Turkish Military Strengthens Political Hand

By Cernig

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has announced he will not be running for the position of that nation's President, in a move widely seen as placatory to the strongly secular Turkish military.

Instead he nominated the foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, who has led Turkey's efforts to join the EU, and who is widely seen as a more palatable choice to opponents of the ruling Justice and Development party, of which Mr Gul is also deputy prime minister.

...General Yashar Buyukanit, the army chief of staff, said recently that the new president would have to uphold secular principles "not just in word but in essence", remarks generally viewed as a warning against Mr Erdogan's candidacy.

"The military has already made it clear that in a choice between Gul and Erdogan, it would prefer Gul," said Suat Kiniklioglu, the Ankara director of the thinktank The German Marshall Fund of the United States. "Erdogan has decided not to put more tension into the system. Gul understands the outside world better, he speaks English, and he can work with the establishment. He listens to the advice of the bureaucrats."

Gul has promised that, if elected, we would be "loyal to the main principles of the republic as stated in the constitution...loyal to secular principles."

However, what is good news for Turkish secular democracy isn't neccesarily good news for the US. Edogan has resisted calls from the Turkish military to take forceful action across the border with Iraq against Kurdish separatist terrorists who currently find safe haven there. This move will strengthen the military's hand across the political board, making an attack - which would place the US in an impossible position - more likely.