Turkish generals choose leader

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International News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 4 August 1998
Issue 1166

Turkish generals choose leader
By Amberin Zaman in Ankara
 
TURKEY'S generals met yesterday to select their new chief of general
staff.
 

The choice of the successor to Gen Ismail Hakki Karadayi, widely
tipped to be Gen Huseyin Kivrikoglu, the land forces commander, will
dictate the future course of Turkish politics. The military is now
more openly involved in running the country than at any time since
1980, when it seized power.
 

Sources familiar with Gen Kivrikoglu, described as a brilliant
strategist, dismiss speculation that under its new boss the military
will assume a lower profile. The urbane, anglophile, nicknamed
"Diplomat Pasha" because of his mild demeanour, is expected to step up
the fight against Islamic radicals. The generals are believed to be
preparing to dismiss more than 100 officers with radical Islamic ties,
barely a month after 164 officers were sacked for similar reasons.
 

The change of guard comes only days after the Turkish parliament voted
to hold an early general election next April. The ruling minority
coalition, led by Mesut Yilmaz, the conservative Prime Minister, had
bowed to demands that he should step down by the end of this year.
 
The demands were made by the pro-secular, Left-wing Republican
People's Party. Its leader, Deniz Baykal, on whose support the
government relies, accused the government of failing to curb the
spread of political Islam.
 
Confronted with the loss of his pious constituents on whom his
Motherland party is heavily dependent, Mr Yilmaz has begun to drag his
feet over anti-fundamentalist legislation.
 

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