Turkey: Postponing Democracy and Peace

Turkey's Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) chairman Yavuz Onen has said that a number recent statements made by army commanders, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and most lately by Chief of General Staff Commander Yasar Buyukanit captivated issues in a conflict that made people forget about freedoms, human rights, democracy and peace.

"It is as if democracy and human rights have been postponed" he said.

The common focus of all the statements he referred to were secularism, the threat of fundamentalism, security, the PKK and civilian-military relations.

In a speech he made at a ceremony marking the opening of the new education term at the War Academies, General Buyukanit on Monday said the following in summar:

* There is the threat of fundamentalism in Turkey; the founding elements of the Republic are under attack.

* The PKK declared a so-called ceasefire; The only solution for the PKK is to unconditionally lay down arms and seek refuge in the Turkish justice.

* A campaign to undermine the Turkish Armed Forces is continuing.

* The European Union has a secret agenda.

Buyukanit's remarks came in wake of a statement by Prime Minister Erdogan made during his visit to Washington and claiming Turkey was not threatened by fundamentalism. In addition, Erdogan said the army acted under civilian decree noting this is the way it should behave.

President Sezer, for his part, said in the opening ceremony of the Parliament that there was the threat of fundamentalism in the country, that it should be regarded as a fundamental responsibility to maintain the respect of the army and retain it above politics.

Onen: Those creating problems behave like they are dealing with them

TIHV's chairman Yavuz Onen, on the other hand, refers to this tension as "a bogus conflict".

"In its real sense there is no fundamental contradiction" he explains. "The movement they refer to as a fundamentalist threat surfaced after the coup in 1980. It developed under the protection of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and under its shadow.

"The real problem is that a period of intimidating and threatening the forces have democracy has started throughout the world".

According to Onen, the sides, which appear to be in conflict, have in reality already reached an accord on true determining factors.

"They are in accord with imperialism, with neo-liberal policies" he said. "They are also in harmony in the religious field. They are fighting neither the nationalist escalation nor against imperialism. Those complaining of the consequences are responsible for creating those consequences".

"Turkey is not a secular state"

Stressing that all issues that have come to focus are those that contain human rights violations, Onen assesses them under headlines:

Secularism: "The problem is not limited only to the conflict between the trend and the TAF. It has a public dimension. Turkey is not a secular state because there is the Directorate of Religious Affairs that organizes the field of religion. This means intervening in the field of religion. Other than this, the rights of the Alawites and non-Muslims are being violated. The secularism problem affects every field of our life.

"There is work Turkey needs to do in relation to secularism. It is not the TAF that should do this work, it is the government. The counterpart to the expression of human rights is the government".

Civilian-military relations: "The basis is the separation of forces. An intervention into civilian political life by a force which holds weapons in its hands is unacceptable. An intervention of social nature in this field is not possible.

"The most recent example of this is the act of soldiers in Hakkari who collected rubbish to protest the municipality. This is a direct intervention into civilian life which spoils the military-civilian balance from its roots.

"The Constitution needs to clearly spell out the organization, the functions, of the National Security Council (NSC). Traditionally we are living through a period where everything coming from the NSC is accepted by governments".

PKK's cease-fire declaration: "Expressions based on a military security strategy and remarks that the problem can only be solved through violence are concerning. Violence creates conditions where human rights are violated. Whatever it is called, to ignore the 'ceas-fire' or 'the period of silencing guns' period and place no value to it is not possible. People are dying. Silencing the guns will allow for a dialogue to begin in an environment of tolerance. It is required to give this its real importance, to see that insisting on violence does not solve the problem".

"Fascist expressions against human rights escalating"

Onen says the forces of democracy need to raise their voices against these violations and against interventions but also warns that "in Turkey, defending democracy and human rights has started to become synonymous to treason".

"While we are concerned about escalating nationalism, they are gradually gowing towards a more open fascist expression. Without naming it, they are saying we deserve fascist regimes".

According to Onen, those truly defending the values of democracy need to stand up against such expressions and approaches.

"The problem of democracy in Turkey is an international problem at the same time" he says recalling the use of torture by the USA, Britain and European countries as well as the invasion of other countries.

"The forces in Turkey, in a backward trend, have reached an accord both at home and abroad. The opposition is also part of this accord. It wants to catch on the valid values in Turkey and win votes."

Buyukanit: There is the threat of fundamentalism

In his speech that started this week's debate, Buyukanit, claimed there was a campaign to undermine the TAF and despite PM Erdogan's previous statement on the contrary, said there was a threat of fundamentalism in Turkey.

Buyukanit criticized "those in Turkey who at every opportunity want to re-define secularism", adding that these individuals were "positioned at the highest levels of the state".

He said the founding principles of the republic were under "heavy attack" and delivered a heavy criticism, without openly naming anyone, to those inclined to undermine the TAF while at the same time "make our people take on an un-contemporary appearance" in apparent reference to the headscarves issue - only a day after Turkey's mass media published photographs of Erdogan's visit to Washington where his daughter, seen sat in a headscarf, was pictured while chatting to actor Robert De Niro.

Fighting Terrorism

Buyukanit also expressed distaste in the concept of a cease-fire as used by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in its recent declaration of halting violence and said implied there were two countries at war.

He referred to the period that led to the event and recalled that some members of the European Parliament and some countries even had made similar appeals to the organization. These developments, he said, showed how widely the event had been concerted.

"The Turkish armed forces have declared that they will continue the fight against terror until there is not a single armed terrorist remaining" he vouched. "There is no change in this attitude".

"For the terror organization, the only solution is to unconditionally lay down its weapons and seek refuge in Turkish justice. Experiences of the past show there is no solution other than this".

Conditions of constitutional rights

"No one is against democratic values or the of democratic rights" Buyukanit said. He did however strongly criticize attempts for people, including former parliamentarians, to be allowed into the elections while accusing them of being "active members of the terror organization".

"It is clear that in order to demand constitutional rights, one must first recognize and accept that constitution. Those who have supported others who have taken guns in their hands to change the constitution cannot claim rights from a constitution they are trying to change. I the same way, they have no right to benefit from the opportunities of the democratic order which they are trying to destroy".

The army's role

Buyukanit warned that the Turkish Armed Forces "is not the target board of some circles" and said he was a soldier who was fulfilling a duty granted him by laws.

"As soldiers we have nothing to do with politics. But if there are those disturbed d to our fundamental views on security and regime, this is their own problem."

Buyukanit also referred to a statement made by EU official Kretschmer where he was quoted as saying that the Turkish Armed Forces were involved in all areas of social life from religion to education, cultural rights to the state of universities and that the TAF was a institution of stability that enjoyed great respect from the people.

"Such remarks in the expression of democracy sound nice to one's ears. But I will evaluate these expressions by translating them into clear Turkish" Buyukanit said.

"When talking of religious education, cultural rights, universities, what is this European Union official disturbed about? The Turkish Armed Forces are the force that receives the greatest of respect from the people. Why is he disturbed of the people being influenced by these expressions? What expression does the Turkish Armed Forces have outside of democracy? Or is it that the expressions of the Turkish Armed Forces are pushing the targets of the secret agendas of those making these evaluations? We must know these well." (TK/EK/II/YE)