat Yetkin, a political commentator, wrote in the liberal Radikal daily.
"No matter how uncomfortable the soldiers are, they will have to do what the political authority sees fit," he added.
The Turkish Armed Forces, which sees itself as the guardians of the secular system, has been locked in a bitter power struggle with the AKP, the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist movement which came to power in 2002 and whom many suspect harbours a secret Islamist agenda.
The clout of the army, which has ousted four government since 1960, has waned in recent years under reforms by the AKP to boost the country's bid to join the European Union.
Since last year, the struggle has shifted into the judicial arena as prosecutors have detained or charged dozens of retired and active-duty officers over a series of purported plots to destabilize the country and topple the AKP.
The probes have sharply divided the public, with proponents hailing them as a boost to democracy and opponents denouncing them as tools used by the government to bully and intimidate opponents.
Wolgango Piccoli, an analyst with the risk consultancy group Eurasia, said the military council meeting showed that the government was willing to use even undemocratic means to exert pressure over the armed forces -- a move it said may cause further tensions in the future.
"It looks like the government is winning a battle, but it is going to come at a great cost in the sense that they are running the risk of alienating even further the core of the military" by using investigations to end the careers of high-ranking officers, he told AFP.
The government's efforts to rein in the army "is all based on alleged plots, rumours and conspiracies -- nothing to do with the law. That is the problem," he added.
Alsi Aydintasbas, a political commentator for the popular Milliyet daily, said although the council meeting meant that the civilian leadership would now have a larger say in the appointment of top commanders, the result was not a "victory for democracy."
"In a normal country, a prosecutor would not launch an investigation into a commander the government does not want just as his promition is under debate," she wro
ANKARA, Aug 5, 2010 (AFP) - Turkey's Islamist-rooted government has won the latest round in a power struggle with the army after blocking the promotion of senior officers implicated in plots to discredit the ruling party, analysts said Thursday.
A four-day meeting of the Supreme Military Council -- overshadowed by a series of coup plots against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) -- ended with a twist late Wednesday, with the top posts of army chief and land forces' commander left vacant in the final list of promotions.
The council, which is chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had been expected to appoint General Isik Kosaner, the current commander of the land forces, as chief of staff to replace General Ilker Basbug who will retire on August 30.
But his appointment was delayed after Erdogan rejected the military's choice to replace him as head of ground forces, General Hasan Igsiz, media reports said.
Igsiz and 18 other officers were summoned -- as the council was in session -- to testify in an investigation about alleged Internet sites set up to discredit the AKP, in a move that analysts said undermined his candidacy.
The list of promotions, which were approved by Erdogan and signed by President Abdullah Gul, also did not include 11 other generals and admirals who are facing arrest warrants for conspiring to overthrow the AKP government in 2003.
Analysts say that the government and the army now have until the end of August to reach an agreement on a new ground forces' commander that will also allow Kosaner's appointment as the head of the armed forces.
"This quarrel will end the way the government wants it to end. The army made a mistake in its evaluation and entered a battle with a high risk of defeat. It now looks like it will have to endure the results," Murat Yetkin, a political commentator, wrote in the liberal Radikal daily.
"No matter how uncomfortable the soldiers are, they will have to do what the political authority sees fit," he added.
The Turkish Armed Forces, which sees itself as the guardians of the secular system, has been locked in a bitter power struggle with the AKP, the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist movement which came to power in 2002 and whom many suspect harbours a secret Islamist agenda.
The clout of the army, which has ousted four government since 1960, has waned in recent years under reforms by the AKP to boost the country's bid to join the European Union.
Since last year, the struggle has shifted into the judicial arena as prosecutors have detained or charged dozens of retired and active-duty officers over a series of purported plots to destabilize the country and topple the AKP.
The probes have sharply divided the public, with proponents hailing them as a boost to democracy and opponents denouncing them as tools used by the government to bully and intimidate opponents.
Wolgango Piccoli, an analyst with the risk consultancy group Eurasia, said the military council meeting showed that the government was willing to use even undemocratic means to exert pressure over the armed forces -- a move it said may cause further tensions in the future.
"It looks like the government is winning a battle, but it is going to come at a great cost in the sense that they are running the risk of alienating even further the core of the military" by using investigations to end the careers of high-ranking officers, he told AFP.
The government's efforts to rein in the army "is all based on alleged plots, rumours and conspiracies -- nothing to do with the law. That is the problem," he added.
Alsi Aydintasbas, a political commentator for the popular Milliyet daily, said although the council meeting meant that the civilian leadership would now have a larger say in the appointment of top commanders, the result was not a "victory for democracy."
"In a normal country, a prosecutor would not launch an investigation into a commander the government does not want just as his promition is under debate," she wro
