Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ANKARA5735
2006-10-02 14:55:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:  

TURKISH MILITARY LAYS DOWN A MARKER AGAINST

Tags:  PGOV MARR MOPS PTER TU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6804
OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHAK #5735/01 2751455
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 021455Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9141
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/39ABG INCIRLIK AB TU PRIORITY
RHMFISS/425ABS IZMIR TU//CC// PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J-3/J-5// PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC//USDP:PDUSDP/ISA:EUR/ISA:NESA/DSCA// PRIORITY
RUEHAK/USDAO ANKARA TU PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005735 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2016
TAGS: PGOV MARR MOPS PTER TU
SUBJECT: TURKISH MILITARY LAYS DOWN A MARKER AGAINST
ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM

REF: A. ANKARA 05610


B. ANKARA 04528

C. ANKARA 05723

D. ANKARA 05582

Classified By: CHARGE NANCY MCEDOWNEY FOR REASONS 1.4 (b,d).

-------
Summry
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005735

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2016
TAGS: PGOV MARR MOPS PTER TU
SUBJECT: TURKISH MILITARY LAYS DOWN A MARKER AGAINST
ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM

REF: A. ANKARA 05610


B. ANKARA 04528

C. ANKARA 05723

D. ANKARA 05582

Classified By: CHARGE NANCY MCEDOWNEY FOR REASONS 1.4 (b,d).

--------------
Summry
--------------


1. (C) Senior Turkish military eaders have made clear, in a
recent series of public speeches, that the military is
concerned about the twin threats of Islamic fundamentalism
and separatism which threaten the secular and unitary nature
of the Turkish republic founded by Ataturk. In an October 2
address to officers and cadets of Turkey's combined military
academies in Istanbul, newly-appointed chief of the Turkish
General Staff (TGS) Yasar Buyukanit said Ataturk's principles
were under "serious attack." In strident tones, he warned
against those who want to "redefine secularism," as well as
those, including some senior government officials, who seek
to tarnish the image of the Turkish military. He pointedly
stated the military's intention to resist growing Islamic
fundamentalism inside Turkey. He condemned specific articles
and publications critical of the Turkish Armed Forces, which
had "stretched the military's patience" by showing disrespect
for the country's secular institutions in the run up to the
EU's next progress report on Turkey's EU candidacy. He vowed
that the Turkish military would defeat the PKK terrorist
threat, while criticizing certain NATO members who, he said,
had not done enough to arrest and extradite PKK supporters in
their countries. Buyukanit's speech coincided with Prime
Minister Erdogan's meeting with the President in Washington
and followed a speech by President Sezer at the opening of
the fall Parliamentary session that warned against a shift in
the political balance towards Islamic conservatives who form
the core constituency of Erdogan's AKP party. Meanwhile,
Erdogan and other AKP leaders insist there is no Islamic
threat and stress the primacy of Turkey's civilian
leadership. As Turkey faces election of a new President by
the Parliament in May followed by parliamentary elections in

November 2007, the secular establishment led by the military
has made clear its concern at the direction Erdogan is taking
the country. End Summary

--------------
Civil-Military Tensions Rising
--------------


2. (C) Buyukanit's widely anticipated speech comes at a time
of increasing tension in civil-military relations in Turkey.
Erdogan met privately with Buyukanit before leaving for
Washington and reportedly asked Buyukanit not to say anything
in his speech that would damage Turkey's EU chances or
destabilize the Turkish economy, after Buyukanit's service
chiefs had spoken out forcefully about the threat of
fundamentalism within Turkey as well as PKK separatism.
Setting the stage for Buyukanit, the chiefs of the land,
naval and air forces had affirmed, in earlier speeches to
their respective academies, the military's full commitment to
the unified and secular state that Ataturk created from the
ruins of the Ottoman empire. The service chiefs made clear
that the armed forces remain the guarantors of this legacy.
All focused on the growing threat from domestic
"reactionaries," a thinly-veiled reference to the Islamist
conservatives who form the core of the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP). Their remarks stressed that,
despite accepting reforms seeking to reduce the military's
political profile as part of Turkey's EU accession process,
the military has no intention of remaining indifferent if it
perceives a threat to the fundamental secular nature of the
state. All of them, including Buyukanit, stopped short of
suggesting military intervention, but made clear they
remained players in the political process.

--------------
A Growing Sense of Insecurity
--------------


3. (C) The statements made by senior military leaders, which
were obviously carefully coordinated and pointed, seek to

ANKARA 00005735 002 OF 002


address not only the military's own insecurity in the face of
perceived attacks sponsored by the AKP government, but
growing popular insecurity as well. Against the background
of a perceived Christian-Muslim divide many see Turkey's EU
bid faltering; increasing numbers of Turks are convinced the
EU has no intention of letting Turkey in, at least without
extracting unbearable concessions on Cyprus and the Armenian
issue. The European Commission representative in Ankara,
Hans-Jorg Kretschmer, publicly criticized the pronouncements
of the service chiefs as reflecting undue military
involvement in politics, a charge roundly rejected by the
military and secular elites. Senior military officials have
praised President Sezer's October 1 speech to the Turkish
Parliament (ref c),which warned against a shift in the
balance of political power towards Islamists -- a clear
reference to the secular elite's fear that the AKP will seek
to put PM Erdogan or a like-minded religious conservative in
the Presidency when Sezer's term ends in May 2007.


4. (C) At the same time, a map of the Middle East published
in a recent Armed Forces Journal article showing Turkey
truncated by the creation of "Free Kurdistan" has been widely
and repeatedly reproduced in the Turkish press and described
as the U.S. plan for dismembering Turkey and creating a "new
Middle East" (ref d). The reported use of this map by an
American officer during a September 15 lecture at the NATO
Defense College (NDC) in Rome has elicited protests from the
Foreign Ministry as well as the General Staff and has given
the map story new life in the press. Asked if younger
military officers share popular concerns that the map -- and
frequent speculation among U.S. think tanks and pundits about
the merits of dividing Iraq -- reflect official U.S. policy,
a well-place two-star general told us "it's not just the
young officers who are concerned."

--------------
AKP Tilt toward Muslim World
--------------


5. (C) The military's concerns with the Erdogan government
are not solely tied to the AKP's domestic religious agenda
but also include Erdogan's foreign policy, seen as promoting
Turkey's ties with the Islamic world at the expense of its
relations with NATO and the EU. The TGS remains wary of
Erdogan's efforts to expand Turkey's political and economic
relations with Iran and Syria while seeking a higher profile
in the OIC and courting the Arab League and Non-Aligned
Movement. Erdogan's defense of UN-listed terror financier
al-Qadi has further heightened the suspicions of the secular
establishment.

--------------
Comment
--------------


6. (C) Seeing itself as the only institution that can counter
the threat to Turkey's secular order from domestic extremism,
the Turkish military is closing ranks around the
blunt-speaking Buyukanit. The military establishment has
effectively become the political opposition to the AKP,
bolstering the loud but largely ineffectual secular parties,
and can be expected to makes its views known with increasing
frequency as Turkey approaches presidential and parliamentary
elections in 2007. End Comment

Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/

MCELDOWNEY