Turkey and France in diplomatic rift as Sarkozy courts Armenians in …
Facing rejection by voters in the upcoming presidential election, French leader Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative party is being accused of making a crass appeal to the country’s 500,000 ethnic Armenians in an attempt to stave off defeat.
On Monday the French Senate passed by 126 votes to 86 a bill which will make it a criminal offence to deny that the 1915 deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians as the Ottoman Empire collapsed was a genocide.
The bill now only needs Sarkozy’s signature to become law, which he is expected to provide by the end of February.
But, as when the bill passed the lower house of the French National Assembly in December, this week’s development has caused a massive diplomatic rift with Turkey, the modern child of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the French legislation, which threatens offenders with up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $57,000, displayed a “racist and discriminatory� attitude toward Turkey.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, echoing many French political commentators, said “relations between the republic of Turkey and France have been sacrificed to considerations of political agenda.�
Turkey has threatened some as yet unspecified sanctions against France if Sarkozy ratifies the bill.
The mayor of Ankara, the capital, has mused about erecting a memorial outside the French embassy to the thousands of Algerians killed by French troops in the 1950s and 1960s as Paris tried to quell an independence uprising in its North African colony.
But since both countries are members of NATO, there may well be pressure for a resolution from other members of the alliance.
There are already doubts about the legality of the French legislation. So it is likely that the necessary 60 lawmakers will request a reference to the country’s highest court, which will then decide on the bill’s constitutionality.
Successive Turkish governments have never denied that in 1915 hundreds of thousands of Armenians died when the Ottoman Turks deported them from eastern Anatolia to Syria. The Ottoman Turks, who fought with Germany in the First World War, claimed the Armenians were pro-Russian saboteurs preparing to support a czarist invasion.
What the Turks do dispute is the numbers. Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people died while Turks put the number at between 200,000 and 300,000, adding that many thousands of Turks also died of disease and starvation in this criminally bungled operation.
Turkey also disputes that what happened was a genocide in the true meaning of the word, which is defined by the United Nations as a premeditated campaign “to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation, ethnic, racial or religious group.�
The survivors of the 1915 atrocities, about 500,000 of them, found new homes around the world and the diaspora now numbers about seven million people.
In several countries that are now their homes the Armenians represent a significant voting bloc. This has aided persistent campaigns by many of these communities to persuade their governments to recognize the events of 1915 as a genocide.
Canada, Argentina, Italy, Russia, Belgium and France are among about 20 countries that have formally recognized the Ottoman Turks’ action against the Armenians as a genocide.
But some other countries such as the United States, Britain and Israel have shied away from using that highly emotive word.
The controversy over the genocide bill comes as Sarkozy’s campaign for re-election in the two-round presidential vote on April 22 and May 6 appears to be in free-fall.
Indeed, in a supposedly off-the-record chat with reporters accompanying him on a visit to French Guiana on the northeastern coast of South America on Sunday Sarkozy confessed his fears of defeat.
“For the first time in my life I am faced with the possibility that my career is coming to an end,� Sarkozy, 56, is quoted as saying.
He was first elected to the presidency with his Union for a Popular Movement party in 2007, but is trailing the Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande in the polls.
The most likely outcome is that Hollande will win on the second ballot in May when the fistful of smaller party candidates drop off after the first vote.
But many socialists or left-leaning voters see Hollande as an uninspiring candidate when they had hoped to be led by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whose prospects burned out in a New York hotel room in May last year.
And Sarkozy is a formidable campaigner who may well be able to claw back some of his lost support by such niche voter market ploys as the genocide bill.
jmanthorpe@vancouversun.com
Turkey Slams France on Genocide Bill
By JOE PARKINSON and NADYA MASIDLOVER
ISTANBUL—Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced French lawmakers as racist and vowed to retaliate Tuesday after the French Parliament approved a bill making it a crime to deny that the 1915 massacre of Armenians was genocide, marking the latest salvo in an increasingly toxic dispute between Ankara and Paris.
European Pressphoto Agency
Protesters in Paris Monday oppose a bill making it illegal to deny the 1915 killing of Armenians was genocide.
