[NYTr] Turkish Army Issues Neww Warning

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by rick kissell

BBC News - Aug 27, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6965806.stm


Turkish army issues new warning

Turkey's powerful armed forces chief has warned that "centres of evil"
are trying to undermine the secular state.

Gen Yasar Buyukanit did not name those who were "trying to corrode the
secular nature of the Turkish Republic".

His statement comes a day before MPs are expected to elect Abdullah
Gul, a former Islamist, as president. His candidacy remains highly
controversial.

The army sees itself as the guardian of Turkey's secularism. It has
ousted four governments in the past 60 years.

This is the second warning issued by the army in recent months.

In April, it expressed its concern after Mr Gul - the ruling
Islamist-rooted AK Party candidate - only marginally failed to gain
enough support from MPs to become president in a first round.

The following stand-off between the AKP and secularist parties in
parliament sparked a political crisis that led to early elections in
July.

The AKP won those polls convincingly, and again nominated Mr Gul,
currently the foreign minister, for the post of president.

Mr Gul - who has failed to gather enough votes in the first two rounds
- is expected to be elected in the third round on Tuesday.

Turkey's military and secular establishment have voiced their
opposition to Mr Gul, a devout Muslim who, they believe, has an
Islamist agenda.

Mr Gul denies that, and has vowed to remain loyal to the country's
secular constitution.

© BBC MMVII