Turkey: No defense cuts in next 20 years

[tabe at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl]

15 August 1998

Military report: 'No defense cuts in next 20 years' 

The report brushes away the possibilities of a serious war in the
first quarter of the 21st century, but says Turkey will be involved in
smaller regional conflicts

Ankara - Turkish Daily News 

A report by the Military Academies' Command has stated that Turkey
will not be able to cut its defense spending and that the budget of
the Turkish Armed Forces will constitute the leading expenditure in
the nation's budget over the next 20 years, the Anatolia news agency
reported.

The report prepared by Turkish naval Capt. Yilmaz Aklar remarks that
the United States and its European allies began to cut their defense
spending following the removal of the Soviet threat and allocated the
money saved to their economies. But it also cites the current threats
facing the nation as obstacles to putting into effect such spending
cuts in Turkey.

According to the report, the threat of an international war has given
way to regional crises, and Turkey has recently been wrestling with
these. Capt. Aklar states that Turkey's neighbors have increased in
number following the collapse of the Soviet Union. While on the one
hand, he accuses Greece of hostility towards Turkey, he adds that the
regimes of Turkey's eastern and southeastern neighbors are far from
democratic.

The report brushes away the possibilities of a serious war in the
first quarter of the 21st century, stating however that Turkey will
become involved in smaller, regional conflicts. The Turkish Armed
Forces, it adds, will participate in noncombat military operations
such as rescue missions for victims of natural disasters, civilian
evacuations and fighting drug-trafficking.

For its defense needs alone, Turkey is planning to spend $150 billion
in the next 25 years.

-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan!
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