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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region Focus International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Chip off the old block
By Gareth JenkinsLast week, Turkey's top commanders bluntly warned that they were prepared to fight if necessary to defend secularism not only against domestic opponents but also, in a thinly veiled reference to Iran, what the military described as their "foreign backers."
The warnings came in the wake of the death from cancer at the age of 62 of Admiral Guven Erkaya, the former head of the Turkish navy who had played a key role in the process that led to the toppling of the country's only Islamist-led government in 1997. While the mainstream Turkish press lauded Erkaya as a national hero who had "saved the country from darkness," hard-line Islamist papers explicitly refused to mourn.
"We won't try to intervene on your behalf on the Day of Judgment," headlined the Islamist daily Akit, claiming that Erkaya had really died from alcoholism and had requested that he be buried without traditional Muslim prayers. Another Islamist daily, Yeni Safak, described Erkaya as: "The all powerful commander who plunged Turkey into darkness."
Recai Kutan, the chairman of the Islamist Virtue Party (VP) and a former member of the government toppled by military pressure in 1997, tried to defuse the tension by refusing to criticise Erkaya: "It is unIslamic to speak ill of the dead," he said.
But the military nevertheless reacted furiously. Last Tuesday, as Erkaya was buried according to Muslim tradition, the Turkish General Staff not only banned all Islamist journalists from covering the funeral but issued a statement accusing them of publishing "treachery and lies" and trying to blacken the reputation of the armed forces in order to create a state based on Sharia law.
On the following day the military stepped up and expanded the attack to include Iran, which it has long accused not only of tolerating camps belonging to the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) but also of actively training and financing Turkish militant Islamist groups.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish army, Land Forces Commander General Atilla Ates accused neighbouring countries of supporting Islamist militants in an attempt to overthrow Turkey's secular constitution. In terms which closely resembled the wording of his September 1998 warning to Syria that it faced a military strike unless it expelled PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, General Ates declared in a clear reference to Iran that: "Some countries are encouraging extremist religious movements, which are seeking to destroy the secular state created by Ataturk." He bluntly warned that: "It is the duty of the armed forces to fight and win a war if necessary in order to preserve and protect the Turkish Republic."
General Ates also had strong words for the EU, following a meeting last month between Karen Fogg, the EU's representative in Turkey, and members of the country's Alewite minority. In a statement which military sources confirmed was aimed at the Ms Fogg, Ates accused the EU of "trying to divide the country along ethnic grounds by trying to introduce distinctions between Sunnis and Alewites."
Other commanders quickly followed General Ates' lead. On Thursday Air Force Commander General Ergin Celasin promised that the military would: "Continue the struggle against those trying to dynamite the foundations of the secular republic."
On Saturday, Navy Commander Admiral Ilhami Erdil declared: "We are not unused to treacherous attacks on the principles of Ataturk. We shall do what is necessary. No storm or gale force wind can deflect us from our goal."
Although the statements were triggered by the attacks on Erkaya there is little doubt that they reflect increasing military frustration with the civilian authorities' failure either to stamp out domestic Islamist groups or take effective action against Iran. While few expect the military to launch an armed strike against Iran, the commanders' statements have nevertheless galvanised secularists to increase pressure on the government to do something.
"General Atilla Ates is like a barometer," wrote columnist Guneri Civaoglu in daily Milliyet. "When he raises his voice it means that he is about to issue a warning of an approaching storm. Iran has been using pseudo-religious violent groups. Turkey has issued numerous warnings but Iran has acted as if it knew nothing about what the Turkish side was saying. How long can Turkey endure this hypocritical attitude?"
