This tension is giving birth to important consequences. During this period of tension, we have not seen what we would normally see in similar circumstances. Part of the country is acting as if there is no such tension. I am talking about the Turkish economy, which is shrinking because of the global economic crisis. Non-financial and financial markets have virtually been unaffected by the recent military-civilian tension. The stock exchange continued on a flat line. Foreign exchange rates did not fluctuate in the least. The economy has not turned to look at the political crisis for the last three weeks.In the past, tension between civilians and the military would have had a profound impact on the economy. The military tended to make their interventions over weekends so the economy could recover more easily. This was the reason why the infamous e-memorandum of April 27, 2007 was posted at midnight on Friday.
What does this reaction by the free market mean? There is one answer to this question: the players in the economy no longer take the military seriously. It seems that the military has lost its influence on the political balance, i.e., its ability to affect the real conditions in the country. This implies that the military is losing its ability to play a political role. This interpretation by players in the free market must be accepted as the most realistic and correct analysis concerning the last political crisis. In other words, a crisis that markets do not buy is no longer a crisis.
The military lost the battle
The military guardianship system that is no longer sustainable is being eliminated. For some time, this system has made Turkey an unmanageable democracy. The guardianship system established and maintained by the military has been an obstacle to the country's progress. The political stability that the country has been experiencing for the last seven years has created a political power that is capable of free movement despite these obstacles.
The battle the military lost means its failure to establish a new system to control the political system. Having dominated society through counter-guerrilla tactics during the last 50 years, the military has finally lost its ability to use these tactics. All of these tactics are actually criminal. The police department, which has improved itself and made significant achievements in the fight against crime, emerges as an important player. The police's ability to fight organized crime has started to foil illegal counter-guerrilla methods.
The argument that the military is no longer capable of overthrowing governments was already made long ago. There was no longer a possibility for the military to directly overthrow the government and directly govern the country. The only possibility left, as in the Feb. 28 process 12 years ago, was that the military could use psychological warfare techniques to manipulate society and then employ democratic political players in order to establish an indirect hegemony over politics. Twelve years ago, they worked on plots to make society believe that religious groups were utterly dangerous. Today, they tried to employ similar plots against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), but a bold prosecutor and a capable police department foiled their attempts. For the first time in Turkey, making coup plans and conducting illegal activities to pave the way for a coup were prosecuted as crimes.
The military lost the battle it has been waging with all its might.
Political doctrine changes
The fact that the military has lost the battle it has been waging against the civilian government does not mean that those who wage this war are eliminated.
Turkey has a military guardianship history that is shadowy and bloody. Those who wear uniforms, who hold weapons and who employ soldiers at their disposal have used their power to control the political power. Then, they have tried to make this guardianship permanent. Law must be forgotten in order to make this weapon, i.e., the power of tyranny, dominant. This tyranny was behind the chronic problems in fairness, law and justice in Turkey. This was behind our failure to become a country that can afford legal protection to its citizens.
In the past, Turkey has suffered some major accidents. A gang of 37 military officers conquered the state apparatus. In every country, the army relies on a political doctrine. In our country, the coup generals have developed a political doctrine that gives legitimacy to their grip on political power. Some people are still using this political doctrine as a justification for their privileges and intervention into politics. Being a guarantor of the regime means nothing other than having privileges and meddling with politics at will. The military is not a guarantor of the regime, but some military officers who seek to overthrow the government are seeking a regime that would secure their intervention in politics. Those who use the political system, i.e., the regime, in which we live in peace and with which everyone is content, as a justification for their real tyranny and rule by weapons and who in this way make it ugly must change their minds.
A military officer who regards the stars on his uniform as being as inaccessible and as supreme as the stars in the sky and who tries to set a course for politics with this self-assumed superiority is ugly in every country. Military officers who maintain their privileges and immunity by destining their country to illegality are miles away from the civilized world. Military officers who use their weapons as a tool for grabbing political power are actually tyrannizing their country rather than defending it. The damage done by military officers who plot coups, set up criminal organizations in order to overthrow the government and who commit crimes against citizens couldn't have been caused by any enemy.
Turkish people like to see the army in the barracks, working for the defense of the country. A military officer who undertakes political plots creates not only illegality, but also disgust. This is largely the reason why the economy does not bother itself with the political crisis and is not affected by it. The markets predicted that even before they engage in this battle, the military would lose it. Their prediction was correct.
Turkey is normalizing. The steps that we should have taken years ago are being taken now. Turkey is becoming a country where the rule of law and civilized measures are dominant. The armed hegemony over society and politics is ending. The pro-coup military officers who failed not only in overthrowing the government, but also in making coup plans will be lost in the dusty pages of history.
Another hot topic of the hot summer days in Turkey is the Kurdish issue, which must urgently be solved without further delay. We currently have a perfect opportunity to solve it. The initiative launched by the president is based on a consensus that also includes the military that lost the battle. This consensus must be extended to include political players in order to create a constructive and moderate atmosphere. The recent military-civilian tension has served only to obstruct the discussion of this urgent problem.
The steps that will be taken with respect to the Kurdish issue must be closely monitored.
