The Military in turkish politics. (c2001)

Abstract

The development of civilian-military relations in Turkey in the past thirty-five years has proven to be worth of attention and consideration. In fact, anyone who traces the role of the military in this country observes easily the influence that such an institution exerts over the country. In the past three and half decades, the country has witnessed four significant incidents of military intrusion into the political arena: two of these intrusions were accompanied with military takeover of the government (1960 and 1980), while the other two were accompanied with the stepping down of two other prime ministers (1971 and 1997) through an ultimatum and other tactics. Military interventions of this frequency render the examination of the political role of the military institution in Turkey an important and interesting case to the academic world and to the policy makers. The main hypothesis of this thesis states that there has been lately a change in the civilian-military relations in Turkey between 1983 and 1997. To prove this hypothesis, the thesis concentrates on two case studies: Turgut Ozal (1983-1993) and Necmettin Erbakan (1996-1997). These two case studies are quite significant for examining civilian-military relations in the Turkish Republic, especially that the post- 1950 period revealed Turkish military institution as an important, if not the most important, factor of their political, economic, and social development. The thesis argues that starting from 1983, the country started witnessing a change in the military's strategy towards the civilian government. The 1983-1993 period witnessed military disengagement from Turkish politics accompanied with the subordination of the military and the supremacy of the civil power. The 1996-1997 period, however, witnessed military re-engagement in Turkish politics. Yet, unlike the pre-1983 period, this time the military had been more reluctant to take over power directly. Indeed, the 1997 event marked a new trend for military involvement in Turkish politics; the 1997 subtle form of intervention showed that the military have opted for "soft" indirect intervention through political, legislative and media channels in place of direct military takeover.