New York Times Editorial: Turkey and the Army

New York Times Editorial: Turkey and the Army
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: March 7, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/opinion/08mon2.html?ref=global


The recent arrest or detention of dozens of Turkish military officers for alleged coup plotting could signal a significant shift in power from the tarnished army to civilian leadership. These cases could help strengthen Turkish democracy — provided the government and the judiciary scrupulously apply the rule of law.

For most of modern Turkey’s history, the army has been dominant, and far too willing to use any means to keep Turkey a secular, Western-oriented state. That included overthrowing four democratically elected governments since 1960. As recently as 2007, the military tried to block the selection of Abdullah Gul of the Islamic-influenced Justice and Development Party (A.K.P.) as president largely on the ground that his wife wore an Islamic headscarf.

The military’s hold on political life has weakened steadily under A.K.P. rule and pressure from the European Union, which has insisted that as part of Ankara’s bid for membership, the military must become more accountable to civilian leaders.

The recent detentions and arrests came after a small independent newspaper, Taraf, published what it said were military documents from a 2003 meeting describing preparations for a coup. The military acknowledged the meeting but said it was focused only on protecting the country from external, not domestic, threats. Since the arrests, the military’s top leaders have shown welcome restraint.

Meanwhile, relations with the United States hit a new rut on Thursday when the House Foreign Affairs Committee denounced the World War I mass killings of Armenians as genocide. We think the resolution was unnecessary, just as Ankara’s denial of that tragedy is self-destructive. Instead of threatening Washington with retaliation for the vote, Ankara should focus on getting a normalization deal with Armenia back on track.

The United States and other Western countries need to keep nudging Turkey forward while keeping the hope of E.U. membership alive and credible.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan needs to curb his own autocratic tendencies and push for replacing the military-imposed constitution with one that enshrines rights for Kurds and other minorities, religious and press freedoms, a commitment to secular rule and a law-based judiciary. And Turkey’s military leaders need to continue exercising restraint.