Due to recent events surrounding the election of the Turkish President, the Turkish military, look as though they may again become involved in the political arena. The issue of secularism is the cause for the escalation of the recent events surrounding the presidential election. The presidential election is just one aspect which has been a catalyst for a reaction from the military and the Turkish people who fear their treasured secularism may be threatened now or in the near future.
This affair began on April 27
th when the Turkish parliament failed to elect a new President in the first round of voting, Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul came close to gaining the two thirds majority of votes needed to be elected, but the nationalist opposition claimed that the election was illegitimate as not enough members of Parliament took part. Then on the 29
th of April there were demonstrations by both pro Islamists and secularists, there were hundreds of thousands of people at these demonstrations. At this stage the military began to become involved in the situation, through the issuing of a statement the military announced that it was a "staunch defender of secularism" and that they would present their position on the matter "when it becomes necessary". The governing party in Turkey at present is the AK party which is descended from the Welfare Party who were forced from government in 1997 by the military and subsequently banned, this was due to their Islamist roots. The AK party may be descended from the Welfare party but they have, since they came into government, been very careful not to antagonise the secularists. The AK party have created a more "European" Turkey and have successfully begun and completed the first stage of EU accession negotiations. They made a necessary compromise but acknowledging the officialdom of the Republic of Cyprus.
The reason why their has been so much controversy over an AK party member being president is that having both an Islamist Prime minister and President is not a prospect favoured by the secularists. The president may not have as much power as the prime minister but one important and controversial role the President does have is that of being the Chief of General Staff of the Army. The Chief of General staff would also be responsible for chairing the meetings involving officers who are suspected of leading a religious private life and thus would be removed from the armed services. The Turkish Army believes itself to be the defended of secularism within Turkey and has on four previous occasions removed governments who may have been a threat to secularism. In the past decade the political power of the military has been weakened thanks to a series of replacements within the head council of the military, although an EU commission reported last November that the army continues to exert a "significant political influence". On May 6th the Turkish parliament failed again to elect a president and in order to avoid escalating this political crisis there has been an early general election called for July. One priority which the AK party has is to make the Presidential elections elections for the people, this is a direct punch aimed at the opposition but indirectly aimed at secularism which has caused all this controversy. The AK party believe that an Islamist rooted politician would be elected by the Turkish people and even though Mr. Gul is proposed as being an EU man his faith will also render him under suspicion.
The key actors in this affair include: the Turkish parliament, including the ruling AK party and the opposition, the Turkish Military, the constitutional court, the Turkish people and the European Union. In the previous two paragraphs I have already mentioned how the Military have become involved and of their previous exploits in the history of Turkey's political arena. The AK party is also one of the key actors and is attempting to create a European Union friendly Turkey, they do so without forgetting their Islamist roots but seem to be careful not to bring their religion into their politics, although it seems that to do this is almost unavoidable despite their good intentions, as the opposition is consistently directly and indirectly accusing them of mixing their religion and politics. The opposition in parliament are another actor who seem to be willing to use every avenue to prevent an AK party member from becoming President whether it be the constitutional court or the military. The constitutional court has already played quite a significant role as it declared the first presidential election invalid and invoked a response from the Prime Minister who accused the court of firing a shot at the heart of democracy. The Turkish people could see a division emerge between them as many Islamists and secularists have taken a keen interest in this affair as is evident from the large numbers of people who protested in both Ankara and Istanbul. The final actor is the European Union who has already warned off the Turkish military and may have to do so again if necessary, although it might make little difference. Maybe the "modernised" version of the council of the military will value more the prospect of European membership and therefore take EU opinion more seriously.
