|
|
|
Last Updated: Jun 27, 2009 - 10:08:41 AM |
ISTANBUL -- Allegations that elements of the Turkish military may have
been hatching a plot to discredit or even topple the government of the
liberal Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) are threatening to
raise military-civilian tensions in Turkey and further widen the
country's deep political divide. At the same time, the allegations are
also raising questions about how the plot against the AKP fits into an
ongoing investigation into another coup attempt, known as Ergenekon.
This latest Turkish political crisis was sparked when Taraf -- a
hard-hitting liberal daily that has been severely critical of the
military in the past -- published a document on June 12 entitled, "Plan
to Combat Islamic Fundamentalism." The four-page document, allegedly
signed by a colonel in the military's psychological warfare unit,
outlined ways in which the AKP government could be weakened. Among
them, the document suggested "mobilizing" moles within the party and
stoking anti-Armenian and anti-Greek sentiments in order to strengthen
the nationalist opposition.
The plan also called for discrediting the pro-government Gulen
movement, Turkey's largest and most powerful Islamic brotherhood, by
planting weapons and ammunition in its members' homes and even linking
it to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Police found the document while searching the office of a lawyer who is
representing a retired colonel linked to the Ergenekon case.
The Turkish military, which has initiated an investigation into the
document's authenticity, quickly distanced itself from it. When asked
during an interview in the influential Hurriyet newspaper if an order
to prepare such a plan could be issued by the military command, Turkish
top general Ilker Basbug replied: "I even consider this question an
insult. Such an order was never given."
In a statement issued on June 15, the military said that it wouldn't
tolerate personnel "whose behavior and thoughts were incompatible with
the principles of democracy and a state of law."
Although AKP officials have taken steps towards legal action against
the military regarding the document, Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan appeared to take a more reconciliatory approach after a
meeting with Basbug to talk about the allegations.
"Efforts to stir up mistrust between institutions will harm . . .
Turkey as a whole," Erdogan said. "The military High Command has shown
responsibility and sensitivity from the moment this story broke."
Still, even if both sides are trying to make nice, troubling questions
remain. If the document exposed by Taraf is genuine, did it originate
in the upper echelons of the military -- which has not hesitated to
intervene in Turkish politics in the past? Or was it the product of
disgruntled officers unhappy with the increasing amount of civilian
control the government is exercising over the armed forces? Either way,
the document could be an indication of a military that is having a hard
time kicking some of its old habits: Basbug's predecessor also had to
deal with restive underlings who hatched coup plots in 2003 and 2004.
The possibility of the leaked document being a forgery has not been
discounted, at least not among members of the secularist press and
Turkey's political opposition. Some observers have suggested that
what's really being played out here is not a confrontation between the
military and the AKP, but rather one between the generals and the
influential Gulen movement. Media outlets affiliated with the movement
have been among the quickest to accuse the military of being up to no
good in this current crisis.
"Let's push aside whether the document is real and get into the deep,"
Ismet Berkan, editor of Radikal, a liberal daily owned by the
pro-secularist Dogan Group, recently wrote in a column. "Everything we
witness is in fact a psychological war. The Turkish Armed Forces, or
TSK, is on one side, and the Gulen movement on the other."
Ultimately, regardless of who actually wrote the contested document,
the affair is another reminder of how deeply polarized Turkish politics
and society are right now. Opponents and supporters of the AKP are
unable to find common ground on most issues, with each side quick to
accuse the other of wrongdoing. As an example, several pro-government
papers recently reported that investigators were almost completely
certain that the document in question is genuine. Some pro-secularist
papers, meanwhile, reported that investigators were almost completely
certain the same document is a fake. Ultimately, this kind of split
does not bode well for Turkey's political stability.
"Look at the situation through the eyes of ordinary people now. We are
living in a country of psychological wars and excessive information
pollution, and we do not know whom to believe," Radikal's Berkan wrote
in his column. "Poor us!"
Source:Ocnus.net 2009
Top of Page
|
|
|
|