Turkish general says secularism beyond debate

ANKARA (Reuters) - A senior general on Monday affirmed the importance of secularism in Turkey amid debates over a draft constitution that some secularists see as a cover for boosting the role of Islam.

Turkey's powerful military views itself as the ultimate guarantor of the secular order and is closely watching the Islamist-rooted government's plans to overhaul the country's constitution after its election victory in July.

"The functional definitions of the secularism principle in the constitution should not become a topic of discussion," General Ilker Basbug, head of the land forces, told army cadets at a ceremony marking the start of a new academic year.

The ruling AK Party says the new charter, set to replace a text dating back to an era of military rule in the early 1980s, will bolster individual rights and freedoms and bring Turkey closer to the European Union, which it hopes to join.

But secularists fear the government will use the charter to erode the separation of state and religion, by for example lifting a ban on the Muslim headscarf in universities and by reforming secular bodies such as the Constitutional Court and the board overseeing higher education.

The government denies claims it has an Islamist agenda and says it remains fully committed to Turkey's secular system.

"Movements against secularism and ethnic nationalists have a common target, which is the structure of the nation state," said Basbug.

"Ethnic nationalists" is a term used to denote Kurdish separatists who want to create a homeland in southeast Turkey.

KURDS

Basbug said the army opposed providing education in Kurdish or other minority languages.

The government has signaled the new constitution might allow for some teaching of Kurdish in state schools, while affirming Turkish as the country's official language.

Turkey's armed forces have been battling Kurdish rebel guerrillas since 1984 in a conflict that has killed more than 30,000 people. The military fears more rights for the Kurds could embolden the rebels and harm national security.

"The Turkish army has always been a party to the protection of the nation state and always will be," Basbug said.

Basbug condemned what he called "the anarchy of ideas" -- an apparent reference to efforts to encourage questioning of national taboos as Turkey presses on with EU-linked reforms -- and said intellectuals must be careful.

The Turkish military has ousted four governments in the past 50 years, most recently in 1997 when with strong public support it drove out a cabinet viewed as too Islamist.

In April, it helped trigger a political crisis by signaling its opposition to Abdullah Gul, a former Islamist, becoming Turkey's president. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called a snap parliamentary election which his party won resoundingly.

Gul became president in August in an election in parliament, but the military top brass has made clear its continued unease and defends its right to intervene in politics if it feels secularism is in danger.