Big Trouble in Little Turkey
Events in Turkey apparently are coming to a head. Why should we concentrate on Turkey? Well, because Turkey will set the stage whether Islamic fundamentalism will take hold on this forced secular state. In a way, it is an experiment testing the edges of civilizations that transect this part of the world and whether this country will embrace western or oriental concepts of government and international relations. Since World War I, the Turks have dabbled with western culture and institutions to better transform their society towards a more modern state and to be able to compete with western military dominance, which they had suffered defeat after defeat by european arms. Even German involvement in Turkish affairs was too little, too late to change the course of events that would see the fall of the Ottoman Empire after The Great War.
The Turks eventually would dissolve the caliphate based in Instanbul in the early 1920's and embrace military dictatorship based in Ankara, the current capital of Turkey, albeit a "benevolent" dictatorship that rid its old capital of Islamic religious dominance with mosque and state united as one. But the times, they are a changing.
From the World Tribune:
Tensions have risen between Turkey's military and Islamist government.
Officials and military sources said the tensions stem from efforts by the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan to sharply reduce the role and profile of the military. The effort has been supported by Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which has a huge majority in parliament.
With the rise of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Middle East, the Turkish state has not been without its own islamist uprising in their culture. Are we witnessing a sort of "Weimar" government disintergrating under the weight of its own democratic institutions by the subversive nature of Moslem organizations and parties sucking the lifeblood out the secular nature of their government and using the system to destroy the system like the parasites they are?
the article continues:
The latest tiff was sparked by a parliamentary demand to remove the military contingent from the government complex in Ankara. Parliamentarians said the military presence in the complex was not appropriate for a country that sought to join the European Union, Middle East Newsline reported.
"Ankara, which is the center of national politics, has a military appearance rather than a political one," parliamentarian Resul Tosun, an AKP member said.
The campaign by Tosun has been supported by many in the AKP. Turkey's military maintains the headquarters of the General Staff as well as the land, naval and air forces commands near parliament. The military academy is also located nearby.
Turkey is cracking at the seams under the extreme forces of cultural and religious tectonic plates from Eastern Orthodoxy under the Slavs, to the Catholic West Europeans, to the Sunni Arabic influence straining forward like a glacier at the end of its ice flow, ready to sheer off into the ocean in one large titanic crash. How will the resultant waves affect us and effect international relations?
the story goes on:
The General Staff has objected to the parliamentary demand. On Dec. 8, the military high command issued a statement, calling Tosun's campaign an effort to banish the military.
"Such initiatives are worrying and surprising and must be evaluated as individual delirium," the Office of the Chief of Staff said. "This is an attempt to banish the Turkish Armed Forces, first from sight and then from the heart of the Turkish nation."
The Turkish military statement has rankled parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc. Arinc said he could not recall such a harsh military statement against parliament.
"I will interfere if necessary," Arinc said.
With the EU having second thoughts about Turkey and any other state joining its exclusive commonwealth of nations and the inherent problems that the Turks have historically been immersed in, its not likely we will see Ankara so easily make adjustments toward reform that it so desperately needs.
finally from the article:
Turkish officials said the General Staff has been divided over the government effort to reduce the military's influence. Chief of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok was said to have quietly agreed to a more modest role for the military and its submission to civilian rule.
Some of his generals, however, were said to argue that Erdogan's effort was meant to impose Islamic rule in Turkey, a leading NATO member. Since 1908, Turkey, under Ataturk, has sought to maintain a secular society.
Ozkok has already approved the replacement of the seal of the Land Forces Command with one that would not include Ataturk. Ataturk's continued prominence in Turkey has drawn criticism from Erdogan supporters as well as from the EU.
Will the Turkish military save the day? Or will western culture like the janissaries before them, be expunged once and for all from Turkish society as it once again embraces the call to Jihad under a new Ottoman caliphate? We will soon see.
The Turks eventually would dissolve the caliphate based in Instanbul in the early 1920's and embrace military dictatorship based in Ankara, the current capital of Turkey, albeit a "benevolent" dictatorship that rid its old capital of Islamic religious dominance with mosque and state united as one. But the times, they are a changing.
From the World Tribune:
Tensions have risen between Turkey's military and Islamist government.
Officials and military sources said the tensions stem from efforts by the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan to sharply reduce the role and profile of the military. The effort has been supported by Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which has a huge majority in parliament.
With the rise of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Middle East, the Turkish state has not been without its own islamist uprising in their culture. Are we witnessing a sort of "Weimar" government disintergrating under the weight of its own democratic institutions by the subversive nature of Moslem organizations and parties sucking the lifeblood out the secular nature of their government and using the system to destroy the system like the parasites they are?
the article continues:
The latest tiff was sparked by a parliamentary demand to remove the military contingent from the government complex in Ankara. Parliamentarians said the military presence in the complex was not appropriate for a country that sought to join the European Union, Middle East Newsline reported.
"Ankara, which is the center of national politics, has a military appearance rather than a political one," parliamentarian Resul Tosun, an AKP member said.
The campaign by Tosun has been supported by many in the AKP. Turkey's military maintains the headquarters of the General Staff as well as the land, naval and air forces commands near parliament. The military academy is also located nearby.
Turkey is cracking at the seams under the extreme forces of cultural and religious tectonic plates from Eastern Orthodoxy under the Slavs, to the Catholic West Europeans, to the Sunni Arabic influence straining forward like a glacier at the end of its ice flow, ready to sheer off into the ocean in one large titanic crash. How will the resultant waves affect us and effect international relations?
the story goes on:
The General Staff has objected to the parliamentary demand. On Dec. 8, the military high command issued a statement, calling Tosun's campaign an effort to banish the military.
"Such initiatives are worrying and surprising and must be evaluated as individual delirium," the Office of the Chief of Staff said. "This is an attempt to banish the Turkish Armed Forces, first from sight and then from the heart of the Turkish nation."
The Turkish military statement has rankled parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc. Arinc said he could not recall such a harsh military statement against parliament.
"I will interfere if necessary," Arinc said.
With the EU having second thoughts about Turkey and any other state joining its exclusive commonwealth of nations and the inherent problems that the Turks have historically been immersed in, its not likely we will see Ankara so easily make adjustments toward reform that it so desperately needs.
finally from the article:
Turkish officials said the General Staff has been divided over the government effort to reduce the military's influence. Chief of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok was said to have quietly agreed to a more modest role for the military and its submission to civilian rule.
Some of his generals, however, were said to argue that Erdogan's effort was meant to impose Islamic rule in Turkey, a leading NATO member. Since 1908, Turkey, under Ataturk, has sought to maintain a secular society.
Ozkok has already approved the replacement of the seal of the Land Forces Command with one that would not include Ataturk. Ataturk's continued prominence in Turkey has drawn criticism from Erdogan supporters as well as from the EU.
Will the Turkish military save the day? Or will western culture like the janissaries before them, be expunged once and for all from Turkish society as it once again embraces the call to Jihad under a new Ottoman caliphate? We will soon see.
posted by Bruce R. McConnell | 7:49 AM
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