Turkey eyes better future amid bitter memories of Feb. 28

    Turkey’s has painful recollections of the Feb. 28 period because of the blow the military dealt to fundamental rights and freedoms. However, the country is seemingly more hopeful about its future, particularly in terms of a strong democracy and the supremacy of the rule of law. What has led to such optimism is an attempt by judicial bodies to settle accounts with the coup instigators of the recent past.  

    Turkey woke up to a pretty lively week on Feb. 22. A total of 49 retired and active duty members of the military were taken into custody as part of a civilian investigation into alleged coup plots, titled Balyoz (Sledgehammer) and Kafes (Cage). This was the highest-profile crackdown ever carried out on the military. On Friday, an additional 18 military officers were also detained. The subversive plots included blowing up mosques during Friday prayers, attacking a museum with bombs and other explosives during a visit by young students and turning stadiums into open-air prisons capable of holding tens of thousands of people if they challenged the coup troops.

    “The world keeps changing. In full harmony, so does Turkey. Military values are losing their importance and grasp on civilian life. In Turkey, people increasingly object to military interventions [in politics]. They are raising their voices against the military’s role in politics,” stated Ali Bayramoğlu, a columnist for the Yeni Şafak daily. According to the columnist, however, Turkey still has a significant distance to cover in the fight against military takeovers and subversive plans to that end.

“This necessitates social transformation. The judiciary, politics and the media in Turkey are currently divided into two camps. Such a division is not common in the democratic world. We need to get rid of this division and this requires time,” he remarked.

In early 1997, uneasy with the existence of a conservative party -- the Welfare Party (RP) -- in government, the General Staff sought ways to do away with the government. The National Security Council (MGK) made several decisions during a meeting on Feb. 28 and presented them to then-Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, also the leader of the RP, for approval. Erbakan was forced to sign the decisions, and he subsequently resigned. The event has since been termed a “postmodern coup.”

The coup introduced a series of harsh restrictions on religious life, with an unofficial but widely practiced ban on the use of the Islamic headscarf. The military was purged of members with suspected ties to religious groups, a tradition still widely observed today. In addition, a number of newspapers were closed down after the coup based on an MGK decision that required the monitoring of press organs that were suspected of fomenting hatred against the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). None of the military figures who had a hand in overthrowing the RP government has, however, stood trial.

The detention and later arrest of several members of the military throughout the past week have boosted hopes that Turkey has finally geared up to directly try the instigators of subversive military schemes to overthrow the government.

According to Gülay Göktürk, a columnist for the Bugün daily, the detentions mark one of the milestones of Turkish history as it witnessed the judiciary’s determination to confront coups and their instigators.

“Military tutelage is becoming a thing of the past. … From now on, military commanders will be aware that the stars they carry on their uniforms will not prevent them from appearing before the judge. And they will act accordingly. The military will move back to its barracks and get accustomed to being criticized if it falls short of fulfilling its duties. … None of this will happen in a day or two. We will experience much turmoil. We will spend much time and energy. But we will never witness a step back from our position,” she noted in a column.

Turkey has attempted several times to shed light on covert TSK conspiracies to get rid of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government through various coup plans. The attempts coincided with the launch of the Ergenekon investigation in 2007. Monday’s detentions are, however, more “to the point” than all the previous attempts, according to most observers, as they are directly aimed at making many members of the military stand trial on coup charges.

“Now it is time to be called to account [for coup plotters]. This settling of accounts will not happen between the ‘enemy’ and the public. The Turkish public sees them as the  culprits, but not as an enemy. And contrary to them, the public wants justice, not revenge,” Göktürk added.

Hilal Kaplan, a columnist for the liberal Taraf daily, noted that the recent detentions and arrests have shown that military members are no longer “untouchable.”

“This is really promising. If judicial bodies had not taken action against so many [military] documents that point to the preparation of a coup, their image and reputation would have been damaged. Judicial action against members of the military is a first in Turkish history. And there are ongoing efforts to create question marks in people’s minds. Judges and prosecutors should not be negatively impacted by those efforts,” she stated.

Kaplan made her way into the media in February of 2008 when she kicked off a struggle for the liberation of all segments of society with a statement titled “We Are Not Free Yet.” The statement demanded full and unconditional freedom for all those in society who are oppressed and subject to some sort of discrimination.

The young columnist also displayed a hopeful picture for the future of Turkish politics and democracy through a comparison between Erbakan and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“First of all, the government could not oppose the coup on Feb. 28. Erbakan did not dare object to the military and head to the ballot box. Erdoğan, on the other hand, challenged the General Staff on April 27 [2007] and called early elections. Now, there are rumors that the AK Party will hold early elections if a new closure case is filed against it. All this suggests that politicians are fighting against the military’s attempts to interfere in politics,” Kaplan remarked.

On April 27, 2007, the General Staff posted a very harsh statement on its Web site, warning the AK Party government to preserve the republic’s secular tradition. The General Staff threatened to take action if the government failed to do so. In defiance, the AK Party called early elections and returned to Parliament with even greater public support.

“Secondly, there were no ‘alternative’ media organs in the Feb. 28 process. All media organs were supporters of a coup d’état. Now, however, there are many press organs that stand against coups. … In short, there is a clear political stance against coups and people are raising their voices against a prospective military takeover. Therefore, I believe Turkish society is more ‘organized’ against coups when compared to Feb. 28,” Kaplan added.

An anti-coup gathering is slated for today in İstanbul. A civilian coalition known as “70 Million Steps Against Coups” plans to hold a massive rally in Taksim Square. The rally is expected to be attended by dozens of civil society groups and thousands of civilians. The participants will reiterate their call to the armed forces to stay in their barracks and not to interfere in politics.

What happened on Feb. 28?

The process that started the downfall of the RP-True Path Party (DYP) coalition government began with the 1995 parliamentary elections. Because no political party garnered enough votes to establish a government on its own, a coalition government was formed by Erbakan’s RP and Tansu Çiller’s DYP. The two parties founded their government on June 8, 1996.

The Turkish military, uneasy with the existence of a religious party in government, began preparing to topple the government. Certain mistakes committed by the coalition government facilitated the military’s work to overthrow it. Among these were official visits by then-Prime Minister Erbakan to Libya and Nigeria, which caused tension between the government and the General Staff. Allegations were also made indicating that officers discharged from the military were being employed in municipalities run by RP mayors. A fast-breaking dinner held with the participation of religious leaders at the official residence of the prime minister and plans to build a mosque in İstanbul’s Taksim Square and reconvert Ayasofya into a mosque heralded a new era of fear.

A polemic between the mayor of İstanbul’s Sultanbeyli district, Nabi Koçak, and Gen. Doğu Silahçıoğlu, who demanded the erection of a statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the town, increased the tension. High-ranking military officers convened in Gölcük on Jan. 22, 1997, to discuss whether religious fundamentalism had become a force in the country. Labor and business unions, professional organizations and trade associations began speaking out against the government. Women’s organizations held rallies to protest what they saw as the return of Shariah (Islamic law) and promoted secularism. Then came the General Staff’s briefings on religious fundamentalism and the MGK’s Feb. 28 meeting, where it made decisions Prime Minister Erbakan was forced to approve.

Erbakan subsequently resigned, handing over the Prime Ministry to Çiller.