TURKEY TO BE FINALLY SPLIT UP
Haroutyun Gevorkyan
Hayots Ashkharh Daily News, Armenia
Aug 30 2007
Interview with Kiro Manoyan, person in charge of "Hay Dat" and
political affairs office of the ARFD Bureau
"Mr. Manoyan, what changes can the election of Abdullah Gyul,
representative of the Islamic ‘Justice and Development’ party,
introduce in the country’s foreign and domestic policy?"
"Even though Mr. Gyul was elected in the third stage, the election
was in conformity with the Turkish laws. I think he would have
been elected in April if the Parliamentary factions opposing the
pro-Islamists had not applied to the Constitutional Court.
It is impossible to draw final conclusions now; instead, we should
wait and see what the end of this story will be. We already know that
the Army was not present at Mr. Gyul’s oath-taking ceremony, refusing
to be in the same atmosphere with his wife who wears a headscarf. It
is well-known that the Generals were against Mr. Gyul’s candidacy.
And today, it is a fact that President Gyul is also the
Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish armed forces.
The tension between the Army and the Government may dissipate in the
near future; however, it is not ruled out that civil control over
the Army may intensify. Whereas the right to pronounce the last word
belongs to the Army under the Turkish laws as well. At the same time,
the victory of "Justice and Development" party makes it obvious that
Turkey will pursue its efforts towards the EU membership. And this
implies a range of legislative reforms."
"It turns out that the Turkish-Islamists are striving to form
part of Europe, while the pro-Western-conservatives avoid such
developments. What logical bases does this Turkish puzzle have?"
"In comparison with the former authorities, the most significant
steps aimed at introducing fundamental changes in some Turkish laws,
at least on paper, were made by Mr. Erdoghan’s party which is currently
in power. It was necessary to do this in order to start negotiations
around the EU membership. ‘Justice and Development’ party does not
pursue a pro-Western or European ideology; it is just trying to solve
a problem of becoming an EU member.
The wife of the Turkish Prime Minister Erdoghan, for example, has
never participated in any official event because she wears a headscarf
– something that is banned by Turkish laws. The two daughters of
Mr. Erdoghan study in the United States because headscarves are
banned in Turkish Universities. And it is on the way towards the
European Union that the Turkish Government will try to eliminate the
ban on headscarves. The headscarf is viewed as a symbol of freedom,
and the political level of this particular state is this.
Whereas the so-called progressive elite, which is the supporter of
a secular and non-religious Turkey, is against the EU membership,
as it sees the restriction of its own opportunities on that way. The
Army is also in this camp. And there are real grounds for concern,
because the National Security Council of Turkey, for instance, has
ceased to be a military structure as a result of a change introduced
in the law. The Security Council is now a political structure whose
head is the country’s Prime Minister vs. the President.
Although there are substantial concerns in Turkey that the country
may move towards Islamic fundamentalism, there is also an apparent
tendency to present the ruling government as one consisting of Islamist
democrats, following the pattern of Christian-Democrats. As to how
long this ambiguity will continue and when the Army will feel that
its positions are jeopardized and the foundations of the state are
becoming looser, it is difficult to say. But the threat of the Army’s
intervention is always present."