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Turkish Army on alert amid tensions
19.3.2007
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March 19, 2007
NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Turkey has put its army on alert
to stave off any attacks by Kurdish rebels during a
spring festival beset by unprecedented political
problems this week.
The crisis includes a widening rift between the
military commanders and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, warnings of more attacks by Kurdish
extremists and a rising nationalist fervor that is
worrying Turkey's European partners.
Complicating the task of the Erdogan government is
the possibility of strained relations with the
United States over the prospect of a separate
Kurdish state in northern Iraq and the threat that
the U.S. Congress might brand the World War I
killings of Armenians by Turkey's Ottoman rulers as
genocide.
Turkish press reports have said the volume of
problems is unprecedented in Turkey's modern
history.
Military leaders have warned that regardless of
Turkey's application for membership in the European
Union, the army will remain the ultimate guardian of
the republic.
At the same time, Gen. Ilker Basbug, the commander
of land forces, reaffirmed Turkey's right to send
its troops to Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels
waging a 32-year war for independence.
Against such a background, most of Turkey's 10
million Kurds prepared to celebrate Norooz, a spring
festival that is also observed in Iran and
Afghanistan.
The guerrilla Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the
main fighting force of the Kurdish opposition, has
threatened terrorist attacks over the holiday,
particularly against the country's thriving tourist
resorts.
A number of Kurdish politicians, including members
of the legally recognized Democratic Society Party,
have been rounded up for interrogation. In the
predominantly Kurdish area of Diyarbakir in
southwestern Turkey, the authorities refused to
grant permission for festivals.
In the weeks leading up to the holiday, the Turkish
political scene was marred by growing tension
between the senior military cadres and Mr. Erdogan,
increasingly accused by the army of Islamic
tendencies.
In 1999, the army was instrumental in removing from
power Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, who was
known for his political commitment to militant
Islam.
Although Mr. Erdogan has never indicated any
intention of abandoning Turkey's secular system, the
military and secularist circles resent his
appointments of Islamic politicians to government
posts as well as the fact that his wife wears a head
scarf in public buildings, which is banned by law.
Mr. Erdogan has been highly critical of a planned
resolution in Congress to recognize the 1915
Armenian massacres as genocide.
"I am worried that such a resolution would cast a
shadow over our strategic partnership," he said.
The Bush administration also fears damage to its
relations with Turkey, a critical NATO partner in
one of the most unstable areas of the world.
Successive Turkish governments have refused to
acknowledge any responsibility for the death of 1.5
million Armenians who were accused of supporting
Russia in its war with Turkey.
washingtontimes com
**
First world war
massacres | Related
issue:
Armenian Genocide by Turkish Muslims against
Christians
Turkey faces international pressure to recognise
that more than 1 million Armenians were massacred
during a 1915 campaign of ethnic cleansing by
Ottoman Turks. Turkish officials claim that most
deaths were caused by hunger and disease.
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to some 20 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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