NEWS ANALYSIS Turkish Prime Minister Climbs a Higher Perch in Wake of Resignations http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/world/asia/31turkey.xml http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/world/asia/31turkey.xml
...."Turks grappled Saturday with the shock of the resignations -and an unprecedented moment in modern Turkey's history -officials scrambled to project a facade of business as usual, even as their critics warned of a creeping authoritarianism engineered by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has governed the country for eight years. But the resignations on Friday delivered Mr. Erdogan a perch to reshape a military bound by civilian control, pursue a foreign policy emboldened by the decisive victory of his conservative and populist party in elections in June and pursue constitutional changes that could transform politics here. In many ways, the struggle that has posed the most serious danger to Mr. Erdogan -a powerful military willing to act above the law -appears to have come to an end."...
...." In a move that officials acknowledged took them by surprise, Turkey's top commander, Gen. Isik Kosaner, together with the leaders of the navy, army and air force, resigned Friday in protest over the sweeping arrests of dozens of generals as suspects in conspiracy investigations that Mr. Erdogan's critics contend are politically motivated. ...."But Mr. Erdogan quickly promoted Gen. Necdet Ozel, the commander of the military police, as the projected replacement for General Kosaner."...
....." More than 40 serving generals, almost a tenth of the country's commanders, are under arrest on charges their supporters call flimsy. But the battle runs far deeper, pitting a party with religious roots against an institution that has considered itself the guarantor of secular traditions, which underpinned the founding of the modern state in 1923 on the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire."....
...."Turks grappled Saturday with the shock of the resignations -and an unprecedented moment in modern Turkey's history -officials scrambled to project a facade of business as usual, even as their critics warned of a creeping authoritarianism engineered by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has governed the country for eight years. But the resignations on Friday delivered Mr. Erdogan a perch to reshape a military bound by civilian control, pursue a foreign policy emboldened by the decisive victory of his conservative and populist party in elections in June and pursue constitutional changes that could transform politics here. In many ways, the struggle that has posed the most serious danger to Mr. Erdogan -a powerful military willing to act above the law -appears to have come to an end."...
...." In a move that officials acknowledged took them by surprise, Turkey's top commander, Gen. Isik Kosaner, together with the leaders of the navy, army and air force, resigned Friday in protest over the sweeping arrests of dozens of generals as suspects in conspiracy investigations that Mr. Erdogan's critics contend are politically motivated. ...."But Mr. Erdogan quickly promoted Gen. Necdet Ozel, the commander of the military police, as the projected replacement for General Kosaner."...
....." More than 40 serving generals, almost a tenth of the country's commanders, are under arrest on charges their supporters call flimsy. But the battle runs far deeper, pitting a party with religious roots against an institution that has considered itself the guarantor of secular traditions, which underpinned the founding of the modern state in 1923 on the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire."....
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