'Feb. 28 Coup Circumstances Re-emerging' (Newsweek has published a very striking article on Turkey)

11.28.2006 Tuesday - ISTANBUL Zaman
'Feb. 28 Coup Circumstances Re-emerging'
By Anka, New York
Monday, November 27, 2006
zaman.com
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=politics&alt=&trh=20061128&hn=38699

The American news magazine Newsweek has published a very striking
article on Turkey.

The circumstances that produced the Feb. 28 coup d'etat are re-emerging
today, the magazine wrote, adding that the chances of a military coup in
Turkey occurring in 2007 were about 50-50.

The author of the article, Zeyno Baran, is an international relation
theorist at the Hudson Institute and an expert on international security
and energy programs.

Baran noted that she had met with senior military officers in recent weeks.

Reportedly, the military officers have expressed that while they would
not want to see an interruption in democracy, "the military may soon
have to step in to protect secularism."

Although most Turks believe Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is more
moderate than his predecessor Necmettin Erbakan, he is nonetheless an
Islamist, Baran wrote, and she drew close attention to president Ahmet
Necdet Sezer's and the new chief of the General Staff, Gen. Yasar
Buyukanit's warnings.

Describing the military as people who mean what they say, Baran said the
main factors behind developments in Turkey were European Union demands.

"Never mind Cyprus, or the new human-rights laws Turkey has willingly
passed under European pressure. The real problem is the EU's core
demand: more civilian control over the military," Baran wrote.

Senior military officers are concerned this will create a more Islamist
Turkey and believe, "the nation simply cannot afford to follow the EU on
issues that would theoretically ensure, but in reality endanger, its
future as a secular democracy."