>From: Press Agency Ozgurluk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: "[Ozgurluk.Org]" Turkish press gets coup jitters > >BBC: > >Saturday, 23 December, 2000, 11:03 GMT >Turkish press gets coup jitters > ><photo> > >Police used water cannon to break up leftist protests The Turkish >Government's decision to use force to end the stand-off with striking >inmates in the country's prisons has caused increasing unease in parts of >the press. > >Article: > >A number of left-leaning papers expressed concerns about the government's >handling of the prison crisis, with at least one commentator suggesting >that the ground was being prepared for a military coup. > >"Turkey is falling apart at the seams," a columnist wrote in the centrist >mass-circulation Milliyet. "In the wake of the incidents over the amnesty >bill, F-type prisons, and the hunger strikes, there is growing doubt about >the strength of the government." > >Writing in the liberal mass circulation Sabah, Cetin Altan said recent >events were familiar. > >"Casting an oblique glance around us, we too are coming to the conclusion >that the ground is being prepared for the introduction of a military >diktat," he wrote. > >"It is always the same: first comes utter chaos and then a military >diktat. Today's developments instill such a fear in our minds, whether we >like it or not." > >Global impact > >Mr Altan said the Turkish state had been slow in coming to grips with the >impact of globalisation. > >"After the transition to a military diktat, a schism could be created in >the country and after a bloody shock wave similar to a civil war, Nato and >US forces could intervene to pacify the country. Then it would be easier >for the country to change the status quo," he wrote. > >"The new cadres to come to power would speedily solve the Cyprus and the >Aegean problems, as well as the problem of the southeast, that is, the >Kurdish problem." > >"We should not have let the 20th century pass us by with such a shameful >fiasco," Mr Altan concluded. > >No conspiracy > >A columnist in the mass-circulation left-wing Cumhuriyet appeared to agree. > > >Ilhan Selcuk said that in times of grave national events Turks always say >that 'Our country is experiencing the biggest crisis of the history of the >Turkish Republic'. > >"When you start hearing this said over and over again, it is not a prophecy >that something will happen... Turkey is experiencing a crisis as big as >any in the past," Selcuk wrote. > >"The hidden forces of the state swing into action... the urge to live >takes over. Are we at that point again?" > >But writing in Milliyet, Hasan Cemal took a less apocalyptic view. > >"Is it a conspiracy? ... Please don't bother with conspiracy theories. >We should well know that the cure for such poison is the transparency of a >democratic regime and a government clearly under the rule of law," he >wrote. > >Confusion > >A number of papers pointed to what they saw as confusion in leading >government circles over the events leading up to the decision to launch >theown, as well as to discrepancies in the official casualty toll. > >"For instance, Internal Affairs Minister Sadettin Tantan denied anyone was >on a hunger strike while Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said the >protests had reached a critical point and the operation was unavoidable," >Melik Asik wrote in Milliyet. > >Radikal newspaper reported that, according to Eren Keskin, the chairman of >the Istanbul Human Rights Organisation, 54 prisoners had apparently "gone >missing" during the course of the operations. > >"We asked the chief prosecutor where these people were. He said he did not >know," the paper quoted Mr Keskin as saying. > > >-- >Press Agency Ozgurluk >In Support of the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey >http://www.ozgurluk.org >DHKC: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for geopolitics. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
