Dear members,
Assalamu Alaikum.Please see the statement of the Turkish Army top-brass, a
ultra secularist and anti-Islamic outfit at the top (supported by western and
other anti-Islamic forces ).It appears that they are out to create new trouble
and I am sure western powers and the UN will remain silent on this military
challenge to democratic and civilian rule who believe in freedom for all
including Islamists.I can only request the conscientious people to condemn this
evil action of the Turkish Army.
Shah Abdul Hannan
Turkey Army in
Stern Secularism Warning
IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
The Turkish army carried out three coups in
1960, 1971 and 1980.
ANKARA The Turkish army has sternly warned that it there to protect the
secular system in what analysts called the strongest statement in a long time
showing the military's disapproval of the presidential nomination of the
candidate of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul. "The problem that recently came to the forefront of the
presidential election process has focused on the issue of questioning
secularism. The Turkish armed forces are observing this situation with
concern," the army said in a statement on the General Staff's website, Agence
France-Presse (AFP) reported Saturday, April 28.
"It should not be forgotten that the Turkish armed forces are a party to this
debate and staunch defenders of secularism."
Earlier, parliament held a first, inconclusive round of voting to elect a
president, in which the AKP was left almost alone after opposition legislators
boycotted the session. Gul failed to garner the required two-thirds majority.
Although the military communique may have dealt a new hand, a second round is
scheduled for Wednesday, May 2.
If the vote goes ahead, the AKP, which has 352 members in the 550-seat
parliament, is virtually certain to elect Gul at the third round on May 9, when
an absolute majority of 276 will suffice.
Most AKP members, among them Gul and Erdogan, belonged to the Welfare Party
of Turkey's first Islamist prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, which was forced
from power as a result of a harsh army-led secularist campaign in 1997 and was
banned the following year.
The army, which carried out three coups in 1960, 1971 and 1980 had kept a
relatively low-profile in recent years as Ankara carried out democratization
reform to boost its EU bid.
Brussels has routinely urged Ankara to curb the army's political influence.
When Necessary
The army warned it would not sit on the fence, threatening to intervene "when
necessary."
"The Turkish armed forces... will openly and clearly display their position
and attitude when necessary. No one should doubt this," it warned.
The military accused the AKP, the offshoot of a now-banned Islamist movement,
of failing to prevent rising anti-secular activity in the country.
"The problem is even more serious because a major part of these activities
were held with the approval and within the knowledge of the administrative
authorities who are supposed to prevent them," it said.
For defenders of Turkey's secular system, who include the judiciary and the
most academics, the prospect of a president with an Islamist background is
proof of religion steadily creeping into politics and public life, analysts say.
Government supporters respond with charges of crisis-mongering and point to
surveys that show an increasing number of Turks identifying with Islam.
The AKP has made it clear it is committed to the secular system and secured
the opening of membership talks with the European Union.
But some of its actions, such as attempts to criminalize adultery, isolate
alcohol-serving establishments in special zones and encourage Qur`anic courses,
have fuelled suspicions of its Islamist ambitions.
Outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, whose seven-year term ends on May 16,
often vetoed laws he deemed anti-secular and blocked the appointment of senior
officials he saw as Islamists.
Unwelcome
Analysts said the extraordinarily harsh statement was an "ultimatum" that
could result in early general elections, and a clear indication that the
powerful military does not welcome Gul as president.
"This was the strongest army statement in a long time that shows that Gul's
candidacy is unwelcome, to say the least," Political commentator Cengiz Candar
told AFP.
Another commentator, Faruk Bildirici, agreed.
"The only meaning the statement can have is that they do not want Gul to
become president," he said on NTV television.
"The most appropriate way now to try to keep democracy on track is to hold an
early general election."
The main opposition, the secularist Republican People's Party, which insists
the presidency cannot be left to the AKP, petitioned the Constitutional Court
to annul the vote on a technicality in a bid to force early general elections.
Turkish newspapers Saturday urged the government to call early elections
after the army's warning.
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