Tuesday - August 28, 2007
Turkey's Military and the Islamist President
Turkey's military let it be known that it isn't really happy with election of Gul, the Islamist, as President.
Turkey's top military officer on Monday said that secularism in the country is "under attack by centres of evil," a remark that comes just one day before the likely election of a Islamist-rooted politician as state president.
Mlitary chief of staff General Yasar Buyukanit made what appeared as an attack on Abdul Gul's candidacy as president in a message of greetings ahead of Turkey's 30 August Victory Day celebrations.
The European Union has warned the military in Turkey - which is in membership talks with the 27-nation bloc - not to interfere with the electoral process.
Brussels issued the warning in the wake of statements made by the Turkish military when Gul first announced he would be standing as a candidate for president.
The Turkish military which sees itself as the defender of the secular tradition embodied by modern Turkey's founder, Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, has carried out coups in 1960, 1971, and 1980.
Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gul is expected to be elected the country's next president on Tuesday.
Candidate for the country's Islamist-rooted ruling Justice and Development party (AKP), Gul is expected to garner at least 276 votes from parliamentarians when they vote for a new leader.
Unlike the previous two rounds, when Gul failed to win the support of two-thirds of the parliament's members, in Tuesday's voting, he just needs a simple majority of the votes from the 549-seat parliament to clinch the job.
Although Gul has previously announced that his Islamist ideals are a thing of the past, he is still perceived as a danger to the secular nature of the Turkish republic.
The CHP boycotted the previous presidential election on 27 April and applied to the constitutional court claiming a quorum of 367 deputies was needed for a valid vote.
On the same day, the military issued a statement threatening to intervene if the country's secular structure was threatened.
Author: The Machiavellian
Technorati Tags: Turkey Military Secularism
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