TURKEY - May 29 - Military 'Not Against Joining EU'.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit rejects suggestions that the armed forces oppose Ankara's bid for membership of the EU. He says Ankara is already a part of Europe and is bound to join after first applying 40 years ago. He says the "Turkish armed forces cannot be against the EU" because joining the union is the "ultimate geopolitical... condition" for fulfilling the modernising legacy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. (His comments are significant, as some EU diplomats fear the powerful military will block human rights reforms, necessary to enable Ankara to start accession talks. Buyukanit was primarily responding to Turkish and foreign press reports suggesting military ambivalence on human rights reforms). Buyukanit said the EU should show understanding of the special circumstances of Turkey as a country "encircled by instabilities and insecurities". He also said that Islamic fundamentalists and Kurdish terrorists would never be allowed to abuse Ankara's EU bid as "a means of realising their archaic and separatist goals". Such aims were at odds not only with the secular and unitary Turkish state but also with the "supreme ideals" of the EU itself, he said. Although he did not spell it out, the military leadership fears the ruling Justice and Development Party, which insists it has eschewed its Islamist roots, could be influenced by fundamentalists. Buyukanit was speaking a day after the National Security Council, which includes military and civilian leaders, decided to hold a special session to discuss a human rights reform package prepared by the government to help the country meet the EU political criteria requiring a fully functioning democracy and civilian control over the military. Gen. Tuncer Kilinc, the council's secretary-general who does not necessarily reflect the views of the military leadership, recently wrote to the government to voice concern about three provisions in its eight-point package. He objected specifically to allowing Kurdish-language broadcasting on private television channels and revising provisions in anti-terror legislation restricting freedom of expression. "The military are declaring to their own rank and file that the EU goal is important", said Mehmet Ali Birand, author of a book on the Turkish military and a leading media commentator, adding: "They are also asking the EU for reassurance that their hands won't be tied on being able to fight fundamentalism and separatism as long as Turkey is not assured of EU membership".