In a speech to lawmakers from his governing AK Party in Parliament in Ankara, Mr. Erdogan described the bill as “discriminatory, racist and unjust.” Turkey would take a “step-by-step” approach to calculate its policy response, he added, suggesting Ankara would hold off from immediately imposing a raft of countermeasures to punish the French government.
The bill, which passed in the French Senate late Monday, is set to make genocide denial punishable by as much as a year in prison and a €45,000 ($58,572) fine for those found guilty.
Ankara denies the killings of Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide. Turkey argues the genocide issue should be left to historians to decide, rather than legislated by governments. France’s government says it is important to “take action against negationists.”
“We won’t let France gain credibility through this because their decision means nothing to us. Our sanctions will be disclosed step by step,” Mr. Erdogan said, to applause from his party.
The comments are likely to further strain diplomatic relations between France and Turkey and raise the prospect of a significant diplomatic rift between the two North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies. The dispute is rattling European Union diplomats who want to strengthen cooperation with Ankara amid Turkey’s influential role in relation to Syria’s uprising and Iran’s nuclear program.
“This is going to get complicated. France are usually big players in public tenders and weapons sales and they will now be completely excluded,” said Atilla Yesilada, a partner at Istanbul-based research firm Global Source Partners. “This could get also get pretty ugly with protests at French companies. Diplomatically, there are a whole range of issues including Syria, Iran and elsewhere where the Turks may now be actively in opposition to the French position.”
Associated Press
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed lawmakers in Ankara.
Yet Mr. Erdogan’s avoidance of immediate measures against Paris contrasted with his reaction in December when France’s lower house passed the bill. Within hours, Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Paris and froze political and military ties.
Despite Ankara’s refusal to give details on what countermeasures could be unveiled, Turkish media speculated on how sanctions could affect business ties with France, Turkey’s seventh-biggest trading partner with $14.8 billion of goods exchanged last year.
Popular daily Milliyet reported Ankara was considering moves to stop French companies bidding for government contracts, permanently recalling its ambassador to Paris, and closing Turkish waters and airspace to French ships and planes.
The prospect of measures that could target business activities appears to be unnerving some of France’s corporate leaders. The number of French companies operating in Turkey has mushroomed in recent years with familiar French businesses like supermarket chain Carrefour SA, insurance firm AXA SA and auto giant Renault SA holding prominent market positions. Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Renault, which employs 12,000 workers in Turkeystressed in an interview with French radio Tuesday that: “Turkey has always worked well with French companies; I hope that this will not change.”
European Union-candidate country Turkey can’t impose direct economic sanctions on France because of its membership in the World Trade Organization and customs-union agreement with Europe. But the row could cost France profitable bilateral business contracts.
Some Turkish officials said retaliatory measures are unlikely to be announced until President Nicolas Sarkozy signs the bill into law, which must happen within 15 days. France’s Interior Minister Claude Gueant indicated Tuesday that the passage of the bill, which has the support of Mr. Sarkozy and the leader of the opposition Socialists Francoise Hollande, would be a formality.
“In a republic like ours, when parliament votes a bill, it is signed into law,” Mr. Gueant said in an interview with local cable TV news channel iTele.
There were signs Tuesday that some French policy makers were becoming nervous that the rift was spiraling out of hand. France’s Foreign Minister Alain Juppé, who had earlier voiced opposition to the vote, played down the importance of the bill and urged the Turkish government to remain calm.
But the spat appears to have already aggravated the icy personal relationship between the French and Turkish leaders, embittered by Mr. Sarkozy’s vocal opposition to Turkey’s bid to join the EU. Mr. Erdogan said Tuesday that Mr. Sarkozy’s grandfather was an Ottoman Jew whose ancestors were banished during from Spain during the inquisition.
“Sarkozy cannot forget his past and cast a shadow over Ottoman tolerance,” Mr. Erdogan said.
Write to Joe Parkinson at joe.parkinson@dowjones.com
France risks Turkey ire with genocide law vote
PARIS — French senators vote Monday on a bill to outlaw denial of the Armenian genocide, a move that a furious Turkey has vowed to punish with “permanent” sanctions if it is passed into law.
The French lower house last month approved the bill which threatens with jail anyone who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide, drawing a first wave of Turkish ire.
