Turkish Daily News
March 27 2005

Nationalism gripping Turks ahead of EU talks
Sunday, March 27, 2005

‘Now, as the United States and the EU are openly critical of the
government for various reasons, it seems that the conservative and
military bureaucracy has found that it is prudent to help bring to
the fore the deep divisions in the country between the Euro and
AKP-skeptics and those in favor of full integration with the Western
world with or without the AKP government,’ says Cizre

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

One can easily make a guess as to the content of a public argument
in Turkey if it starts with the words, “Turkey’s special
circumstances,” a phrase usually employed to explain that governments
should always be authorized to take extraordinary measures against
those who want to “undermine the country’s unity” or against others
who might want to reverse “80 years of secular rule.”

The last two weeks’ perspective — regarding the strong official
and popular reaction to incidents of disrespect to the Turkish flag
in Nevroz demonstrations, a re-visitation of the Armenian issue, a
re-emphasis on national commemorations and, in some cases, a revival
of those long forgotten combined with harsh criticism from the Land
Forces commander about the lack of an official policy on Iraq and his
warning of an increase in the number of militants from the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) entering Turkish territory from Iraq
— raises questions about the timing and driving forces behind them
and also cause one to wonder about the motivations prompting the
nationalist-conservative community to display their sentiments at
this particular point in time.

Despite the 15-year-long terrorist war in predominantly
Kurdish-dominated southeastern Anatolia having virtually ended since
the 1999 capture Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the outlawed PKK, most
Turks are still receptive to the generals’ warnings against
separatism.

An escalating discourse of nationalist-conservative themes in the
country and remarks from generals bring to mind the question of
whether there is a power vacuum and whether the generals have been
using the “nationalism card” at such a time.

Also, the seeming convergence of the ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP) on this nationalist wave raises the question as to what
has happened to its power-wielding appearance. Has it lost the
momentum it was maintaining with its reforms towards alignment with
the European Union, and is it this weakness, which is being exploited
by anti-EU and anti-AKP military and civilian forces, that has been
lying in wait for this moment?

Change in international support for AKP:

Political scientist Ãœmit Cizre told the Turkish Daily News that in
seeking an answer, one first needs to accept the sociological fact
that Islam-friendly politics in Turkey is, by its nature, not
disposed to absolutely transcending the militarism and nationalism
that pervade the country.

“On the contrary, while passing radical reforms, the AKP has always
come remarkably close, though not completely converging, with many
elements of the secular establishment in accusing the West of
supporting Turkey’s terrorists or harboring intentions of
dismembering the country or employing double standards on the issue
of Turkish entry into the EU,” Cizre said.

Cizre indicated that one answer is the changing international
support for the government’s policies. The AKP government did not
have to try hard to ingratiate itself with the West, and the United
States’ preferential backing of the AKP on the basis that it serves
as a geopolitical “Muslim democratic model” in the region also
undermined the military’s ability to challenge the government, she
added.

“But now, as the United States and the EU are openly critical of
the government for various reasons, it seems that the conservative
and military bureaucracy has found that it is prudent to help bring
to the fore the deep divisions in the country between the Euro and
AKP-skeptics and those in favor of full integration with the Western
world with or without the AKP government.”

Who guards the regime?:

Cizre emphasized that the military and its civilian empathizers
clearly have not renounced their role as the ultimate guardians of
the regime and that the greatest paradox for the military
establishment has been that an Islam-sensitive government has taken
over the military’s “vanguard” role. “After all, EU membership was
supposed to be the intended endpoint of the republic’s vision of
generating sufficient modernization to eliminate the Islamist threat.
This also explains why the party’s appropriation of the military’s
vanguard mission has produced moderation on the part of the high
command on the EU issue, despite initial resistance.”

Yet glancing at what the future could hold for government and
Turkish military relations, especially during the difficult process
of negotiations with the EU, Cizre doesn’t paint a pessimistic
picture. She believes there is a genuine trend towards a more
democratic civilian-military equilibrium.

The changes that have occurred have now gathered a momentum of
their own, in some regards autonomous from the will of the AKP. More
importantly, the seeds of doubt have been sown in the public mind
over whether the real motive behind the military leadership’s
resistance to further political liberalization and EU entry is its
radical doubt about the intentions of the AKP or its concern that
Brussels-imposed reforms would transfer political power to elected
civilians.

–Boundary_(ID_vLd46F00RRJLzCXhsWeX2Q)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress