Publications Archive

Exit the Commanders August 10, 2011 / Ilter Turan

The recent resignation of the top Turkish commanders should be seen as something of a self-inflicted coup de grace. Most observers now agree that the multiple roles of the military in Turkish politics are gone, not to return. Neither the prevailing mood in the international system nor Turkey’s international affiliations allow for renewed political activism on the part of its military except at an unacceptably high cost to Turkey. A debate has now commenced among political parties as regards changing the legal-institutional basis on which the military has based its political interventions. Although there is general consensus that the political role of the military should be reduced, and it has become increasingly politically incorrect to defend an interventionist role, there are concerns that the last institution guaranteeing a secular modern republic has fallen. The constitution-making process will provide an opportunity to see if the government party will lead an effort to establish a system characterized by extensive civil liberties for the citizens and a system of government characterized by checks and balances.