US and EU warn Turkish military: stay out of politics

The US and European Union have warned Turkey, a Nato member and close ally, to prevent its military from defying civilian leaders in a conflict between the Islamic-rooted government and the secular establishment.

Fears of a coup have ebbed with the prospect of early general elections, but the military’s threat to intervene in the showdown and stamp out any sign of political Islam has confirmed its traditional role as a player in Turkish politics.

Many Turks had believed the military, which seized power from civilian governments three times in past decades, was inexorably withdrawing from the political arena as Turkey pursued EU-backed reforms and its economy accelerated after a financial crisis.

But prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to back the candidacy of one of his closest allies as president underestimated the backlash. At the heart of the conflict was a fear that the ruling party would use control of both parliament and the presidency to chip away at the separation of state and religion, and curb secular freedoms such as women’s rights.

Yesterday Erdogan’s party called for new elections after the secular opposition last week boycotted a parliamentary vote on foreign minister Abdullah Gul’s candidacy and was backed by the Constitutional Court, a strongly secular body that invalidated the ballot on the grounds that a quorum was not present.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice joined the European Union in warning the Turkish military, fiercely devoted to the secular ideals of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, an army officer who founded the modern republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.

“The US fully supports Turkish democracy and its constitutional processes, and that means that the election, the electoral system and the results of the electoral system and the results of the constitutional process have to be upheld,” she said.

EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said Turkey must abide by the rule of law and civilian control over the military, warning that if Ankara wanted to join the EU “it needs to respect these principles”.

The military had declared at midnight on April 27 that it was a champion of secularism and would display its “attitudes” if necessary. In the view of some analysts, the ominous statement turned back the clock a decade or more to a time when politicians could scarcely afford to ignore the political views of the army’s top officers.

It is hard to gauge whether the military statement influenced the court decision to cancel the presidential vote. But the judges were probably deliberating with the knowledge that a ruling in favour of the Islamic-leaning candidate would increase tension and increase the possibility of more overt action from the armed forces.

The Turkish military appears willing to preserve secularism even if it means risking the ire of its European partners – and many Turks doubt the EU is serious about admitting them.

Army officers have cited the 1979 Islamic Revolution in neighbouring Iran as a scenario they want to avoid, even if the possibility seems remote in Turkey.