Turkish Armed Forces Face Coup Charges

About 20 Turkish military officers are under arrest for plotting the overthrow of the government. The BBC reports, "They include four admirals, a general and two colonels, some of them retired." It appears to be a pretty well-developed plan. The purpose of the coup, according to those familiar with the situation, would have been to defend Turkey's secular order against the governing AK Party's Islamist bent. This journal takes some comfort in the fact that the head of the armed forces, General Ilker Basbug, met this morning with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul and that the president's office has said all problems can and will be solved "within the constitution."

Turkey may be the most important country in the Islamic world. Of the three great Islamic peoples, only the Turks have chosen a secular, modern approach to the world. The Persians have opted for a radical Shi'ite theocracy, and the Saudi Arabs have chosen a reactionary Sunni dictatorship The Turkish approach is clearly preferable to any child of the Enlightenment.

However, remaining secular and modern has not been easy within the confines of democracy in Turkey. Like Americans, Turks are quite religious in their everyday lives. And like Americans, that sometimes spills over into their political activities. So despite an official separation of mosque and state, Turkey has a ruling party with Islamist roots.

Since 1960, the Turkish military has stepped in four times to defend secularism against democratic governments that would undermine that secularism, most recently in 1997. Given the choice between a coup d'etat and a theocracy voted into office, one is unable to choose. Both are appalling.

So, the news that the civilian government and the military have met to work things out can only be good news. That said, the ever-looming threat of a military takeover is disheartening. Perhaps, the best way forward is for the EU to engage Turkey in serious discussions about joining up -- it would prove to be a load of carrots that would allow the military's stick to go away.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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