If Turkey goes fully under islamic control, all heck will break loose in short order, and everyone should be aware of how close we are to that possibility –
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish court on Friday convicted 330 military officers, including the former air force and navy chiefs, of plotting to overthrow the Islamic-based government in 2003, state television reported, in a case that has helped curtail the military’s hold on politics.
A panel of three judges at the court on Istanbul’s outskirts initially sentenced former air force chief Ibrahim Firtina, former navy chief Ozden Ornek and former army commander Cetin Dogan to life imprisonment but later reduced the sentence to a 20-year jail term, TRT reported. The three were accused of masterminding the plot.
The court also convicted 327 other active or retired officers for involvement in the conspiracy, sentencing some to as much as 18 years in prison. Thirty-four were acquitted while the case against one was postponed for health reasons.
The officers were expected to appeal the verdict.
The trial of the high-ranking officers — unconceivable a decade ago — has helped significantly to tip the balance of power in Turkey in favor of civilian authorities.
Turkey’s generals have staged three coups since the 1960s and forced an Islamist government to quit in 1997. But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has grown ever more confident with each of its three electoral successes since 2002 and has been drawing reins on the powers of the armed forces which have long seen themselves as the guardians of Turkey’s secular traditions.
[…] in international circles about the stability of the Turkish government. Last fall I wrote an article which warned of the risks a full Islamic takeover would bring, and the growing likelihood of such […]