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When he says that the military will take seriously any attempt to undermine Turkey's secular principles and turn it into an Islamic state -- which does seem to be the ultimate goal of Prime Minister Erdogan and the ruling party -- will result in a military coup to protect the Kemalist order. It has happened before.
"Turkish army chief warns of Islam," from PressTV, August 28 (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):
Turkey's new military chief warns against what he calls a rising "religious lifestyle", highlighting secularist and AKP government tensions.General Ilker Basbug, in a speech to an audience during a ceremony which he officially replaced former chief of military Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, said the military would take seriously any attempt to undermine Turkey's secular principles.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Gul attended the ceremony at the military headquarters without their wives who wear headscarves.
Basbug said part of the nation is concerned that a new culture and lifestyle heavily influenced by Islam was emerging in Turkey.
"A segment of society thinks that religion is given a great weight in an emerging new cultural identity and lifestyle, and is worried about this development," Basbug said as he took command of NATO's second-biggest army.
"This concern should be taken seriously. This is compulsory for social peace within the scope of a pluralistic democracy."
Turkey has a secular constitution and the military considers itself the ultimate guardian of the republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Hardline secularists, including the military and judges, accuse the AKP of harboring a hidden Islamist agenda by seeking to loosen restrictions on religion, such as its failed attempt to ease a ban on Muslim headscarves at universities. Erdogan and the AKP deny the convictions as illusions, but argue that Turks should be free to choose their way of life including what they wear....
Posted by Robert at August 29, 2008 7:13 AM
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"General Ilker Basbug, in a speech to an audience during a ceremony which he officially replaced former chief of military Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, said the military would take seriously any attempt to undermine Turkey's secular principles."
I'll believe it when I see it. The military governments of the past, in Turkey and elsewhere, took place in a different reality. If not applauded, many were seen by the West as better than the alternative, which was usually a Communist takeover.
Does today's military really see itself as the guardian of secularism or is that the view of just a few people? Turkey's military must be filled with Islamists.
Today, a military coup overriding "the will of the people" will be universally condemned. Even those Turks who oppose Erdogan will oppose it. They're likely to regard the military as agents of the infidel, doing the bidding of the West. The military will be called on to return control to the "secular, elected government".
Only the people of Turkey can stop Islamism from advancing. It's not clear that enough of them want to. Islamism is intertwined with Islam. The two are not easily separated.
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at August 29, 2008 7:34 AM
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, what an apostate. he is burning in his own hell. turkey will become islamist like its people want.
Posted by: theygottago at August 29, 2008 9:28 AM
Islamism is intertwined with Islam. The two are not easily separated.
PMK
Could it be that Islam #1, commonly known as "Islam", represents the younger Mohammad and Islam #2, commonly known as "Islamism" represents the maturing Mohammad. If this be true, than those who read the "whole" Koran get #2 (Islamism)and those who read part of the Koran get #1 (Islam).
Posted by: Spot on at August 29, 2008 9:53 AM
Expect the Bush administration (probably from Condi Rice) and the Democrats to warn Turkey's military to stay out of civil affairs.
Our leaders don't get it.
Posted by: 4infidels at August 29, 2008 12:14 PM
The Turkish military - at least its top-brass - is fully inculcated with the Kemalist ideology and remains a bulwark against political Islam, but their Constitutional and institutional prerogatives are being slowly whittled away. It's a little too early to write the obituary on Turkey's secular experiment, but - like a cancer patient slowly wasting away, it doesn't look good.
Posted by: Cornelius at August 29, 2008 2:08 PM
Both Turkey and Indonesia are under constant assault from Islam -- it continues to seek whom it may devour. We in the West are also being softened up by the scourge.
Posted by: jewcat at August 29, 2008 6:31 PM
Turkey is as guilty of Islam as any Islamic nation.
Posted by: American at September 2, 2008 10:19 AM
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