2010 sees milestones in military-civilian gov’t relations

Four significant changes to the law took place when the 26-article constitutional amendment package passed on Sept. 12, while for the first time the military failed to carry out its own decisions about promotions in the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) meeting.

In August the government and the military butted heads over the appointment of three generals who are suspects in an ongoing investigation. The government did not allow the promotion of the three men, and also opposed the possibility of a promotion to chief of General Staff for another general who also stands accused of coup plotting.

Turkey’s efforts to normalize the power balance between the military and the civilian administration have been in place since 2002, when Turkey’s EU process began. In 2009, the government attempted to pass a new law that would also mean members of the military would be tried in civilian courts, but this was overturned by the Constitutional Court. This paved the way for this year’s constitutional changes, which were submitted to a national vote on Sept. 12.

The most important change the constitutional amendments introduced is ensuring that military officers will now be tried in civilian courts for offenses unrelated to their work in the military. This also includes officers who have committed crimes against “the security of the state and the constitutional order.” This means that retired or on duty military officers who are currently indicted as suspects in various trials -- such as the Ergenekon or the Sledgehammer trial -- related to alleged plots to stage a military coup will be tried in civilian courts, with no legal controversy. Before these changes, suspects in these trials and the military’s legal experts had been trying to transfer these trials to military courts.

Another important change the constitutional amendments bring is the constitutional guarantee that a civilian cannot be tried in a military court.

Another very important change to military-civilian relations was the amendment concerning YAŞ decisions, which were previously considered ultimate and closed to judicial review. The new constitutional amendments now make it possible for officers expelled from the army by a YAŞ decision to appeal that decision. This is considered to be a historic change.

The changes also redefine the tasks and duties of military courts. Another change was the removal of the temporary Article 15 from the Constitution, which made it illegal to attempt to indict or bring to justice the perpetrators of the Sept. 12, 1980 coup d’état. With the change, those who have any responsibility for the crimes committed at that time and that are still alive can now be taken to court, although no prosecutor has yet taken any action in this direction, despite hundreds of petitions and complaints from civil society organizations, political parties, other groups and many individuals. However, it is still considered an important message for those members of the military who may still dream of staging an intervention.

Civilians victorious in YAŞ crisis

The highlight of the changes to civilian government-military relations this year was undoubtedly the YAŞ meetings of August. A crisis broke out when President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan refused to approve the promotion of generals mentioned in the indictments for the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer coup trials.

Erdoğan refused to sign a YAŞ decree that would have promoted 1st Army Commander Gen. Hasan Iğsız to land forces commander and asked former Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ to recommend somebody else for this position. However, Başbuğ did not take this step. According to tradition, the land forces commander is always appointed chief of General Staff when it comes time for the next promotion; there has never been an exception until now. If Iğsız was not appointed head of the land forces, then he would never become the chief of General Staff. Erdoğan said he would not forward the decree to the president for approval, unless Başbuğ recommended another person.

The government emerged victorious in the row over the YAŞ promotions, with the generals the government opposed not being appointed to their intended new positions.

YAŞ saw another crisis over the status of three generals. Maj. Gen. Halil Helvacıoğlu, Rear Adm. Abdullah Gavramoğlu and Maj. Gen. Gürbüz Kaya were not given a promotion during the YAŞ meetings due to the government’s opposition. The three men had been mentioned as suspects in a case dealing with the Sledgehammer plot. The three men were later suspended by Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül and Interior Minister Beşir Atalay. They appealed this as well, but the government threatened to force the three generals to retire. The three generals have stopped pursuing legal action and will wait until the end of the Sledgehammer trial before taking further action.

Generals in jail

The start of the Ergenekon trial in 2007 saw retired generals being jailed for the first time, but this year, some generals and other high-ranking officials were put behind bars for alleged attempts to stage a coup to overthrow the civilian government. This also marks the start of a historic healing process for Turkey’s unbalanced military-civilian government relations.