This is no different for the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), to which we have entrusted our peace, lives and security. Although there are variations depending on the level of democratization, transparency and accountability of a country, in general, almost all nations tend to trust their own military. In all polls in Turkey where the questions follow a simple logic, the military always emerges as the most trusted institution. Although the rate varies between 76 to 91 percent from poll to poll, the military always manages to be the most trusted among all state institutions.Undoubtedly, this is the result of various causes. Before anything else, agencies that are related to politics are always faced with inspection, criticism and possible attrition from various segments of the society, the opposition and the media. Institutions that have to carry out their activities under the oversight of Parliament, the law and the public have to answer for their actions to the people and the opposition and work hard to earn back lost points in public confidence resulting from even the slightest of failures.
The TSK, which is not transparent, is exempt from accountability and closed to democratic supervision, enjoys a comfort peculiar to itself. Corruption inside the military is not shared with the public nor does suspicion over procurement and tenders ever get out into the open. The independent judiciary cannot go beyond the fence surrounding the barracks. The military -- unlike the government, political parties and other civilian institutions -- does not face dozens of segments of opposition or agencies capable of dealing fatal blows. Given the fact that there is no alternative to the military's position and the sensitivity of this position, what can the people, whose perceptions can easily be manipulated in the face of growing threats, do but trust their military? Essentially, trust is a concept that should be accepted as having a positive meaning so long as the decisions and actions of the military in question are subject to democratic oversight and if its spending and procurements are to a certain extent carried out with transparency. One could only feel happy about confidence in such a military.
But is this the case in Turkey? Not at all. To the contrary, the TSK is not subject to democratic civilian oversight. Its actions and activities are outside the independent judicial authority. Any sanctioning of the military by Parliament or democratically elected governments, practical or legal, is out of the question. The military does not even feel the need to explain its resolutions or decisions. To what extent members of the military will act within the boundaries of the law, or outside them, is entirely left to their own conscience. Since these activities are beyond supervision, they take place outside public knowledge. In such an environment, the confidence of the people in the military cannot be considered the same as confidence in democratic systems.
In a 2006 poll conducted by the international research company GfK across 22 countries, the most trusted agency in Turkey came out as the military (91 percent), an unprecedented percentage in the world. As the level of democratic awareness, civilian oversight, accountability and transparency rises in countries, the percentage of confidence in the military becomes more normal. Given all these criteria, the trust earned by the TSK, which is seriously behind its Western counterparts in all these categories, can be seen as a negative indicator of how Turkey lacks democratic maturity, legal competence, public supervision, accountability and transparency.
Despite the Turkish people saying that they trust the military the most when faced with questions that follow a simple logic, that does not mean they approve of all activities engaged in by the military, its anti-democratic interventions, the frequent involvement of members of the military in illegal structures exploiting the comfort of the unsupervised sphere and their frequent habit of taking political stands. A survey conducted by the MetroPOLL research company between July 10 and July 14 across 31 provinces and among 1,297 people clearly showed that the Turks, who trust their military, are not at all happy about political statements from the military and do not at all condone military officers who have overstepped the boundaries of the law.
I would like to share some of the striking results of this poll, the details of which you can read in Today's Zaman's headline story today. The Turkish nation, which does not think that the chief of general staff holding a press conference with all force commanders sitting behind him is problematic (40.7 percent said they thought it was wrong, while 50.2 percent said they found it normal or approved of it), has clearly shown that it would like to see such a press conference remain limited to military issues only. In response to the question “Do you think that military officers' stating their views on political affairs is right or wrong?” only 29.9 answered “right,” while 65.2 percent replied “wrong.” With these percentages, the people are openly saying this: In affairs that are related to the military or external security, the military certainly has the right to inform the public, but when it comes to politics, the military should remain silent.
I strongly recommend that you read the striking results of this poll, which reflects the views of the Turkish people on TSK-related issues conducted by MetroPOLL in a very courageous manner and with flawless timing.
