Turkey/TDN: The coup will be a dissaster...

[tabe at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl]

From: <tabe at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl>
Subject: Turkey/TDN: The coup will be a dissaster...

5 February 1997,
 Copyright ©
 Turkish Daily News 


 We used the NATO card
 in 1978 successfully 

 From a Feb. 4 article by Sabah's
 Mehmet Ali Birand: The European
 Union is to finalize during the
 coming months its expansion plan.
 Turkey's name has not been
 included in the candidate list.
 Meanwhile, NATO, of which Turkey
 is a member, has a quite dangerous
 expansion plan which has drawn
 strong reaction from Russia. A
 heavy price may have to be paid for
 NATO's expansion. In case of an
 escalation of tension, Turkey will
 have to pay its own share of that
 price since it will, as in the past, find
 itself in the role of a border
 gendarme. In other words, Turkey
 will share Europe's burden but will
 be kept outside Europe. Quite
 rightly, Ankara finds this
 unacceptable. So Turkey has said
 that it would veto NATO's
 expansion unless it is placed on
 the list of candidates likely to join
 the EU as full members. This has
 drawn objections from many,
 including NATO Secretary-General
 Javier Solana. 

 In 1978, the "Russians are coming!"
 wind was blowing inNATO.
 President Jimmy Carter had
 prepared a new armament program
 for NATO members called the
 Long-Term Strategy. At that time,
 Bulent Ecevit was Turkey's prime
 minister and Turkey was that year's
 NATO honorary chairman. At that
 time we were burdened by the
 Cyprus crisis. The U.S. arms
 embargo was pushing Turkey into a
 tight spot. Hiding behind the
 Congress, the Carter administration
 was saying that Turkey should take
 certain steps regarding Cyprus and
 improve its relations with Greece
 sothe Carter administration officials
 could convince the Congress to lift
 the arms embargo imposed on
 Turkey. Seeing Turkey was in a
 difficult position, Greece was
 obstructing all peace initiatives.
 Ecevit's peace package was
 rejected. At that time, Ecevit made
 his remark which boiled down to, "If
 you push Turkey too close to the
 wall we will go to the other side of
 the wall." He adopted a tough
 stance, saying that Turkey would
 reject the NATO communique
 unless it obtained a definite pledge
 to the effect that the arms embargo
 would be lifted. Ecevit came under
 great pressure from NATO leaders
 at a summit meeting in Washington,
 but he did not budge. In the end,
 President Carter accepted that. 

 Pursuing such policies to the end
 require balanced, multifaceted,
 fine-tuned policies. Turkey can get
 out of this spot unscathed if it tidies
 up its own home, fulfilling its
 responsibilities in such areas as
 human rights, and if it establishes
 close cooperation with Russia and
 explains well the Turkish views
 concerning the East European
 countries waiting for NATO's
 expansion. 


 Verbal protest crisis with
 Iran 

 RADIKAL said when Turkish
 officials issued a verbal protest to
 Iranian Ambassador to Turkey,
 Mohammed Reza Bagheri, following
 his call for a Shariah-based
 system, Bagheri immediately
 denounced the protest to
 journalists. This was contrary to
 diplomatic tradition, according to
 which diplomats make
 denouncements only behind closed
 doors. MILLIYET's Yalcin Dogan
 said this was not the first incident
 caused by the Iranian diplomat. He
 had earlier been expelled from
 Kuwait. Bagheri was declared
 persona non grata because of his
 efforts aimed at "exporting Iran's
 Islamic revolution" to Kuwait. 


 The dangerous escalation

 SABAH said that Interstar
 correspondent Isin Gurel was
 punched on the face and hurled to
 the ground by a fundamentalist who
 grabbed her hair, and had to be
 hospitalized. The attack came while
 she was covering the opposition
 Republican People's Party (CHP)
 demonstration in Sincan-Ankara in
 protest against the "Al Quds
 (Jerusalem) Day" events staged by
 the Welfare Party (RP) mayor of
 Sincan. During the event, Mayor
 Bekir Yildiz and Iranian
 Ambassador Mohammed Reza
 Bagheri had made pro-Shariah
 speeches under the posters of
 Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. A
 YENIYUZYIL headline said,
 "Pro-Shariah attack in Sincan,
 female journalist beaten." RADIKAL
 said, "RP terror in Sincan, first
 Erbakan raps the media, then a
 municipal official of the RP beats up
 a journalist." 


