ANKARA, Nov 30 (AFP) - Another Turkish taboo fell to the country's Europeanization process Tuesday when the once omnipotent, secretive National Security Council (NSC) hosted the media with a promise of openness and transparency.
"This is the first time such a meeting has been held here in 71 years," Yigit Alpogan, an affable career diplomat and the first civilian to run the body that groups Turkey's top civilian and military authorities, told reporters.
The nomination of a civilian secretary-general on October 1, unthinkable a few years ago for the military-dominated NSC, also marked a loss of teeth for the all-powerful body of the past, now transformed into a think tank where civilians outnumber soldiers almost 19 to one.
"It is true that we have become a think-tank," Alpogan said, "but a limited one, since our findings are not for the public but for the NSC alone."
In addition to its secretary-general - until now a top general - the NSC comprises the president, the prime minister and the ministers of foreign affairs, defense, interior and justice and, on the military side, the chief of general staff and the commanders of the army, navy, air force and gendarmerie.
Its monthly meetings were long seen as sessions in which the brass would dictate their views to the civilians, especially under the regimes that followed military coups in 1960, 1971 and 1980.
Things changed two years ago when Turkey began its push for full membership in the European Union, whose leaders decide on December 17 whether or not to launch accession talks with Ankara.
Now, Alpogan said, the NSC has a total staff "279 civilians and 15 soldiers - uniformed soldiers."
During the 90-minute "meet the press" exercise, several Turkish reporters questioned whether the kinder and gentler NSC could still function as the top body, as one put it, "whose duty is to ensure the security and survival of the Turkish state."
"It is true that some of our fuctions have been transferred," Alpdogan said. "We are not an executive body, we are a consultative institution."
The NCS's transformation took place thanks to three legal amendments last year, Alpogan explained, the most telling of which was one saying the government will simply "take into consideration" NSC evaluations instead of handling them as a "priority."
The top job at the NSC is not permanently demilitarized, however: Alpogan explained that if the secretary-general is a civilian, the first deputy is a military officer - and vice-versa.
Alpogan also downplayed a number of reports that appeared in the Turkish media once it became known that the NSC was being demilitarized.
One was a report that the NSC's key National Security Policy Paper, dubbed Turkey's "secret constitution" by the media, was being rewritten to fit the country's new, more liberal mores.
The document, Alpogan said, is regularly updated "every four or five years."
"The last time was in 2001... and the process has begun for a new one," he said. "Preparations are at a very technical level right now and it should be ready in 2005 - it is nothing special."
The other was that a number of documents and personal files had been burned or destroyed before the civilians arrived.
"I investigated these allegations thoroughly," Alpogan said, "and found that the NSC had never kept any personal files on anyone. And no documents were destroyed - this is not in the traditions of the Turkish state. All are in the archives."
11/30/2004 19:55 GMT - AFP