-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: August 28, 2007 12:12:07 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Backed by the Military, New Turkish President Casts an Eye
on Kurds in Iraq
Is Turkey Facing an "Islamist" Future?
TIME, Aug. 28, 2007
By PELIN TURGUT
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1656893,00.html
Abdullah Gul poses in his office in Ankara
Umit Bektas / REUTERS
Turkey today passed a political landmark when, for the first time
in its history, a politician rooted in political Islam was elected
president. Bringing four months of government turmoil to an end,
Abdullah Gul won the post on the third round of balloting by the
nation's parliament.
Originally nominated in April by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, co-founder with Gul of the Justice and Development Party
(AKP), Gul's name on the slate evoked thinly veiled threats of a
coup by Turkey's staunchly secularist military.
Seeking a public mandate, Erdogan defiantly called early elections
and, in what was widely seen as a popular snub to the military, the
AKP was swept back into power with a resounding 47% of the vote.
Erdogan then pushed ahead with Gul's nomination, despite calls to
name a more centrist candidate to stand for a position which is not
particularly powerful but carries tremendous symbolic weight
because it was once held by the country's Westernizing nation-
builder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
If Gul's presidency heralds the start of a new era for Turkey, it's
far from clear what that new era is going to hold. "Is this the
beginning of a new period of compromise, or the start of secularist-
Islamist strife?" wrote columnist Mehmet Ali Birand.
A former foreign minister, Gul is widely known as a coalition-
builder who played a key role in Turkey's European Union membership
bid, but his background in political Islam makes him unpalatable to
secularists.
The military appears to have accepted his victory but it signaled
yesterday that it could step in if it ever felt Turkey's separation
between religion and state was threatened.
Armed forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit warned against "centers
of evil that systematically try to corrode the secular nature of
the Turkish Republic."
To date, the AKP have carved out a reputation as reformers;
starting accession talks to join the European Union, introducing
reforms under which the economy has boomed and improving human
rights. Despite several misfires — like trying to introduce a ban
on adultery — they appear to be moving towards the political center.
But Turkey's secularists remain deeply suspicious. Pointing to
Gul's background as formerly hardline Islamists, they argue that
the AKP harbors a secret Islamist agenda.
As president, Gul has the power to approve or veto legislation, and
secularists fear that he will sign into law any bill passed by
Erdogan's government without concern for the separation of religion
and politics.
They are also infuriated by the fact that his wife Hayrunnisa dons
a headscarf — Islamic attire is restricted in government offices
under laws which date back to Ataturk's reforms.
Much now rides on Gul's shoulders. "He will determine developments.
Everything depends on his personality, and the attitude he takes,"
says Birand. Educated in the U.K., Gul has made a name for himself
in recent years as a moderate politician, well-liked by diplomats,
who is keenly in favor of Turkey's bid to join the E.U. As long as
he maintains that demeanor, his election today could yet mark the
decisive end of a turbulent chapter in Turkish politics, not the
beginning.
--------------------
A Turkish Move Into Iraq?
TIME, May. 25, 2007
By PELIN TURGET/ISTANBUL
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1625405,00.html?
xid=rss-world&iid=sphere-inline-sidebar
An explosion at a shopping mall in Turkey's capital, Ankara, on
Tuesday killed six people and injured 56.
Photoshot / Landov
According to its Prime Minister, Turkey may launch an attack on
Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq, despite likely U.S. opposition. After a
bomb killed six people in the capital of Ankara on May 22, many
Turkish officials are calling for retaliation against the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK), which they blame for the attack. The PKK,
which has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern
Turkey since 1984 and is based in the mountains of north Iraq, has
denied responsibility for the bomb.
Turkey's powerful military has frequently indicated its readiness
to launch a cross-border operation, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has resisted — until now.
Newly under pressure from the secularist army over his party's
Islamic roots, Erdogan's thinking about military action in Iraq has
clearly changed, telling the ATV Turkish television network that
parliament would now approve a military strike if the army sought
it. "It is out of the question for us to disagree on this issue
with our... soldiers," he said. He also indicated he would not seek
the U.S.'s approval, which has opposed Turkish intervention in
Iraq. "Turkey doesn't require permission from any country. Other
nations should in fact support us in this endeavor," he said.
Keen to avoid conflict in Iraq's only consistently stable region,
the U.S. has tried to contain Turkish frustration over a steady
trickle of casualties in southeastern Turkey—in the latest
violence, six soldiers were killed in an ambush on Thursday—by
backing a diplomatic force involving Ankara, Washington and
Baghdad. That initiative has not, however, produced tangible
results, and Turkey has accused the Iraqi Kurdish administration of
giving refuge to thousands of PKK guerrillas. "Going into north
Iraq would bring Turkey into a head-on disagreement with the U.S.,"
says Mehmet Altan, a newspaper columnist and political analyst.
"That could jeopardize Turkey's stability and position in the region."
Always a key behind-the-scenes force in domestic politics, Turkey's
military has gotten more involved in governmental affairs recently.
Last month it warned of possible intervention if Erdogan posted
foreign minister Abdullah Gul, a devout Muslim, as Turkey's next
president, citing doubts over his secularist credentials. The
ensuing crisis forced the government to back down and call early
elections, now scheduled for July 22.
Although demands for military action are increasing, some caution
that Turkey should focus instead on better integrating its Kurdish
minority into society. "The military are putting the pressure on
the government" says Altan. "But the Kurdish problem is one that
needs to be solved by democratic means, not military ones." As part
of its European Union accession bid, Turkey passed a number of
reforms designed to improve human and cultural rights for its
Kurdish population, estimated at 20 million of Turkey's total 71
million. But that process has stalled amidst backlash from some
European leaders opposed to Turkey joining the EU under any
circumstances, and a related rise of Turkish nationalism.
The government recently refused to revise a rule requiring a party
to earn at least 10% of the national vote to land any seats in
parliament. That means Kurdish parties will probably be shut out of
parliament again in the July elections: Although they garner
majorities across south-eastern Turkey, they are not likely to get
10% nationwide.
"As long as real democratization is not achieved, military
operations will fail to reach their goal," says Ragip Duran, a
prominent author and analyst of Kurdish issues. "More blood will be
spilled. The Kurdish problem is not based in north Iraq, it's based
in Turkey, and that is what needs to be addressed."
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