 Prosecutor taken off the
 case 

 RADIKAL reported that Ankara
 State Security Court Prosecutor
 Nuh Mete Yuksel who had started
 investigating the events of the Al
 Quds night in Sincan, has been
 taken off the case. In line with an
 order given by the prosecutor
 general, another prosecutor, Nuh
 Cetinkaya, will deal with the case.
 Yuksel said the dismissal might
 have been due "to my working
 against the anti-secular forces." He
 stressed that those who had made
 speeches onAl Quds day, including
 the Sincan mayor, should be put on
 trial for "praising acts considered
 criminal by the law." 


 A dangerous course 

 MILLIYET said that on top of the
 mosque-headscarf-pilgrimage
 controversy creating political
 tension in the country, the local
 head of the Nationalist Movement
 Party (MHP) organization in
 Istanbul's Kartal district had been
 assassinated by unidentified
 people, increasing the tension.
 HURRIYET said, "No end to
 provocations. RP escalates the
 headscarf, pilgrimage by highway,
 sheepskin donations and mosque
 for Taksim-Istanbul crisis by
 creating yet another incident in
 Sincan." Provocatively, Mayor Bekir
 Yildiz set up a tent in the heart of
 Sincan opposite Ataturk's bust,
 which looked like an elaborate
 replica of the Al Aqsa Mosque in
 Jerusalem. It was in this tent that
 the controversial speeches were
 made on Al Quds Day under the
 posters of Hamas and Hezbollah
 leaders. Late on Monday
 municipality officials quickly
 dismantled the tent-mosque.
 ZAMAN said no one would benefit
 from an escalation of tensions. 


 The headscarf formula 

 MILLIYET said that RP leader and
 Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan
 was seeking a formula to lift the
 headscarf ban at universities.
 Adamant on sending a message to
 the RP grassroots prior to the
 Ramadan Feast, he is planning to
 "bypass" the True Path Party (DYP)
 ministers opposing the plan. The
 headscarf decree will be issued
 with the signatures of Erbakan and
 Ciller alone on behalf of their fellow
 ministers. Meanwhile, it has been
 rumored that Erbakan wants to
 replace two members of the DYP
 wing of the government -- Health
 Minister Yildirim Aktuna and
 Defense Minister Turhan Tayan --
 for publicly opposing the lifting of
 the ban. YENIYUZYIL said Ciller
 had ordered the DYP ministers not
 to make public statements against
 the latest controversial RP moves
 so as not to shake the coalition. To
 those who called for an end to the
 coalition, she said Turkey needed
 the RP-DYP government. 


 Quest for RP-free
 government gains
 momentum 

 YENIYUZYIL said new government
 scenarios were being prepared in
 the political halls of Ankara. Main
 opposition Motherland Party
 (ANAP) leader Mesut Yilmaz said,
 "We are open to all alternatives.
 Turkey will not become another
 Iran." Ecevit and Baykal have given
 the green light for an RP-free
 government. RADIKAL said
 meanwhile, Ciller is preoccupied
 with her own fate rather than with
 the fate of the DYP. The party
 leadership has sent letters to DYP
 deputies, telling them to be present
 in Parliament on Feb. 18 when a
 vote will be taken on whether to
 start an investigation into Ciller's
 alleged role in Tourism Company
 (TURBAN) irregularities. SABAH
 reported that opposition Nationalist
 Movement Party (MHP) leader
 Alparslan Turkes has been
 mediating between the DYP and the
 opposition ANAP now that the
 RP-DYP government sees
 increased tension between the
 coalition partners. Turkes phoned
 DYP Deputy Sedat Aloglu, who is
 close to Ciller. Turkes and Aloglu
 are to meet today, and Turkes will
 suggest an "RP-free" government
 formula. 


 RP's colonel an
 intelligence man 

 HURRIYET said that retired colonel
 Ali Riza Zivkara, who recently
 joined Islamist Prime Minister
 Necmettin Erbakan's RP at a
 ceremony, had worked for a long
 time for the intelligence department
 of the Chief of General Staff's Office,
 preparing files on "suspect and
 hazardous personnel" to be
 presented to the Supreme Military
 Council each year. Intelligence
 officers who have been
 investigating the religious
 extremists now worry that their
 names will be disclosed by Zivkara.


