* This guy is actually threatening the Erdogan-Gul government with a military coup, which, in this case, is a blessing…
When he says that the military will take seriously any attempt to undermine Turkey’s secular principles and turn it into an Islamic state — which does seem to be the ultimate goal of Prime Minister Erdogan and the ruling party — will result in a military coup to protect the Kemalist order. It has happened before.
“Turkish army chief warns of Islam,” from PressTV, August 28 (thanks to JW)
* Note he means ‘Islam’- not ‘militant’ Islam or ‘fundamentalist’ Islam, just Islam…
Turkey’s new military chief warns against what he calls a rising “religious lifestyle”, highlighting secularist and AKP government tensions.
General Ilker Basbug, in a speech to an audience during a ceremony which he officially replaced former chief of military Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, said the military would take seriously any attempt to undermine Turkey’s secular principles.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Gul attended the ceremony at the military headquarters without their wives who wear headscarves.
Basbug said part of the nation is concerned that a new culture and lifestyle heavily influenced by Islam was emerging in Turkey.
“A segment of society thinks that religion is given a great weight in an emerging new cultural identity and lifestyle, and is worried about this development,” Basbug said as he took command of NATO’s second-biggest army.
“This concern should be taken seriously. This is compulsory for social peace within the scope of a pluralistic democracy.”
Turkey has a secular constitution and the military considers itself the ultimate guardian of the republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Hardline secularists, including the military and judges, accuse the AKP of harboring a hidden Islamist agenda by seeking to loosen restrictions on religion, such as its failed attempt to ease a ban on Muslim headscarves at universities. Erdogan and the AKP deny the convictions as illusions, but argue that Turks should be free to choose their way of life including what they wear….
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I drove through Turkey (in from Bulgaria, out into Syria) on a motorbike a couple of weeks after their last coup. One time left the bike parked with all our kit on it while we went for something to eat (made sure the bike was in view, even if about 50 yds away). Saw two armed soldiers walking towards the bike; they gave it a good look over, then one walked away while the other stood by the bike (armed with a Thompson, would you believe?). After we finished eating, walked back to the bike; he saw us coming and walked off just before we got there. Another time a cop stopped us in the middle of nowhere South of Ankara and tried to extort money from us. I refused to play; he kept insisting, but the army being in charge, on an anti-corruption ticket for the coup, gave me confidence. He didn’t dare push it and pissed off. Other than that no one tried to extort a penny from us, which at the time was practically unheard of on overlanders through Turkey.
Turkey would benefit hugely from a coup, though the happy-clappy crowd in the West wouldn’t like it.
There are plenty enough of us here in Britland who think this country would benefit from a coup too.