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 Threats of Terrorism and Religious Excess
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Genelkurmay Başkanı Yaşar Büyükanıt
commemorates 'Victory Day' 2006 at Atatürk's Mausoleum  Thanks to Turkish Daily News 31 August 2006 |
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According to Turkey's CJCS Yaşar Büyükanıt
The Two Major Threats to Turkish Welfare -- terrorism and religious excess In one of his first official statements since assuming command as the country's top military officer, the new Genelkurmay Başkanı (Chairman of the Turkish Joint Chiefs of Staff), Yaşar Büyükanıt, identified two major threats to the welfare of the Turkish Republic. They are, he said, irtica (reactionaryism -- read 'religious excess' in government) and bölücülük (divisiveness -- read, the PKK terrorist threat). As if to punctuate the ominous warning of the General's words, a bomb exploded -- almost as he spoke -- in the Mediterranean coastal city of Mersin, wounding a civilian. It was the fourth bombing (that has killed three and injured dozens in coastal resorts and Istanbul) in the past week. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) has claimed responsibility in each case.
TAK is a particularly menacing arm of the PKK terrorist group that has waged guerilla warfare in Turkey since 1984 -- seeking to establish a Kurdish state (partially within Turkey's southern-eastern borders) by murderous force. To date, more than 37,000 Turkish citizens and soldiers have died in the conflict.
The other day, TAK threatened to turn "Turkey into a hell" and issued a warning to tourists against visiting the country. These recent bomb attacks against guiltless civilians in some of Turkey's finest resort areas are the latest in the terrorist's campaign of intimidation.
Guerilla attacks in Southeast Turkey have escalated in the past several months, leaving dozens of Turkish soldiers and PKK guerrillas dead and wounded. To quell the increased violence, the Turkish military has occupied crucial parts of the region, placing tanks and artillery along the Iraqi border -- to check terrorist infiltration from the south. Were it not for a controversial 'diplomatic' intervention by the United States, the Turkish military would have already leveled the PKK guerrilla camps in northern Iraq -- a safe-haven to PKK terrorists for decades.
Despite its 'diplomatic' intervention, the United States (together with the European Union) has long identified the PKK as a terrorist organization. And just yesterday the US announced the appointment of retired US Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston (he of the adulterous affair during a separation from his wife in the 1980's that cost him the job of US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1997) -- as Washington's special envoy to deal with the PKK peril.
A Turkish-establishment friend of ours believes that failure to show progress in resolving the PKK Problem by the time of the next Turkish General Election (to be held no later than October 2007), will result in the defeat at the polls of the currently-ruling Religious-Right AKP government. Hmmm...
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