Military issues harsh warning over secularism
Saturday, April 28, 2007
In an unusually strong statement, the Turkish Armed Forces say it is the defender of the republic's secular system.
ANKARA – TDN with agencies
The powerful Turkish military said late Friday that it was watching a parliamentary presidential vote with concern and issued a harsh warning against questioning the country's secular system and said it would “openly display its position and attitudes when it becomes necessary.”
Hours earlier, the ruling party's presidential candidate failed to win enough votes in a first round of balloting in Parliament, reflecting the deep rift between the Islamic-rooted government and the secular establishment.
“The problem that has recently stood out in the presidential election process has focused on the issue of questioning secularism. The Turkish armed forces are following this with concern,” the general staff said in a statement late in the evening.
The military also complained about a series of public events where it said Islam had encroached on secular traditions. In particular, it mentioned a competition for children to memorize the Quran during the April 23 Children's Day, a festival initiated by the country's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as a secular event. The competition was canceled after the program was publicized.
The military statement also said girls dressed in Islamic outfits were seen reciting prayers at an Islamic event in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa on April 22, as the organizers attempted pull down Turkish flags and pictures of Atatürk.
“Those who are engaged in such activities do not refrain from exploiting our people's holy religious sentiments and try to hide their real intentions, which amount to challenging the state, behind religion,” the military statement said.
“This radical Islamic understanding, which is against the Republic and has no goal but to erode the basic qualities of the state, has been expanding its span with encouragement” from politicians and local authorities, the statement claimed.
The statement was posted on the army web site hours after parliament held a first round of voting in the presidential election, in which Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül of the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) was the sole candidate.
“It should not be forgotten that the Turkish armed forces are a side in this debate and are a staunch defender of secularism.
“The Turkish armed forces are against those debates... and will display their position and attitudes when it becomes necessary. No one should doubt that,” the statement said.
The main opposition secularist Republican People's Party, which insists that the presidency cannot be left to the AKP, petitioned the Constitutional Court to annul the vote on the grounds of a technicality.
The AKP is the moderate offshoot of the Welfare Party (RP)of Turkey's first Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, which was forced from power as a result of a secularist campaign in 1997 and was outlawed the following year.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
In an unusually strong statement, the Turkish Armed Forces say it is the defender of the republic's secular system.
ANKARA – TDN with agencies
The powerful Turkish military said late Friday that it was watching a parliamentary presidential vote with concern and issued a harsh warning against questioning the country's secular system and said it would “openly display its position and attitudes when it becomes necessary.”
Hours earlier, the ruling party's presidential candidate failed to win enough votes in a first round of balloting in Parliament, reflecting the deep rift between the Islamic-rooted government and the secular establishment.
“The problem that has recently stood out in the presidential election process has focused on the issue of questioning secularism. The Turkish armed forces are following this with concern,” the general staff said in a statement late in the evening.
The military also complained about a series of public events where it said Islam had encroached on secular traditions. In particular, it mentioned a competition for children to memorize the Quran during the April 23 Children's Day, a festival initiated by the country's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as a secular event. The competition was canceled after the program was publicized.
The military statement also said girls dressed in Islamic outfits were seen reciting prayers at an Islamic event in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa on April 22, as the organizers attempted pull down Turkish flags and pictures of Atatürk.
“Those who are engaged in such activities do not refrain from exploiting our people's holy religious sentiments and try to hide their real intentions, which amount to challenging the state, behind religion,” the military statement said.
“This radical Islamic understanding, which is against the Republic and has no goal but to erode the basic qualities of the state, has been expanding its span with encouragement” from politicians and local authorities, the statement claimed.
The statement was posted on the army web site hours after parliament held a first round of voting in the presidential election, in which Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül of the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) was the sole candidate.
“It should not be forgotten that the Turkish armed forces are a side in this debate and are a staunch defender of secularism.
“The Turkish armed forces are against those debates... and will display their position and attitudes when it becomes necessary. No one should doubt that,” the statement said.
The main opposition secularist Republican People's Party, which insists that the presidency cannot be left to the AKP, petitioned the Constitutional Court to annul the vote on the grounds of a technicality.
The AKP is the moderate offshoot of the Welfare Party (RP)of Turkey's first Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, which was forced from power as a result of a secularist campaign in 1997 and was outlawed the following year.
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