ANSA English Media Service
April 21, 2005

TURKEY: MILITARY TO BOYCOTT EU IF PRESSURE CONTINUES

ANKARA

By Lucio Leante

(ANSA) – ANKARA, April 21 – The Turkish military threatened
to withdraw its support for the country’s accession to the
European Union (EU), if European pressure for further Turkish
concessions on sensitive issues result in actions that are
unacceptable and outrageous for the Turkish people.

Issues mentioned by the military, the guardian of democracy
and the legacy of modern Turkey founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,
included the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) terrorist group, Cyprus
and the so-called Armenian genocide of 1915.

The Turkish military general staff, headed by General Hilmi
Ozkok, has never been very supportive of Turkey’s bid to join
the 25-nation union.

That was the gist of a lengthy speech Gen. Ozkok delivered to
students at the Istanbul Military Academy on Wednesday.

“Not only the EU has the right to say Yes or No. Turkey can
do that as well,” Ozkok said in a crucial point of his address
in which he criticised the U.S. for not keeping its promise to
stop PKK’s activity in north Iraq.

Ozkok also expressed dissatisfaction with the EU for acting
as mediator to PKK’s requests hidden under the disguise of human
rights and although the U.S. and the EU had included PKK in
their list of terrorist organisations.

Ozkok criticised European countries for demanding from Turkey
new steps after having failed to keep their promise to end the
international isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus (TRNC) as a reward for the Turkish Cypriots’ support for
the Annan plan for the reunification of the island.

The Turkish military general staff called on Armenia to give
up its demand for Ankara to admit the Ottoman massacres of
Armenians were genocide. Armenia’s request is openly backed by
the European Parliament (EP) and more cautiously supported by
the European Commission (EC) and the Council of Ministers.

Referring to the recent recommendations on behalf of European
Commission chairman Jose Manuel Barroso that Turkey had to
maintain good relations with Athens, Ozkok determinedly claimed
the Greek defence policy was mainly aimed at thwarting a
presumed “Turkish menace” and that Greek military costs were
still to high.

The political meaning of Ozkok’s speech is clear, according
to analysts: the Turkish army is striving to demonstrate it is
still capable of relying upon the great decisions made in the
country and of better synchronising with the nation’s opinion
than the government. According to many people, the latter seems
ready to pay any price for reaching by October its goal for a
start of accession talks with the EU.

A renowned analyst said Ozkok had been sage enough to assume
such a position after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stated last
week there were European circles, trying to divide Turkey and
accused those “circles” of fomenting the spiral between Kurdish
and Turksih nationalism in order to debilitate the requests of
Turkey for EU integration. With this regard, Ozkok is most
probably trying to prove the strategic unity of the Turkish
leadership, also in order to avoid the usual European
accusations of an excessive influence of the army on Turkish
policy. (ANSA).