January 10, 2003

Turkish army issues Islam warning

The head of the Turkish army has accused the new government of encouraging Islamic activism.

It is the first public sign of tension between the military and the new government led by the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development (AK) Party, which was elected in November.

The comments by General Hilmi Ozkok came after Prime Minister Abdullah Gul entered formal reservations last month against an order expelling soldiers from the army for Islamic agitation.

He said that by raising his "opposition" to the expulsions, Mr Gul had "undoubtedly encouraged those involved in anti-secular activities".
The country's military views itself as the guardian of the secular principles of the Turkish state, and has carried out three coups since 1960.

In 1997 it led a campaign to force from power Turkey's first Islamist-led government, led by the AK Party's predecessor, the Virtue Party.

At the time of the election last year, General Ozkok said the army would protect the state from the dangers of radical Islam.

He also said on Wednesday that the military would not look kindly on any moves to change laws banning the Islamic headscarf in public life.

The Islamic head covering is banned in Turkish government offices, schools and universities - a measure that the AK Party sees as a violation of human rights.

We respect the religious faith and the manner of its expression in the private lives of individuals. We criticise no-one for their belief, non-belief or manner of worship," General Ozkok said.

"However, we should not be expected to tolerate the use of these [privileges] and in particular the headscarf, as a symbol and action aimed at eroding the republican traditions."

General Ozkok is quite right.
The nation of Turkey was changed into a modern, secular republic under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk beginning in the 1920's, often with his fellow Muslim Turks kicking and screaming along the way.
This transition from its played-out Ottoman imperial past to a modern secular nation-state was accomplished through much hard work and some hardship by the Turkish peoples and many of them must not want to go in a direction that they can only see as backwards now!
It's not clear who in the majority AK Party is leading Turkey--President-elect Recip Erdogan is barred from holding public office due to his criminal conviction of Islamist agitation (Courteous always, President Bush received him in Washington last month as if his presidency was legitimate, though.)--but they've been giving the U.S. lots of trouble of late about using our own air force bases in Turkey for our impending Iraq attack, this being just one of the reasons that Turkey receives billions in aid from the U.S., too, I might add!
And these newly-voted-in Islamists have been making noises about grabbing the northern half of the island of Cyprus, even though Turkey's rep was "sick" for the scheduled EU meeting on the disposition of Cyprus and didn't appear for talks and in spite of the fact that only 18% of all Cypriots are Turkish.
And Erdogan was elected largely on his promises to get Turkey into the E.U., which most experts say will happen "when pigs fly," but which the EU said it would take "under consideration" for Turkey's "possible" admittance to the EU "sometime in the future..."
IOW, don't hold your breath!
But Turkey does belong to NATO and will have obligations to fulfill in that regard vis-a-vis a war with a nation that is an enemy of other NATO members!
The wearing of (Islam-prescribed) headscarves (or their eschewance, as with Turkey) can be a national cause celebre, as I've pointed out before in my post which I titled "It's the scarves, stupid!".
Obviously, Erdogan and the AK want to keep moving their secular country more and more towards shari'a government under Koranic law and wish to change Turkey back into an Islamic nation.
Let's hope that the Turkish Army watches their every move and steps into the breach the first time they make a misstep.
The last thing we need is for our great ally and friend Turkey to become another country to be added to the Islamist column in that area of the world, especially this country where a secularist democratic government, freedom of worship and religious tolerance have become the rule of the day.
And non-Muslim, Jewish, Christian and even non-believing Turks would suffer as 2nd-class dhimmi the most under shari'a.
If the General thinks they need another coup, I trust his judgement.
Erdogan and his AK friends make me nervous!