The military candidates who wished to run in parliamentary elections varied in rank from lower levels to as senior as generals. However among those retired generals only Erdal Sipahi, already acting as an advisor Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, was nominated --for the Aegean town of İzmir. The remaining two retired generals were not included on the party’s candidate lists. The situation for formerly uniformed candidates is even more negative within other parties, with the majority failing to make the final cut.
We have also recently seen an increased number of former officers seeking to become deputies, including those discharged from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) over accusations of extreme fundamentalism.
For example the ruling Justice and Democracy Party (AK Party), which has been suffering a serious rift with the TSK over the latter’s secularism concerns, has failed to include formerly uniformed men, particularly those discharged from the TSK, on its candidate list.
This indicates an AK Party decision not to remain at odds with the TSK, despite Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s approval of a National Security Council (MGK) decision with a reservation over discharged officers not facing trial before discharge.
Similarly the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has included no formerly uniformed candidates on its lists.
I asked a retired general to analyze the reasons behind an absence of interest of various parties in giving a chance to these formerly uniformed men. One of the reasons he gave me was the general awareness of party leaders that these men would bring little potential to their parties in terms of boosting votes.
“In general officers don’t want to see their former commanders or colleagues entering politics because they would like to see them remain officers forever, even after retirement,” my source stated.
My source also recalled that previous perceptions of the international environment had an impact on Turkish national interest. For example, he said, officers were discharged from the TSK in the 1960s for being close to the ideology of setting-up a Turkic union (Turancılar) with the Turkish-speaking nations mostly in Central Asia and the Caucasus. When NATO launched a campaign in the 1970s against the Soviet Union to prevent its communist influence from spreading in the world, those Turkish officers with leftist tendencies were discharged from the TSK.
Since the 1980s the increase of Islamic fundamentalism globally and particularly in Turkey’s environs increased the number of officers with Islamic tendencies discharged from the TSK.
Looking back on the above-mentioned TSK policies, my military source explained that officers have always refrained from engaging in politics for fear of being discharged.
In addition Turkish politics have witnessed some unfortunate events, such as the hanging of former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and some other senior politicians following the 1960 military coup.
Similarly, a ban on politics and on many politicians was imposed following the 1980 military coup.
These are very negative examples of politics for the officers who still fear a similar fate, aside from losing jobs, when affiliated with any political movement.
Officers, partly for the above-mentioned reasons, will not be keen to vote for candidates with a military past. They will also prefer to not see their commanders and colleagues getting involved in politics.
According to my military source, the party leaders are all well-aware that formerly uniformed men running to become politicians do not have much vote-boosting potential.
Based on the reasons cited by my military source, I find this to be an ironic situation. While on one hand the TSK is heavily involved in politics through its interference via either military coups or other political tools, officers seem to have an obvious distaste for politics, making them disinclined to vote for formerly uniformed men.
Behind this military attitude, I see arrogance.
