Christof Lehmann (nsnbc),-
On Saturday Turkey´s Prime Minister R. Tayyip Erdogan and the Freedom
and Justice Party passed legislation in Turkey´s parliament that
significantly changed the status
of Turkey´s
armed forces. Law changes, endowing police and intelligence services
with sweeping powers over protesters are expected. The law changes
constitute part of a soft-power, but de facto coup d´etat and prepare
the
dismantling of the Turkish Republic.
On Saturday, the Turkish parliament amended a regulation for Turkey´s armed forces, which ended the military´s role as guardian of Turkey´s
constitution and the status of Turkey as a secular republic.
Likewise,
legislation is being prepared to endow Turkey´s police and national
intelligence service with sweeping powers. The legislative changes
constitute additional steps in years of use of Turkey´s democratic
institutions by the Muslim Brotherhood or Freedom and Justice Party
government, to rein in the power of the army, that was once prone to
staging coups when the national integrity or the secular status of Turkey´s constitution was threatened, and an additional step to endow Turkey´s police with sweeping powers as instrument of political control.
Amendment
of Armed Forces Regulation Part of de facto Coup d´Etat. Prior to the
amendment of the armed forces regulation, article 35 specified, that it
was among the duties of Turkey´s Armed Forces to
protect and preserve the Turkish Republic.
After Saturday´s amendment of article 35, the article states, that it is the duty of the Armed Forces of Turkey
to defend the nation against external threats and dangers. The
amendment thus reduces the military´s function to that of an instrument,
solely for the protection of the boundaries of the nation, but not the
protection of the republic.
Large parts of Turkey´s secular opposition perceive the amendment as an additional step in a sweeping
power grab
by the Muslim Brotherhood, which much like the administration of
Egypt´s President Mohammed Morsi was, is misusing democratic
institutions to institute Islamic rule and to dismantle the the secular constitution.
The amendment of Turkey´s
army regulation comes shortly after Egypt´s army prevented a similar de
facto Islamist coup d´etat by a people-powered coup d´etat. Also Turkey
has been shaken by popular uprisings and heavy clashes between
protesters and Turkey´s police forces. While the protests in Turkey
focus on Gezi Park and Taksim Square, the protests oppose a “sneaking
erosion of Turkey´s secular constitution”. Large parts of Turkey´s
opposition and a large percentage of the general population, are also
accusing R. Tayyip Erdogan of participation in a US-backed plan to
dismantle the Turkish Republic to create smaller states.
As late
as 2007, Turkey´s army had issued a warning to the administration of
Prime Minister R. Tayyip Erdogan, stating that Turkey´s Armed Forces are
taking their obligation to protect the constitutionality and integrity
of the Turkish Republic as a secular state with political and religious
freedom seriously.
The amendment is, according to several
analysts, also tied to the final trial hearings and sentencing in the
controversial Ergenkon trials, in which 300
military officers stand accused for espionage, and another 300 officers as well as dozens of civilians, including the chairman of one of Turkey´s opposition parties, Dr. Dogu Perencik from the Workers´Party – Turkey, stand accused of passing on secret information.
According to many
international lawyers
as well as independent analysts, the Ergenkon arrests constituted a de
facto coup d´etat already. The amendment of the Armed Forces Regulations
consolidates
the coup, and is,
according to analysts, a move to prevent a similar situation as that in
Egypt, where President Mohammed Morsi was ousted after illegally
amending Egypt´s constitution so as to favor his own and other Islamist
parties, while making it all but impossible for secular parties to
register for elections.
Amendment of Armed Forces Regulation
preparing Turkey´s Military for Regional NATO War. Additionally, the
regulation was amended, so that it has become the duty of Turkey´s armed
forces to help ensure international peace. Turkey´s opposition warns,
that this could be interpreted so, that the Turkish Armed Forces are
being transformed into a regional striking power for NATO.
