Turkey's new chief of staff

The Greek daily comments on Turkey's new chief of staff, General Yasar Buyukanit. "For Buyukanit, Turkey is faced with two main threats, namely Islamic radicalism and Kurdish separatism. ... At the same time, Buyukanit has stressed that the army will have the final say on the Cyprus issue, saying that as a military man he will 'keep a close eye on developments'. ... Buyukanit is reinjecting clarity into Turkey's political discourse, an element that had been lacking in recent years. Either because of his Islamic roots or because of Ankara's EU-related obligations, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has often seemed to stumble into the zone of the politically obscure.The new military chief takes his place next to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer as the main voices of Turkey's traditional establishment. ... Greece's policy of placing hope in the EU as a transformative power to turn Turkey into a Western-type democracy seems bankrupt."

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