Turkey's deputy PM fears EU membership will breakup country

ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkey's deputy prime minister was quoted Wednesday as saying the nation's powerful military feared that adopting the reforms required for European Union membership could lead to the breakup of the country.

"There are sectors that are scared that Turkey would be split up if we enter the European Union. The army shares this sensitivity," the daily Hurriyet newspaper quoted Mesut Yilmaz as saying. Yilmaz is responsible for Turkey's relations with the EU.

Turkey won candidacy for EU membership in December but faces a lengthy list of reforms including granting cultural rights to some 12 million Kurds, many of whom live in the southeast.

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The military, which declared victory in its 15-year battle with Kurdish separatists after capturing Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999, strongly opposes such moves as the first step on a slippery slope to Kurdish independence.

"Some circles have reservations," said Yilmaz. "We have to convince them."

A U.S. human rights group said Wednesday there were groups within the Turkish establishment unwilling to carry out human rights reforms required for EU membership.

"In the past, fellow governments in Europe have sometimes been reluctant to press too strongly for reform. ... This patience ... has been exploited by successive Turkish governments unable or unwilling to stand up to the ruthless and conservative forces deep within the state," Human Rights Watch said.

Yilmaz's two coalition partners -- Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and nationalist leader Devlet Bahceli -- share the doubts over lifting curbs on Kurdish education and broadcasting.

But there are others who believe Turkey's prospective EU entry would not jeopardize the country's unity.

"In my opinion, there is no hurdle stopping the Turkish people, who want to live in a united and indivisible country, from entering the European Union," Sami Selcuk, Appeals Court chief judge, said Wednesday.

The military has toppled three governments in coups since 1960, and in 1997 helped nudge from power Islamic Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan's government, which it deemed a threat to the secular order.

The army's influential role in politics is already a source of worry for Europe, which is drawing up a road map for Turkey to move toward membership of the bloc.

"They (the military) feel they are obliged to intervene in matters such as the country's unity and secularism," Hurriyet quoted Yilmaz as saying. "That's why civil administrations should take steps to remove (their) sensitivity."

He said the government must allay the military's concerns with steps such as firing civil servants accused of links to Islamic activism.

That planned move is part of a three-year-old crackdown on political Islam and will be a stern test for the government when it is brought before parliament next month.

Turkish leaders have mentioned 2004 as a date to start full EU membership negotiations, but observers see a 10-year time frame as more realistic.

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