Ankara froze political and military ties with France and has promised further measures if the measure is passed by the Senate or is approved by President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose right-wing UMP party put forward the bill.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday repeated Ankara’s fierce opposition to the bill which he said would result in “permanent sanctions”, saying it goes against European values and would not help Turkish-Armenian relations
“There will be more sanctions and this time, the sanctions will be permanent, until the change in French position,” he said.
“It is time for French intellectuals, for French senators to defend our common values, freedom of expression. These are European, French values. This is against these values”.
Around 15,000 Turks from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg rallied peacefully on the streets of Paris on Saturday to protest the law.
Davutoglu cancelled a trip to Brussels on Monday to brief EU foreign ministers on his visit to Tehran before they vote further sanctions over Iran’s nuclear drive, saying he wanted to follow the French vote.
In a bid to defuse the crisis, Sarkozy sent a conciliatory letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, released by the French embassy in Ankara on Friday.
“I hope we can make reason prevail and maintain our dialogue, as befits allied and friendly countries,” Sarkozy wrote, adding that the measure “is in no way aimed at any state or people in particular.”
He expressed the wish that Turkey “assess the common interests which unite our two countries and our two peoples.”
But the bill has not won universal support in the government, where some ministers fear it will hurt diplomatic and trade ties with a NATO ally and major economic partner.
Even Sarkozy’s Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has admitted the bill is “untimely”.
A Senate Laws Commission on Wednesday rejected the bill, but their vote is not expected to prevent the bill becoming law.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in 1915 and 1916 by the forces of Turkey’s former Ottoman Empire.
Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that only 500,000 died, and denies this was genocide, ascribing the toll to fighting and starvation during World War I and accusing the Armenians of siding with Russian invaders.
France recognised the killings as a genocide in 2001, but the new bill would go further, by punishing anyone who denies this with a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).
Modern Turkey is extremely sensitive about the issue, and has accused France of attacking freedom of expression and free historical enquiry.
France is home to an estimated 500,000 citizens of Armenian descent, and Sarkozy’s UMP has been accused of backing the law in order to pander to a key electoral demographic three months ahead of a presidential election.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.
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Turkey asks France to reject genocide bill
ANKARA: Turkey Friday asked French senators to reject a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide which has triggered a diplomatic crisis, as France’s president urged calm and dialogue. The French Senate Monday is set to take up the measure, which has already passed in the lower house, National Assembly.
“We expect [President Nicolas] Sarkozy, his party, and the French Senate to respect European values before anything else. Those who exploit history will themselves suffer from this exploitation,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
“We invite each French senator to stop for a while and think beyond all political interests,” added Davutoglu.
“If the bill passes, it will remain as a black stain in France’s intellectual history,” he said, calling it an “error.”
Turkey continues to deny that the World War I killings of Armenians amounted to genocide.
A French Senate committee Wednesday rejected the bill to outlaw denial of the Armenian genocide, but the move was unlikely to stop the diplomatically fraught legislation from passing the final vote.
In a bid to defuse the crisis, Sarkozy sent a conciliatory letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, released by the French Embassy in Ankara Friday.
“I hope we can make reason prevail and maintain our dialogue, as befits allied and friendly countries,” Sarkozy wrote, adding that the measure “is in no way aimed at any state or people in particular.”
Sarkozy expressed the wish that Turkey “assess the common interests which unite our two countries and our two peoples.”
Ankara froze political and military ties with France when the bill was passed by the National Assembly, and has threatened further measures if it continues through the Senate or is approved by Sarkozy.
A plenary Senate session Monday will now vote on the committee’s motion, but most senators opposed to the legislation are expected to abstain, allowing the Senate to take a final vote on the bill itself.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in 1915 and 1916 by the forces of Turkey’s former Ottoman Empire.
Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that only 500,000 died, and denies this was genocide, ascribing the toll to fighting and starvation during World War I and accusing the Armenians of siding with Russian invaders.
France recognized the killings as a genocide in 2001, but if the bill is passed anyone found guilty of denying that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide would face a death sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).
Perry Slammed by Turkey for Saying Nation Led by Terrorists
Turkey’s government condemned
Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry
for saying the country is ruled by “Islamic terrorists” and
should possibly be kicked out of NATO.