This
part of the amendment is particularly causing concern because it has
become known that the Erdogan administration has been taking part in
preparing the illegal aggression against its neighbor Syria, long before
the first protests in Syria erupted in 2011.
Turkey is the
primary front-line state in the war against Syria, and the vast majority
of weapons shipments and fresh mercenaries are coming into Syria via
Turkey.
Journalists as well as the Syrian government have numerous times reported about the presence of Turkish military officers
inside Turkey. In some incidents Turkish troops as well as pilots were
directly involved in combat operations, where they were fighting
alongside al-Qaeda associated mercenaries, against Syrian Armed Forces.
In
two incidents, the Turkish armed forces have been directly implicated
in the use of chemical weapons. During a chemical weapons attack that
killed 25 and injured more than 100 in Khan al-Assal, Aleppo, the
chemical laden missile was fired from a “rebel”held position. The Syrian
government claimed, that members of Turkey´s
military intelligence
were present in that area. Likewise, Turkish troops and pilots were
reportedly taking part in battles for the Ming air field. A chemical
laden missile was fired from the region where the Turkish troops were
reported to be.
According to recently disclosed intelligence, the
anti-Syrian political and military opposition as well as the
international alliance that supports them, are planning a major
political and military campaign against Syria in August and September,
and part of the strategy is reportedly, to justify calls for an
international military intervention and the establishment of a
no-fly-zone by using chemical weapons. Also because of these facts, the
amendment is causing gravest concerns among members of Turkey´s opposition and among international analysts.
Turkey´s Opposition SplitTurkey´s
opposition is split with regard to the amendment. While the M.P.s of
the Republican People´s Party, CPH, and those of the Peace and Democracy
Party, BNP voted concurrently with the Freedom and Justice Party, AKP,
the Nationalist Movement Party, MHP, voted against the amendment.
Although many members of parliament have voted concurrently, in favor of
the amendment, their endorsement of the amendment elicits a disconnect
between the Members of Parliament and the parties basis as well as the
majority of the general population.
The AKP and Erdogan Administration
are reportedly also strengthening Turkey´s police force as well as
Turkey´s National Intelligence Service by militarizing the police forces
and by endowing the police and intelligence services with far reaching
new powers over protesters, whom Prime Minister Erdogan described as
terrorists last month, when he threatened that protesters who refused to
leave Taksim Square would be charged and treated as terrorists.
Taksim 12 june 2013Egyptian
Pattern Repeated in Turkey. Protests in Turkey erupted on 31 May, after
a violent crack down on peaceful protesters who had occupied the
historically significant Gezi Park to protest again the destruction of
the Park and Taksim Square. The protesters compared the destruction of
historical sites, which are
representing the Turkish Revolution and the establishment of the Turkish Republic with a secular constitution,
and plans to substitute the historical sites by building a shopping
mall and by re-erecting military barracks from Turkey´s Ottoman period
as direct affront against the constitution and as an attempt to re-write history.
Protests
have continued on a daily basis ever since 31 May, and analysts expect
that mass protests will reoccur in September during the last phases of
the Ergenkon trial. Like the ousted Mohammed Morsi, R. Tayyip Erdogan
uses democratic institutions in a soft-power and sneaking, but never the
less de facto coup d´etat. Like Mohammed Morsi in Egypt, R. Tayyip
Erdogan has to fear that the military ultimately will side with the
people. The difference between Turkey and Egypt is, that the Erdogan
administration has started its coup d´etat by weakening the military
with the arrest of 600 officers. Whether his strategy will succeed or
not remains an open question which may be answered in September.
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company was formed on the 6th January 1942 from volunteers at RAF
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Caucuses, the area being mostly impassable terrain the enemy would need
to rely on existing roads, tunnels and railways. The [AOC] Air Officer
Commanding Iraq, Air vice Marshal Hugh De Crespigny reasoned that a
parachute company consisting of trusted indigenous servicemen, could
destroy these access points and slow German advance, after the operation
they would be able to discard their uniforms and blend in with the
local population evading capture.
