New Turk Army Chief Vows Pro-Secular Stand

The new army chief has vowed to keep up the battle against Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey, quashing widespread speculation that, under his command, the rigidly pro-secular armed forces would take a softer approach to the resurgent Islamist movement and keep out of politics.

Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu, who officially takes charge today, reserved the bulk of a speech he delivered Friday during a ceremony in honor of his predecessor to warning of the dangers posed to Turkey’s pro-secular regime by the “dark forces of fundamentalism.”

“Those who seek to undermine the secular state,” he said, “will continue to face the Turkish armed forces as they did before.”

The armed forces last week filed a defamation suit against a pro-Islamic daily for publishing a report claiming that Kivrikoglu is a “soft-hearted general” who will tolerate political Islam.

The Turkish military, which has seized power three times in 75 years, views itself as the custodian of the pro-secular, Western-style republic founded by Kemal Ataturk in 1923. That role was rendered official in the present constitution, drawn up by the generals when they last seized power, in 1980. They returned control to a civilian government in 1983.

Fears of a fresh coup resurfaced after Turkey’s first pro-Islamic government, led by Necmettin Erbakan, came to power in 1996. Erbakan’s overtures toward Iran and Libya--coupled with his efforts to introduce a more religious tone into public life--triggered a prolonged standoff with the military. It culminated with his resignation last year.

The generals have continued to keep up pressure on the ruling minority coalition, led by conservative Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, to pursue the anti-Islamist crusade. Government moves against the Islamists have included the Constitutional Court’s ban in January on Erbakan’s Islamist Welfare Party, on charges that it sought during its year in power to replace the secular order with one based on radical Islam. Erbakan and six other Welfare leaders were barred from politics for five years on similar charges.

Erbakan and 11 fellow Islamists are now facing up to three years in jail for allegedly diverting $3.6 million to the new Islamist party, Virtue, which was hastily formed to replace Welfare. Party Chairman Recai Kutan is among the accused.

But the Islamists are thriving on their setbacks. The Virtue Party has been leading its pro-secular rivals in recent opinion polls, including one conducted by the military, and the Islamists are widely expected to win general elections scheduled for April.