What often impresses foreign commentators is that many in Turkey continue to re-enact that battle. It sees itself in a state of permanent struggle. Today’s nation still thinks of itself as a young republic, a reflection based not so much on skewed demographics with a mean age of well under 29 years, but on the sense of flux which still seems to pervade public life. Being “young” is an excuse for being reckless and sometimes irresponsible, for having institutions that churn and seethe in the way that adolescents have raging hormones that often conflict with conventional wisdom and even common sense. In Turkey, the most palpable sign of this immaturity is in the confusion of labor between the civilian administration and the military. The military, and the bureaucracy which looks to it for guidance, sees itself as the heir to that heroic spirit in which the republic was established. Their esprit de corps is very much founded on defending the founding vision not just from enemies abroad but an untutored populace. Being young also means feeling vulnerable -- and in its first years the Turkish Republic did not have a brilliant track record of dealing with dissent. And yet democratic politics is all about harnessing popular dissatisfaction to legitimate your own claim to govern.
This week, in the run-up to the Republic Day holiday, the headlines have been about the boundary between military prerogative and civilian rule. Did, as documents leaked to the press very much suggest, the military wittingly maintain a department of dirty tricks to weaken the governing party and engineer its removal from office? If so, the next concern is at what level was this department approved. And the final question is by what logic those who may have so conspired convinced themselves that what they were doing was in the best interests of the country. The answer to this last question lies in a core mistrust of the young and untutored instincts of the people. One of the other alleged targets of the military department was the Gülen movement.
Of course, the truth of the matter is that in terms of years, the Turkish Republic is a great deal older than many of the states of the very European Union it (still, professedly) hopes to join. France is now working on its fourth republic, founded after the world war. Germany’s internal tussle with militarism is also no secret. Spain and Greece freed themselves from military dictatorship. Most of the new accession states in the European Union were, until 20 years ago, one-party regimes. These nations have managed to resolve the relative authority of civilian and military power so that when politicians behave irresponsibly, it is the electorate, and the press with public opinion, which offers the reprimand.
In Turkey it is still not clear who might try conspirators and plotters. The law that would have civilian courts do the job is currently under appeal. In a useful meeting this week organized by the Istanbul Policy Center and the Dutch-based Center for European Security Studies, the conclusion was that there is no universal system for when military personnel can be tried as civilians. On the other hand there is an agreed system which generally is deemed to work.
The good news is that Turkey is at last tackling the problem. Not all that long ago, in 1997, the chiefs of General Staff were not so much plotting against the government as organizing press conferences giving it notice to quit. A Turkey which celebrates its 86th birthday has reason to be proud of its history but is running out of excuses not to get its public institutions in order.
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