Proud Guardians of the Republic

In contrast to other democracies, the role of the military in Turkey is regarded positively by the vast majority of the country's population. The Turkish armed forces have never sought to establish a military dictatorship as in case of almost all of its neighbours in the Middle East. By Loay Mudhoon

 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilker Basbug (photo: picture alliance/dpa/DW)
Two opposing poles in the political system of Turkey: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilker Basbug, Chief of the General Staff

​​ It is impossible to imagine politics on the Bosporus without the Turkish military. The armed forces have played and, to this day, continue to play a central role in the country's political decision-making process. They are not controlled by any other authority, leaving them largely autonomous to act within the framework of the state.

 

This special status is impressively demonstrated every two years with a personnel rotation at the top of the Turkish army. Neither Prime Minister Erdoğan nor the Turkish Parliament has a say in the appointment of the new military chief of staff.

 

Erdoğan therefore had no other option than to formally confirm the appointment last week of the candidate proposed by the army leadership – General İlker Başbuğ. In light of this unique position of power, some political scientists even refer to the country as a "military democracy."

 

The National Security Council as a virtual alternative government

 

The army exercises a vast influence over all branches of state authority through the National Security Council, which was established after the military coup d'états in 1960. The National Security Council, which makes binding recommendations to the government, was allotted greater responsibilities in the aftermath of the third military coup in 1980 and its general secretariat was further strengthened per secret decree, making it into a virtual alternative government.

 

Surprisingly, this unique position of a military apparatus within a democracy can't simply be explained by the fact that all other state authorities are subject to supervision by the military. Rather, this special status of the Turkish military as an integral component of the political culture is firmly anchored in the country's history and finds general acceptance in the public consciousness.

 

In contrast to other Western democracies, the role of the military in Turkey is generally positively regarded and the military elite enjoy an unimpeachable reputation among the population, through which they base their legitimacy as the true guardians of the republic.

 

High regard for the "guardians of the republic"

 

Flags of the Republic of Turkey and AKP flags (photo: AP)
To whom belongs the republic? AKP followers wave the Turkish national flag at a rally in Istanbul

​​ Recent opinion polls confirm the high regard enjoyed by the army, which is seen as the most trusted institution in the country. This most certainly has something to do with the founding myth of the republic and the glorious history of the Turkish armed forces. As a result of the legendary War of Independence in the years 1919 to 1922, the invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and the continuing fight against the PKK, the Kurdish separatist organization, the military has advanced to become the only institution in the country that has definitively contributed the national pride of Turks.

 

Even Atatürk, the father figure of modern Turkey, is honoured by most Turks for saving the country from humiliating rule under a colonial regime, as was suffered by its Arab neighbours as part of the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 16 May 1916.

 

In addition, the military's special role as an instrument of implementing secular reform and promoting modernization from above has bestowed it with undisputed legitimacy. The Turkish military was namely the only force that could take the place of a missing civil society. It was the institution that provided the foundation for all other state authorities.

 

Atatürk's "military democracy"

 

This image that the Turkish army has of itself almost inevitably leads to the conviction by the military that it must interfere in the country's politics whenever "their state" is believed to be under threat. There are more than enough examples – in addition to the open interventions in 1960, 1971, and 1980, as well as the "soft coup" of April 1997, the generals vainly attempted what amounts to the first probable "Internet coup" in history on 27 April 2007, when they tried to prevent the election of Abdullah Güls to the post of president.

 

Turkish military council meeting with Erdogan (photo: AP)
Despite all political differences: Turkey's Supreme Military Council convenes with Prime Minister Erdogan

​​ Nonetheless, the role of the Turkish armed forces is fundamentally different from that of Arab militarism. Its most salient feature is that it has never aspired to establish a military dictatorship as in all of the neighbouring Middle Eastern states apart from democratic Israel. Arab armies and the military in the "divine republic" of Iran function mainly as guarantors of existing dictatorships and instruments of their repressive hold on power.

 

A new civilian constitution is necessary

 

As the conflict over authority and power between the Turkish military and government is crystallized in the constitution drawn up in the 1980s, there is an urgent necessity for a new civilian constitution.

 

In any event, the army leadership will be forced to give up a considerable measure of their power as the country attempts to conform to EU standards. To achieve this goal in mutual agreement with the military could prove to be a formidable challenge, not only for the post-Islamic AKP government, but also for the new Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ.

 

Loay Mudhoon

 

© Qantara.de 2008

 

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

 

This article was previously published by Kulturaustausch – Zeitschrift für internationale Perspektiven.

 

Qantara.de

 

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