 'There was an ASALA file'

 YENIYUZYIL referred to the
 testimony given to the
 parliamentary Susurluk Commission
 by Meral Catli, widow of Abdullah
 Catli, the "right wing mafia chief" and
 prime massacre suspect who died
 in a traffic incident in Susurluk on
 Nov. 3, 1996 while traveling with a
 top police official and a Member of
 Parliament. Meral Catli maintained
 that her husband had been working
 for the state, staging undercover
 operations abroad. She said, "The
 French police had arrived to
 search our house. Abdullah told me
 quietly to get the file in the closet
 and hide it. I hid it under my
 sweater. My husband told me we
 would have been lost if the file had
 been found because it contained
 the plan to assassinate an
 Armenian, a man with white hair, in
 Switzerland." 


 The Hezbollah army 

 CUMHURIYET said Hizbullah, a
 fundamentalist terror
 organization,had caused a
 bloodbath in the Southeast, killing
 225 people in the past five years,
 mostly by a single bullet fired point
 blank or by a butcher's knife,
 though in some instances
 Kalashnikovs and hand grenades
 have also been used. It mostly
 uses boys aged 15-18 as hit men.
 The killers get away from the crime
 scene on foot and they reportedly
 hide the murder weapons in
 mosques. Up until now 1,578
 Hizbullah militants have been
 caught, 444 of whom are in custody
 pending the outcome of their trials.
 Assessing that the organization
 has some 3,000 hitherto
 unidentified militants, security
 forces have intensified their raids
 on Hizbullah strongholds in the
 region, especially in Batman and its
 environs. There are reports to the
 effect that the end of Hizbullah is
 near. 

 Commentaries 



 TDN's Editorial
 by Ilnur Cevik 



 As the tanks roll
 through Sincan township 

      General Karadayi and his
      colleagues are acting to
      subdue the military anger and
      this needs a very sensitive
      balancing act. Gen. Karadayi
      is joined by President
      Suleyman Demirel in this act
      which could be called
      "operation democracy" 

 The Islamists made a show of force
 at the township of Sincan near
 Ankara which not only created an
 uproar among the secularists of
 Turkey but also irked the
 pro-Islamic Welfare Party (Refah),
 the junior partner of the coalition... 

 Refah had strong words for some
 party supporters who staged a
 fundamentalist rally recently during
 the celebration of Jerusalem Day... 

 But the military was visibly annoyed
 with the fundamentalist display. The
 commanders had a top-level
 meeting at the general staff
 headquarters in Ankara to "review"
 the situation and this spread
 rumors once again that Turkey
 could be on its way to a new
 intervention... 

 We feel the time has come to spell
 out certain realities. The military has
 no intention of staging a coup and
 wants democracy to produce its
 own solutions. General Ismail Hakki
 Karadayi, the chief of staff, is the
 key figure here who along with
 some of his colleagues cherishes
 real democratic values and is the
 main obstacle to any such
 intervention. 

 Gen. Karadayi, through his silent
 but forceful style, has brought the
 office of the chief of staff to a highly
 respectable place in the Turkish
 hierarchy. He makes few
 statements but when he talks he
 makes an impact. 

 We know well that the lower
 echelons of the military are unhappy
 with some of the recent events
 which they consider anti-secularist
 and want the commanders to act.
 Gen. Karadayi and his colleagues
 are acting to subdue the military
 anger and this needs a very
 sensitive balancing act. Gen.
 Karadayi is joined by President
 Suleyman Demirel in this act which
 could be called "operation
 democracy." 

 The commanders have met in
 Golcuk and then in Ankara. On
 Tuesday tanks rolled through the
 streets on Sincan on their way to a
 military exercise. This should well
 be taken as a mini warning to those
 who have certain designs about a
 fundamentalist system. 

 These days we see Prime Minister
 Necmettin Erbakan as the key figure
 to keep the fundamentalists at bay
 while we see Gen. Karadayi and
 President Demirel as the two
 leading state officials subduing the
 military and even those so-called
 intellectuals who are trying to
 provoke a coup... 

 Refah and Prime Minister Erbakan
 should realize that not everything is
 bright and beautiful and that they
 have to keep some party people
 under control. Every wrong action is
 turning into a provocation which is
 only serving those who call for a
 military takeover in our country... 

 Gen. Karadayi and Demirel are well
 aware that such a coup would only
 spell disaster for Turkey. If only
 some civilians could act as
 responsibly as Gen. Karadayi. 

-- 
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