U.S. presidential candidates should be “more knowledgeable
about the world and more careful in their statements,” the
Turkish Foreign Ministry said in an e-mailed statement today.
“Turkey was a NATO member when the governor was a mere two
years old.”
The Republican Party, where Perry is vying to become its
candidate to challenge President Barack Obama, doesn’t employ
the governor’s “unfortunate” views, Turkey said. Perry’s
“weak” support in primaries shows the common sense of the U.S.
electorate, according to the statement.
“Many would perceive” Turkey to be run by Islamic
terrorists, Perry said in the first of two Republican Party
primary debates in South Carolina yesterday. Some view Turkey’s
leadership as terrorist because of their support for Hamas and
the Gaza flotilla, Perry advisor Victoria Coates said, according
to ABC television.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan drew criticism
from U.S. Republicans in 2010 after supporting an attempt to
break Israel’s sea blockade of the Gaza Strip. Nine Turkish
activists were killed by Israeli soldiers. He also hosted
leaders of Palestinian group Hamas, recognized as terrorists by
the U.S. and European Union. Erdogan, whose party is rooted in
an Islamic movement ousted from power by a military-led campaign
in 1997, says he is seeking to boost democracy in Turkey,
including religious freedoms, as the country pursues membership
of the EU.
“Not only is it time for us to have a conversation about
whether or not they belong to be in NATO, but it’s time for the
United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero
with it,” Perry said.
South Carolina holds its primary on Jan. 21. Perry came in
fifth in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 with 10 percent of the vote
after once holding the lead in national opinion polls. He
finished sixth in New Hampshire on Jan. 10 with less than 1
percent of the vote.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Emre Peker in Ankara at
epeker2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew J. Barden at
barden@bloomberg.net
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Iraq Lashes Out at Turkey as Sunni-Shiite Rift Grows
By JOE PARKINSON in Istanbul and SAM DAGHER in
Erbil, Iraq
Iraq summoned Turkey’s ambassador on Monday to protest what it called Ankara’s meddling in Iraqi politics, the latest sign of a rising rift between Sunni Turkey and its Shiite neighbors.
Iraq’s government was angered by recent warnings from Turkish leaders that Sunni-Shiite tensions in Iraq could engulf the entire Islamic world, as well as by Turkey’s support for a Sunni rival to Iraq’s Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
“Turkey interferes by backing certain political figures and blocs” in Iraq, Mr. Maliki told The Wall Street Journal last month. “I believe Turkey is unqualified to intervene in the region’s flash points.” In a weekend interview with Arabic language Al-Hurra TV station, Mr. Maliki went further. “Unfortunately, Turkey is playing a role that could lead to a catastrophe or civil war in the region,” he said.
Iraqi officials were particularly angered by public Turkish comments on the case of Tariq al-Hashemi, Iraq’s Sunni vice president. Mr. Hashemi took refuge in Kurdish-ruled northern Iraq late last year, after the government accused him of leading death squads against Shiites.
But analysts say the rapid deterioration of relations between Ankara and Baghdad also reflects the wider conflicting interests of Sunni Turkey and Shiite Iran in the wake of the U.S. drawdown from Iraq and of the Arab Spring, now lapping at the borders of both Iraq and Turkey, in Syria.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned on the eve of a visit to Tehran earlier this month against the risk of a “Cold War” developing between Shiites and Sunnis across the Middle East.
“Tension is now rising between Turkey and Iran and it will be increasingly difficult to manage as it’s being aggravated by sectarian tensions. These problems are likely to be long-term; I don’t see an easy solution,” said Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Baghdad’s concerns also have been fueled lately by fears that Syria’s uprising is developing into a Sunni insurgency that Mr. Maliki has said could spread “like a house on fire,” into Iraq. A fresh wave of violence has killed more than 200 Iraqis since the end of the U.S. military mission on Dec. 18.
Unlike Iraq, which is majority Shiite, Syria is about 75% Sunni, but it is governed mainly by a minority of Alawites, a Shiite sect. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad’s Tehran-backed regime has expressed deep anger and distrust of Ankara due to its decision to provide haven to mainly Sunni Syrian rebels.
