Thousands waiting for option to buy exemption from military service

The possibility of paying for shorter military service continues to shake the ground in Turkey as the debate heated up once again in the last few days after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made encouraging remarks to that effect. Nevertheless, Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ is known to be a stiff opponent of the idea. A compromise between the two does not seem likely until 2012, and the number of people who are eagerly awaiting such a policy change has neared a few hundred thousands.

Currently, university graduates serve up to a year while others are obliged to serve in the TSK for 15 months. Many have suggested giving conscripts the option to pay some $10,000 in advance and have their mandatory military service commuted to 21 days.

While 400,000 men are ready to accept such a deal, the number of men who have failed to enlist in the military before reaching the age limit, essentially becoming draft dodgers, has grown to more than 1 million, including those who have postponed their duties for various reasons.

Recently, Erdoğan said he was going to meet with Başbuğ to discuss the matter. “We will assess the situation together. If the circumstances are right, we will look into it,” Erdoğan said on Wednesday. His remarks came as a source of hope for all those people, despite the slim likelihood that the system will change.

In April of last year, Başbuğ downplayed the prospect of such an option becoming available. “It is not possible for us to think about it. No one can accept it as long as the fight with terrorism continues. While young boys become martyrs, others don’t fulfill their obligation by paying $7,500-10,000. We cannot explain this,” he said at the time. Başbuğ has reportedly not changed his view on the matter.

The two were scheduled to hold their meeting yesterday as Today’s Zaman went to print.

Not so soon

Projections made by the Defense Ministry’s Department of Military Recruitment (ASAL) indicate that offering paid exemptions from military service is not possible in at least the upcoming three years. According to ASAL’s calculations, with all those who will be recruited this year, the military will be able to meet 62 percent of its need for troops. This share will drop to 60 percent in 2011. The following year, hopeful discussions regarding paid exemptions will be possible if terrorism is mitigated, a development that would decrease the TSK’s demand for troops.

Transformation into a professional army is another option, but not a promising one given sluggish developments to that end.

Turkey has offered paid exemptions from military service system three times so far. Generally, it is offered to bring in resources for the country’s economy; the last time this practice was introduced was on the heels of a huge earthquake that struck western Turkey on Aug. 17, 1999, and left almost 20,000 people dead. The General Staff must ask Parliament to pass new legislation before any such program can be reintroduced.

Turkey faces largest number of draft dodgers in its history

With its force of 680,000 troops, the TSK is the sixth-largest army in the world, but still faces difficulty tackling the huge number of draft dodgers, some of whom have organized online and started a campaigning for paid exemptions from military service.

It is believed that growing distrust in the military has been influential in inflating their numbers. A few recent scandals involving the military have raised eyebrows throughout Turkey. On Aug. 17 of last year, a lieutenant handed a live grenade to a soldier as punishment for sleeping during the night watch; the subsequent explosion claimed the lives of four soldiers in Elazığ. The incident was first reported as an accident. A few months earlier, on May 27, seven soldiers died when a land mine, which the TSK said belonged to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), exploded. Prosecutors later discovered that the TSK itself had planted the mine.

Some draft dodgers prefer to live abroad in order to avoid getting caught, but it is not easy for them to leave the country because of tight border controls. The government’s proposed changes to the Constitution contain an amendment to Article 23 of the Constitution, which regulates the requirements for a citizen to go abroad. The government proposes making it possible to bar someone from going abroad only if there is a court order issued against them.

Both experts and various studies indicate that transforming the military into a professional army is the only solution for fighting against terrorism effectively and tackling the high number of draft dodgers and deserters. To that end, the TSK took the first steps in 2007 and decided to professionalize six ranger brigades. However, while 2010 was set as the deadline for this transformation, the TSK was able to successfully transform only one of the brigades so far.