It’s high time to eradicate problematic EMASYA, experts say

Along with the revelation of the Balyoz plan has come a new wave of criticism of EMASYA, with increasing numbers of public figures calling for the protocol’s removal. The uproar has prompted Interior Minister Beşir Atalay to say the government is working to amend it, revealing that a 2002 meeting of the Civilian Administration Council, gathering governors, district governors, bureaucrats and jurists, addressed EMASYA. The Civilian Administration Council came to the conclusion that EMASYA contradicted the law on 11 different counts and should be cancelled, a recommendation signed off by 105 people, including governors, district governors, jurists, academics and members of the military.

The Civilian Administration Council decision of 2002 is reflected in criticisms from a range of political and societal actors today. Hasan Celal Güzel, a journalist who is also a well-known former Cabinet minister, is one of those who says EMASYA stands against the principles of democracy and the state of law in addition to being illegal. “This protocol should have been cancelled long ago. Despite our writing about it and discussing it a lot, the protocol has remained in place, either out of concerns or fears over diminishing the military’s power or out of negligence. … The protocol must be lifted immediately.”

‘State of emergency over, EMASYA needs to go’

Observers have drawn attention to the protocol’s origin in the Feb. 28, 1997 postmodern coup in addition to its clearly illegal content. “The acceptance of the plan was forced during extenuating circumstances [a state of martial law],” former Interior Ministry Undersecretary Galip Demirel noted. “It wholly contradicts the Law on Provincial Administration. … This protocol must absolutely be cancelled.”

Retired judge Col. Faik Tarımcıoğlu also criticizes EMASYA from a legal perspective. “A plan was prepared to create the possibility for the military to directly interfere in civilian administration after a state of emergency/martial law had drawn to an end. This is what EMASYA, a product of the Feb. 28 coup, is. In a sense, [EMASYA] means a low-intensity state of martial law and prepares the groundwork for coups. One threat presented by EMASYA is that it prepares an environment suitable for continous martial law … it’s being used as an excuse to perpetuate this state of affairs. The military sees itself as authorized to tell the governors, district governors and police chiefs to step aside. This threat of preparing conditions for a coup must be removed through the protocol’s cancellation.”

Jurists Union Foundation President Sinan Kılıçkaya also says there is no need for a protocol like EMASYA. “In civilian democracies, such things are unthinkable. [EMASYA] is a serious roadblock in terms of democracy. For [anyone] to possess such a right [to override the civilian authority] is problematic, democratically speaking. There’s no need for debates over whether the military should or should not invoke such powers, or whether it constitutes misconduct; the mere existence of EMASYA is a shame for democracy,” he said.

“If there’s no extraordinary situation in hand at Turkey, like a war, then the civilian bureaucracy should be functioning as normal. Under current conditions, the civilian bureaucracy is in possession of the infrastructure that can solve Turkey’s problems. EMASYA needs to be changed, and brought in line with democratic rules and regulations,” attorney Mehmet Gani, president of the Public Jurists Association, said.

The problems EMASYA has created

The criticism is not for nothing -- EMASYA has been used multiple times to draft coup plans and instigate other troubles for Turkey, experts say. Turning the focus on the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) administration, former Minister of Culture and Tourism Fikri Sağlar questions why nothing has been done about the existence of a protocol that contains such clear-cut violations of the law. “Today’s government has to answer the question of why the protocol has been in place until today. Why has there been no attempt in the past seven years to recall it? EMASYA must be cancelled in its entirety. Civilian authority must always come ahead of military authority, and the military must be under the command of the civilian authority,” Sağlar said. “Otherwise, this will show that Turkey is not a state of law, but under the control of rules establishing a state of martial law. This militaristic understanding is a roadblock before civilianization.”

Former Constitutional Commission President Ertuğrul Yalçınbayır also commented on the negative impact EMASYA has inflicted on Turkey’s image, saying: “Everyone is under the command of the civilian will, which conducts its business according to the Constitution. The EMASYA protocol has also been criticized in the EU’s progress reports on Turkey. In a state of law, there can be no secret protocols.”