Turkey on trial
A seismic shift or a tremor?
THE DEEPLY political decision of a Turkish court last week to jail 324 serving and retired army personnel for plotting to overthrow the government in 2003 marked an important, qualitative shift in the dynamic of the country’s political history. Since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s first election a decade ago he has struggled to rein in the army whose historic predominance in politics – both authoritarian and resolutely secularist – he does appear to have broken.
More:Turkey on trial - The Irish Times - Thu, Sep 27, 2012