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Article: Turkey appoints new military chief to deal with Iraq, Islamic party
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- August 3, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightProvided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Dateline: ANKARA, Turkey
Turkey's military _ a supremely popular and powerful institution often
considered more influential than the government _ picked a new chief
Saturday.
With elections upcoming and the possibility of U.S. military action
against neighboring Iraq, Turks will look to Gen. Hilmi Ozkok to be
a pillar of stability leading NATO's second-largest military.
The 62-year-old land forces commander Ozkok will replace Gen. Huseyin
Kivrikoglu, who retires Aug. 30.
A key upcoming decision for the military could be whether to play
a role after the Nov. 3 elections, in which an Islamic party could
emerge as winner. Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim but its ...