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Religious communities, Iran no longer top threats in ‘Red Book’
Milliyet daily's Aslı Aydıntaşbaş reported yesterday that the Prime Ministry and the Secretariat General of the National Security Council (MGK) have been working on a revision to the document and that the new version will no longer refer to some religious communities as domestic threats. In line with Turkey's current foreign policy envisaging “zero problems with neighbors,” Turkey's once estranged neighbors Iran and Greece will take a lower place on Turkey's list of countries that pose a risk to national security. The MGSB, also known as the “Red Book,” has been under the spotlight since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a remark questioning its legitimacy earlier this year. The document is known as Turkey's “secret constitution” and lies behind many military interventions as it enables the military to take action against governments it deems a threat to national security.
Religious reactionaryism, ethnic separatism and extreme leftist movements are listed as the three most dangerous threats to Turkey’s security in the latest version of the Red Book. Iran, which used to be at the top of the foreign threats list due to its nuclear program, will remain in the new version of the document but will not be at the top since Ankara no longer sees Iran as a major threat. Greece, which was also among the top foreign threats, will also lose its standing as a potential danger.
Drafts of the new MGSB have been sent to the relevant institutions such as the Interior Ministry, the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the General Staff. “Reactionaryism” and “separatism” remain in the new version as two top domestic threats; however, some religious communities such as the Gülen movement, the Nursi movement and the Süleyman Hilmi Tunahan movement, which were openly referred to as reactionary in the old version, will be excluded from the document.
On the MGK’s website, the military’s MGSB is defined as the following: “A roadmap that includes the fundamentals of the policy to be pursued to ensure the existence of the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish nation and their welfare.” A domestic threat is defined as “a perception of danger that includes activities carried out by illegal organizations and violent acts that are being masterminded within the country’s borders overtly or covertly with an attempt to destroy the state’s constitutional order, the country’s integrity and the nation’s welfare.”
The MGSB was prepared for the first time after Turkey became a NATO member with US support against the threat of communism. Until the coup d’état of Sept. 12, 1980, communists and all of the left were seen as the biggest threat to Turkey. After the coup, separatism was included in the list of domestic threats. With the rise of the Welfare Party (RP) in 1995 religious reactionaryism and separatism became the main domestic threats. The latest version of the MGSB was approved on Oct. 24, 2005 by the MGK and then by the Cabinet on March 20, 2006.
The Red Book is not discussed in Parliament because it is treated as a top secret state document.
Erdoğan signaled a revision to the document in February during a television program. He said the document had no legal basis, that it was a mandate and that they, as the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), have undertaken major changes since coming to power. Erdoğan then vowed to reconsider the policy document and said, “There will no longer be any domestic threats.”
Following an exchange of opinions with the relevant institutions, the new version of the MGSB is expected to be approved in the October MGK meeting.
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