Turkey says its actions are purely humanitarian, made in the face of Syria’s brutal crackdown on protesters. It also denies any effort to meddle in Iraqi politics.
Turkish analysts say Ankara is a reluctant hard-power player in the region. for all its neo-Ottoman pretensions, Only a year ago, Mr. Assad was Exhibit A in Turkey’s “zero-problems-with-neighbors” foreign policy. That approach boosted relations and trade with neighboring Muslim regimes, while downgrading ties with former ally Israel. The Arab Spring, however, upended that policy as allies such as former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi were pushed aside and Shiite-Sunni tensions rose across the region. In a major change, Turkey agreed last fall to host a North Atlantic Treaty Organization missile-defense system, which was designed by the U.S. to contain Iran.
Turkish and U.S. diplomats say they now cannot remember a time when cooperation between Ankara and Washington was closer, after a period of significant strain in 2009-2010.
“When Prime Minister Erdogan came to Washington in 2009, he sounded almost like the ambassador from Iran. Now he sounds quite different…After a period of suspicion, Turkey and the United States have come closer together,” said Stephen Kinzer, a visiting professor of international relations at Boston University.
Turkish officials insist relations with Tehran remain strong.Turkey buys around 30% of its oil from Iran and is the second-largest consumer of Iranian gas, after Russia. Official data shows that Turkey’s bilateral trade volume with Iraq in 2011 jumped by nearly 50% on the year to $11 billion, with much of the increase coming in the Shiite-dominated areas around Baghdad and in the South.
In an interview inside Iraqi Kurdistan this month, Mr. Hashemi said that while his political bloc had received advice from Turkey and others, it was no tool for outside powers. “I am not part of the Turkish geopolitical project,” said Mr. Hashemi. He criticized Mr. Maliki’s “conspiratorial” mind and said that his frequent visits to Turkey last year were mostly private.
Earlier, in October, a key aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini told Iran’s Mehr news agency that Turkey should radically rethink its policies on Syria, the NATO missile shield and promoting secularism in the Arab world. Otherwise, Ankara would face trouble from its own people and neighbors, he said.
Still there is little disguising the building tensions between Ankara and its Shiite neighbors, including Tehran.
In December, Ankara sought an explanation from Tehran after Hussain Ibrahimi, chief of the Iranian parliament’s national-security committee, told an Iranian newspaper that if Iran were to be attacked, its first retaliatory strike would be against the NATO missile defense radar in eastern Turkey.
Earlier, in October, a key aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini told Iran’s Mehr news agency that Turkey should radically rethink its policies on Syria, the NATO missile shield and promoting secularism in the Arab world. Otherwise, Ankara would face trouble from its own people and neighbors, he said.
Write to Joe Parkinson at joe.parkinson@dowjones.com and Sam Dagher at sam.dagher@wsj.com
Fergie grounded as she fears being extradited to Turkey
HOLIDAY-LOVING Fergie has grounded herself amid fears she will be arrested if she travels abroad.
The Duchess of York was due to fly to the US this week.
But lawyers warned she could be detained under an international arrest warrant after she was charged in her absence by Turkish authorities last week over a TV documentary she secretly filmed in 2008.
Fergie, 52, is accused of “breaking the law in acquiring footage and violating privacy” over the filming of five children in her shocking exposé of Turkish orphanages. She could face up to 22 years in jail if found guilty.
Fergie has been told she can’t be extradited from the UK where such filming would not be considered a criminal offence.
But lawyers say she could be arrested if she visits any country that has an extradition treaty with Turkey, such as the USA. She has now cancelled her trip, believed to be to New York.
The self-imposed ban will be a massive blow to Fergie, who is said to be devastated by the news that she is stuck in the UK.
UNDERCOVER
A friend said: “Sarah is in shock, this has all come out of the blue. She didn’t expect charges to be brought so long after her trip to Turkey and certainly didn’t expect that she would be unable to go abroad.”
Lawyers said she would “probably be OK” in the US but she cancelled to avoid the risk.
In Duchess and Daughters: Their Secret Mission, Fergie and daughter Eugenie went undercover for ITV Tonight to examine the plight of Turkish orphans.
Disguised in a wig and headscarf she went to the Saray Institution near the capital of Ankara and filmed filthy, neglected disabled children who were tied to their beds.
