Friday, March 02, 2007
Turkey's PM and army general clash over Kurdish militants
Turkey, Kurdistan, Politics
(Reuters) Turkey's prime minister and top army general clashed over Iraq on Thursday in a growing row that underscores tensions between the government and the powerful military ahead of presidential elections due in May. During a recent trip to Washington, armed forces' chief Yasar Buyukanit accused Iraqi Kurdish leaders of helping Turkish Kurdish militants hiding in northern Iraq and said Turkey should avoid any contact with them.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government shares the army's concerns that Iraq's Kurds aim to set up an independent state and could fan separatism in Turkey's large Kurdish population. But Erdogan said in an interview with CNN Turk television broadcast on Thursday that the remarks were the "personal" views of Buyukanit, and asserted his government's right to determine Turkish foreign policy.
"(Buyukanit's words) could never be an institutional statement. If it were, it would sow chaos in our democratic, secular, law-based state," Erdogan said, making clear it is not for the generals to decide who Turkey speaks to. "The last word, institutionally speaking, lies with the government," Erdogan added. Later on Thursday however, the military General Staff issued a curt statement saying: "The views expressed by the head of the General Staff are naturally not personal views but those of the General Staff as an institution."
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government shares the army's concerns that Iraq's Kurds aim to set up an independent state and could fan separatism in Turkey's large Kurdish population. But Erdogan said in an interview with CNN Turk television broadcast on Thursday that the remarks were the "personal" views of Buyukanit, and asserted his government's right to determine Turkish foreign policy.
"(Buyukanit's words) could never be an institutional statement. If it were, it would sow chaos in our democratic, secular, law-based state," Erdogan said, making clear it is not for the generals to decide who Turkey speaks to. "The last word, institutionally speaking, lies with the government," Erdogan added. Later on Thursday however, the military General Staff issued a curt statement saying: "The views expressed by the head of the General Staff are naturally not personal views but those of the General Staff as an institution."
Labels: Kurds, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Yasar Buyukanit
