TURKISH PM LIMITS POWERS OF STATE ARMY

News.am
16:28 / 02/02/2010

Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan responds to the criticism by
Brussels and intends to limit the powers of the state army. Hereafter,
the servicemen are deprived of using force without permission of
civil offices.

Thus, Erdogan initiates further steps towards the restriction of
Turkish armed forces’ rights. In his TV interview given earlier, he
stated that will abolish the protocol of 1997, under which in case
of domestic crisis state army is eligible of taking drastic measures
without permission of state civil offices, German Der Spiegel weekly
reports.

The mentioned document was repeatedly scalped by EU for vesting armed
forces with domestic power, which conflicts with European norms. In
last years political powers of Turkish army were limited, however
official Brussels reckons that further steps should be taken in this
direction, as the country strives to join EU.

According to Der Spiegel, in their turn Turkish armed forces feel
themselves like "minions of Turkish republic’s secular values" and
are suspicious of religious-conservative office of Erdogan.