At the time the Turkish government accused her of taking part in a “smear campaign” when they were hoping to join the European Union.
Fergie, who also filmed orphanages in Romania with other daughter Beatrice, said she was “apolitical”.
Chris Rogers, the reporter who travelled with the Duchess for the undercover trip, said: “Sarah and I witnessed children dressed in rags at Turkey’s Saray Institution, which had 700 unwanted, disabled youngsters shut up within its walls.
“There was a terrible stench of urine, sweat and vomit. We saw children tied to benches like dogs, women with their arms pinned behind their back and covered in faeces.”
Yesterday Fergie’s spokesman said: “She is not travelling at the moment. She’s staying in the UK to sort this.”
COMMENT: Page 14
Turkey charges Duchess of York over orphan film
ANKARA — Turkish prosecutors have charged the Duchess of York for secretly filming a documentary critical of conditions in Turkish orphanages, the Turkish media reported Thursday.
The Anatolia news agency said the duchess, better known as Sarah Ferguson or simply as Fergie, is accused of violating the privacy of five children when she filmed with a hidden camera at an orphanage outside Ankara in 2008.
Britain has already rejected a 2009 request from Ankara for the duchess’s extradition.
A spokesman for the duchess said: “The Duchess of York has fully co-operated with both the Turkish and British authorities at all times on this issue.
“British ministers refused to accede to the further request for legal assistance from Turkey so from a UK perspective we have been told by the Home Office the case is closed.
“We were told the reasons for refusal were that the minister considered that to provide the assistance requested would have been likely to prejudice the sovereignty, security, public order or other essential interests of the United Kingdom.
“The action today reported by the Turkish authorities is news to all.”
A British Foreign Office spokeswoman said it was not government practice to comment on individual judicial processes, although it expected “high legal and judicial standards to be observed.”
“It would be premature and inappropriate to speculate on possible outcomes at this stage,” added the ministry.
Ferguson, who has recently struggled with her personal finances, was caught by undercover News of the World journalist Mazher Mahmoud in 2010 offering access to Prince Andrew for £500,000.
The documentary, screened on Britain’s ITV1 television channel in November 2008, depicts disturbing scenes at the orphanage for handicapped children, including one where a child is seen encased in a wooden box.
Turkish prosecutors are seeking a prison term of between seven and a maximum of more than 22 years. No date has been set for any trial.
Ankara has accused Ferguson of malice and trying to stain Turkey’s reputation as the country tries to gain entry into the European Union.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.
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Two Leaders of Turkey’s 1980 Coup Indicted
In Turkey, the two surviving leaders of a 1980 military coup have been charged with crimes against the state. The move is seen by many as an important step in the country facing up to its dark past of military rule.
The leader of the 1980 Turkish coup, retired general Kenan Evren, and a co-conspirator, former air force chief Tahsin Sahinkaya, have been indicted by an Ankara court on crimes against the state.
Reaction
In Taksim Square in the center of Istanbul, the scene of a massacre preceding the coup, there is mixed reaction from people to the indictments.
“He had made a coup, and lots of people had been tortured,” said a passerby. “He killed lots of people. That is why have to prosecute him.”
“No, no, I do not agree,” he added. “I believe in him because I lived those times, and I know what happened. Government should send him to court because he destroyed democracy. Still people hate him. For example, my father was tortured by the soldiers.”
The generals seized power in 1980 after years of political unrest, which claimed hundreds of lives. Prosecutors claim much of that unrest was incited by the army.
Aftermath of coup
The years of military rule that followed saw 50 people executed and hundreds of thousands more detained, many of whom were tortured. One of them was Defne Sandalye.
“I was arrested twice after the coup d’etat,” said Sandalye. “I spent most of my time at the interrogation center, which was the torture center. First time, I was there for a month, and then I was released, and then five months later, I was arrested again. Then I spent three-and-half months in the torture center.”
The indictment of the two surviving coup leaders comes as Turkey is finally facing up to its dark years of military rule.
“It is important to do this because Turkish people are suffering from an historical amnesia, and they not very apt to facing their past,” added Sandalye. “Also people easily surrender to authority here. For long years, no one questioned, nobody questioned what the army is capable of and what it has been doing.”
