Former Turkish Chief of Staff on Trial Monday

The trial of Gen. İlker Başbuğ, former Chief of the General Staff of Turkey, began Monday. The NYT has a brief report. The following is a video from Euronews (I hope it's OK to embed it here - if not, let me know, Euronews, and I'll remove it!):



For those of you wondering how to pronounce his name, the best I can describe it is as follows: Ilker - the "I" as in "In" and the "e" as the "a" in "advertisement"- Bashbou - the "a" as the "u" in "uppercut".

Coup-plotting allegations in Turkey: Bugged out | The Economist

Interesting piece on the latest Ergonekon developments in the current issue of the Economist.

With the arrest of a former chief of Turkey's general staff, Ilker Başbuğ, the Economist quotes the former US ambassador to Turkey, Eric Adelman, who knew Başbuğ. According to Adelman, the move to jail Başbuğ will

"underscore the serious questions about Turkey's continued commitment to press freedom and the rule of law." That commitment is waning. Nearly 500 students are in prison facing "terrorism" charges for such infractions as demanding free education. Some 97 journalists have also been imprisoned, many on similarly absurd grounds.

Mr Erdoğan's increasingly authoritarian ways have prompted claims that his government has simply swapped places with the army. His supporters have a different worry. They say that having purged the old guard in the military, he is now cutting deals with the new set.

Read the whole piece here: Coup-plotting allegations in Turkey: Bugged out | The Economist

Former President and coup leader Kenan Evren indicted

Turkish prosecutors have indicted former Turkish President and Chief of Staff, Gen. Kenan Evren for his role in the 1980 military coup. Gen. Evren and Gen. Tahsin Şahinkaya had been protected by the provisional article 15 of the Turkish constitution that was established after the coup, but with the repeal of the article the path toward the indictment was cleared.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

There is still doubt as to whether the statute of limitations has expired. Counting from the time of the coup, it has, but the prosecutor claims that the deadline should be calculated starting from when the constitution was amended instead.

Some links:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/turkey/120103/turkey-coup-generals-constitution

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204368104577138610045317548.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

In Turkish: http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalDetayV3&ArticleID=1074480&Date=04.01.2012&CategoryID=77

PKK-Turkish Military Clashes (Video)

The escalation of violence between PKK and Turkish military forces in eastern Anatolia continues. Euronews reports (see video below) on a PKK attack on Turkish forces that killed 24 or 26 soldiers (I get different figures from different reports) and wounded almost as many.

As the report notes, Turkish forces pursued PKK fighters far into Iraqi territory - Bloomberg claims that they pushed as far at 4 kilometers into Iraq - and were supported by warplanes that bombed PKK positions.

The attack and retaliation follow a statement from the jailed PKK leader - Abdullah Öcalan or "Apo" - delivered yesterday by his brother, who had visited him on İmralı island. According to the statement, Öcalan argues that "At this stage, the key is in the hands of state authorities, not ours. Negotiations will continue and everything could change in the coming process if they open the door" (from Today's Zaman). 

Report on Turkish civilian-military relations

Here is a short but useful summary of a forthcoming report on Turkish civilian-military relations commissioned by the Centre for European Security Studies. (Scroll down to page 5 of the newsletter.) The report is authored by Asst. Prof. Nil Şatana of Bilkent University. She argues that

The constitutional and practical changes in civilian control and parliamentary oversight indicate that the military’s involvement in politics has diminished since 2001. [...] The struggle for political survival and clientelism [long] stifled democratisation. In the absence of a strong engagement by local stakeholders, EU accession, supported by the Turkish military, has become a major drive for social and political transformation. 

Today, Turkish society refuses to accept military trustee-ship. Civilians in politics are expected to control defence policy-making.