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Turkey's military says plot report is smear campaign
Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:04am EDT
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By Zerin Elci and Ibon Villelabeitia
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's top general said on Friday that reports of a military plot to undermine the government were part of a smear campaign to divide the armed forces and pledged he would never tolerate coup activities.
Liberal newspaper Taraf recently published what it said was a document drafted in April by a navy colonel on stopping the ruling AK Party and a religious movement from "destroying Turkey's secular order and replacing it by an Islamist state."
The controversy has raised tensions between the military and the AK Party, which has roots in political Islam but also embraces center-right and nationalist forces. The army has removed three government in the last 50 years and sees itself as the ultimate guarantor of Turkey's secular political system.
"We see this piece of paper as part of an organized smear campaign to weaken the military. This is an attempt to stir up and divide the military," General Ilker Basbug told a rare news conference flanked by his senior commanders in a show of unity.
"The military does not shelter those that would engage in (coup) activities. I give my guarantee as the chief of the Turkish Armed Forces," a stern-looking Basbug said in comments that were broadcast live on television channels across Turkey.
The report, which has put the once-untouchable military on the defensive, has underlined the waning influence of the generals as the Muslim country has pushed liberal reforms aimed at winning membership of the European Union, analysts said.
"The era when the military in Turkey could take charge of the country are over and it has become more answerable to the public," said Hugh Pope, an author of books on Turkey.
"There is a readjustment under way in the civilian-military relationship in Turkey," he said.
Markets have ignored the row for now, seeing little risk of a military coup against the ruling party. Financial markets strengthened on Friday as hopes of a fresh loan deal with the International Monetary Fund supported sentiment, dealers said.
GUARDIANS OF SECULAR TURKEY
The military is seen as one of the most trusted institutions in Turkey, but recent setbacks have damaged its prestige.
Senior retired officers and serving military were among those arrested in connection with a separate coup plot allegation, known as the "Ergenekon" case.
Failed attempts by the secularist establishment to block the AK Party from taking control of Turkey's key institutions and from promoting religion in public life have backfired, weakening the military in a long power struggle with pious Muslims.
The AK Party has managed to take the moral high ground since Taraf broke the story even if it turns out not to be authentic. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who was in Brussels on Friday to revive Turkey's EU bid, pledged to press on with an investigation into the report.
"We will not allow democracy to be harmed," he said. Continued...
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