AK Party and army
Throughout its decade rule, the Islamic-based AK Party has sought to bring the secularist army to heel. In 2010, constitutional reforms were passed in a referendum that lifted the immunity of the coup leaders.
But the timing of the indictments against the coup leaders has raised some questions.
“They should be prosecuted because they committed a crime, which cannot be legitimized nor justified,” said political columnist Kadri Gurcel of the Turkish newspaper Milliyet. “But I see this one as a purely tactical step to divert the discussion, which will also change the agenda.”
The government is facing growing domestic and international criticism for its human-rights record. The European Union has been highly critical of Turkey’s human rights and its judiciary. Ending the army’s role in politics is one of the government’s main human-rights goals as Turkey tries to gain EU membership.
A significant step
Political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Bahcesehir University says whatever the motivations behind the prosecution of the coup leaders, it remains a significant step for Turkish democracy.
“It is symbolic,” said Aktar. “It is very important. That man [Evren] organized and chaired the junta. And he was having a beautiful life in the Turkish Riviera until now. I think it is high time for him to pay for his crimes. Because the 1980 coup did a great deal of damage to democratic life in this country, and we are still living with the consequences of this 1980 coup.”
The prosecutors have sought life imprisonment for the coup leaders – Kenan Evren, who is 94 years old, and Tahsin Sahinkaya, who is 86. For the victims of military rule, there is hope that those responsible will be held to account in court, something observers say was unthinkable only a few years ago.
Turk general will seek supreme court trial: lawyer
ISTANBUL |
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The former head of Turkey’s armed forces, General Ilker Basbug, should be tried in the supreme court if he is charged with plotting to overthrow the government, his lawyer told Reuters.
Lawyer Ilkay Sezer said late on Saturday that Basbug had worked in tandem with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party government for seven years and he was stunned by the belated accusations against him.
“There has been no allegation of a crime until now, that is one and a half years following his retirement … He says it is beyond his comprehension,” Sezer told Reuters.
Sezer said any indictment should be framed by the Supreme Court of Appeals and the case heard by Turkey’s top court.
Basbug, military chief of staff from 2008-2010, was sent to Silivri prison, outside Istanbul, on Friday after an Istanbul court ordered he be remanded in custody while the prosecution completed its investigation and prepared formal charges.
Sezer said he was appealing against the custody order.
Military chiefs were once regarded as the most powerful men in Turkey after a series of coups in the late 20th century but since coming to power in 2002 Erdogan’s government has introduced reforms that considerably reduced the influence of the generals.
Although hundreds of officers have been detained over the past year suspected of involvement in alleged plots against the government, the action against Basbug stunned many Turks.
There were small pro-military protests in the cities of Bursa, Mersin and Afyon on Saturday, involving a couple of hundred people, according to newspaper reports. The protesters carried Turkish flags and banners that read “Not a submissive, but resistant army” and “Army and people, hand in hand.”
The secularist military has a history of tension with the AK due to the party’s Islamist roots, although the party shuns the Islamist label and describes itself as socially conservative.
The case against Basbug centers on websites spreading propaganda against Erdogan’s government that the military was accused of running until 2008. Several of Basbug’s subordinates have been indicted. No formal charges have yet been laid against Basbug.
The retired chief is also accused of leading a gang of anti-government conspirators.
The case is linked to Ergenekon, an alleged ultra-nationalist network police say they first unearthed in 2007. Hundreds of people have been jailed in the investigation, including journalists, academics, lawyers and military officers.
“We, and many jurists, claim that if there is a need for a separate indictment, this should be done by the Supreme Court of Appeals and if a trial is required, then it should be held by Supreme Council,” Sezer said.
The Constitutional Court also functions as the Supreme Criminal Court to hear cases brought against the country’s highest officials for crimes related to their official duties.
One of Erdogan’s four deputy prime ministers, Bulent Arinc said on Saturday he hoped the legal process would be speedy and distanced the government from the case.
“I hope the court process on Basbug is completed as soon as possible,” Arinc said. “Nobody has the luxury to commit crimes in Turkey, and the judiciary is independent.”
(Reporting by Can Sezer; Writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Janet Lawrence)