Turkey's Islamists fall to army-led campaign
Turkey's Islamists fall to army-led campaign
By Jonathan Lyons
ISTANBUL (Reuters): A Turkish court decision last Friday to
outlaw the Welfare Party marks the final blow in a year-long
battle led by the country's fiercely secularist generals to crush
the forces of political Islam.
Five months after Turkey's chief prosecutor first demanded the
Islam-based party be banned for undermining the official secular
order, the head of the constitutional court slammed the door on
the Welfare era.
The court also banned party chief and former prime minister
Necmettin Erbakan, at 71 a veteran of two earlier party bans,
from any political leadership post for the next five years.
But analysts say the anti-Islamist call to arms was first
sounded on Febr. 28, 1997, when the top brass demanded in public
then-Prime Minister Erbakan choke off the very religious revival
that helped make Welfare Party Turkey's biggest faction.
Within five months Erbakan had resigned, the victim of
unrelenting political pressure from the armed forces -- easily
Turkey's most respected institution -- and their allies in the
business and political elite.
"The period that punished Welfare will go down in history as
the '28 Febr. Era,'" wrote political commentator Ismet Berkan in
the mainstream daily Radikal.
Certainly the commanders' orders to a sitting prime minister,
and the underlying threat to unleash tanks in the streets if
required, marked the army's boldest foray into civilian politics
since a coup in 1980.
This time the army used its control of the National Security
Council, empowered by the constitution to protect the secularist
system, to demand Erbakan limit religious education, restrict the
secretive Islamic brotherhoods and enforce bans on Islamic dress.
Other steps included investigations of Islamist-owned
business, a big source of party funds, and cutting off funds for
overseas Turkish students who engage in Islamist agitation.
Finally, the army and its political allies induced a number of
resignations from the ruling coalition, driving modern Turkey's
first Islamist leader from office on June 18, 1997.
But Berkan told Reuters there was no need to look for the hand
of the top force commanders in Friday's verdict. He said the
country's establishment, including the courts, was in agreement:
"The end result was the same...Everyone has seen that Welfare has
its place in Turkey's political life, but what we see here is the
resistance to it from the (secularist) system."
One Western diplomat said domestic politics virtually demanded
the party's closure.
No one, least of all the new conservative-led coalition that
enjoys the support of the army, wants to allow Erbakan another
chance at winning any future election.
"I could see a triumphant Erbakan reaping enormous political
and electoral benefits from winning the seal of approval from the
country's highest court," the diplomat said.
"It would lead to a situation with the army more tense than
anything we saw back in 1997."
Despite the long run-up to the court decision, Welfare and its
leaders appeared ill-prepared for the ban.
Under Turkish law Welfare can effectively reorganize under
another banner, as Erbakan himself had done after he faced party
bans in the wake of coups in 1971 and 1980.
But to do that, the party will have to overcome an incipient
power struggle as younger members, well aware that Erbakan's age
may preclude a return to active politics, eye his chair.
"Until now Erbakan has kept a firm rein on the party, not
allowing the search for new alternatives to surface. It is
unclear how long he will be able to continue to do so," analyst
Ali Bayramoglu told Reuters.
"The party does not have a prepared strategy to follow..." he
said.