Hours before presidential vote, Turkish military issues sharp warning

28/08/2007

The customary Victory Day message from Turkey's chief of general staff came three days ahead of the actual holiday, and ahead of a parliamentary vote on a new head of state.

By Ahmet Gormez for Southeast European Times in Ankara - 28/08/07

"Unfortunately, every day in different ways appear furtive plans which aim to undo the modern advances and ruin the Turkish republic's secular and democratic structure," Chief of General Staff General Yasar Buyukanit (right), wrote on the army's website. [Getty Images]

"Evil" forces are trying to undermine secularism in Turkey, the chief of the country's general staff said in a Victory Day message Monday (August 27th).

"Our nation has been watching the behaviour of separatists who cannot digest the unitary structure of the Turkish Republic and centres of evil who are trying to systematically erode the country's secular structure," General Yasar Buyukanit said. "The Turkish armed forces, as up until now, will never sway from their determined stance and their duty of protecting and watching over the democratic, secular Turkish Republic."

In an unusual departure, the strongly worded statement came three days ahead of Victory Day, which is observed on August 30th, and only hours before parliament was scheduled to vote again on a new president Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, the presidential candidate of the ruling Justice and Development Party, already has won two rounds of voting, while falling short of the needed two thirds majority. In the third round, however, he only needs a simple majority to win.

Turkey's secularist elite and the military leadership have openly expressed their alarm at the prospect of the AKP, which has roots in political Islam, gaining control of the presidency. When Gul first ran in April, the military issued a statement vowing to guard secularism. The resulting political crisis led Turkey to early elections, which the AKP won easily.

The military has a lengthy record of intervening in politics, including through coup d'etats. In 1997, it pressured Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan from office. His Welfare Party -- the precursor to today's AKP -- was subsequently banned.

Political analysts do not expect a similar action now. Bukuyanit's statement, however, is viewed as a kind of warning to Gul before he takes up his new post. Turkish media are describing his statement as the strongest Victory Day message ever. And international reports characterise it as a "warning shot".

The Presidential Palace, once home to Kemal Ataturk, is one of the strongest symbols of secularism in Turkey. Now a member of a party associated with Islam is about to move in. If Gul becomes president, Turkey for the first time will have a first lady who wears a Muslim headscarf.