According to a leaked military document, the military's "Information Support Activity Action Plan" went into force in September 2007 and comprises a series of "measures" to be taken against the government, which the military regards as the source of a "religious reactionary movement." The military document also defines the plan's goals as "bringing public opinion into line with the TSK on issues the TSK is sensitive about, preventing the development of incorrect opinions about the TSK, ensuring the unity and solidarity of opinions and actions within the TSK." Immediately releasing a statement in response to the allegations, the General Staff denied the daily's report, claiming that there was no such official document approved by the commanding ranks in the General Staff's records. However, the military's past record of similar plans has obviously cast doubt on its credibility.Milliyet's Semih İdiz, who interprets the General Staff's denial as a confession of the existence of such a plan, regrets that the Turkish military does not take any lessons from its similar attempts in the past, which have always backfired. "Similar documents were uncovered in the past as well. Diaries were prepared. Special notes were compiled about journalists, labeling them as in favor of or against the TSK. E-memorandums were posted on the military's Web site against the government. All these moves backfired. They not only damaged Turkey's image, they also deepened the ambiguity surrounding the future of our democracy," İdiz complains. In his view, there is now an ongoing "postmodern civil war" in Turkey in which each state authority ignores its constitutional boundaries and tries to influence the political environment directly or indirectly. In this regard, he sees the TSK's plan as part of its efforts to influence politics, but he also complains about the lack of any mechanism in Turkey that could call the TSK to account for such actions.
Yeni Şafak's Yasin Aktay asks how one can expect such a document -- which sees almost 80 percent of the Turkish nation as an enemy and develops strategies to counter the government to which it is answerable -- to be in the official records of the TSK. He writes: "Fortunately, the General Staff denies the existence of such a document. Although the existence and authenticity of the document can be proven, the TSK's denial at least shows that it does not stand behind the document. Now there is only one question left to be posed to the TSK: How does it distance itself from this document and its parallels with what has been happening in Turkey for the past nine months?"
Another Yeni Şafak columnist, Kürşat Bumin, sees this document as an indication of the "nanny role" of educating the nation that the TSK has taken upon itself. Referring to main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) member Mustafa Özyürek, who also said the TSK's denial was far from credible, he argues that the TSK's insistence on seeing itself as the "nanny" of the nation has turned into a pedagogy that has led even the CHP to question it. In his view, the report uncovered by Taraf about the military's plan to "remake society" is not surprising at all because everybody is used to such attempts from the Turkish military.
