MIL 101 How to stage a military coup
by
ALİ MURAT YEL*

This freshman course could be offered in military colleges and the departments of political science, international relations and public administration of civilian universities and colleges. The aim would be showing students how to utilize military power swiftly and soundly (and even sweetly) to throw out unstable governments and regimes all over the world. Each week a case study could be explored such as Nigeria, Cuba, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Gambia, Myanmar, the Central African Republic, Mauritania and Madagascar. The students would gain an insight into the successful coup d’état. The course should also include some unsuccessful coup attempts so that they could learn from the mistakes of others. Yet, the students should not be introduced to concepts like “civilian control of the military,” democracy, human rights, political elections and the will of the public otherwise some of them would fall into the trap of these “new ideas.” They would grow fond of them and -- God forbid! -- try to react against the coup in a Pollyannaish way, especially in countries with little experience of healthy and successful democracies. The students should have firsthand experience that “guarding of the guardians” should be a difficult task for civilians.

Fostering an intense dislike of civilian politicians

The students of this course should also learn to form an intense dislike of the corruption of civilian politicians and internalize the belief that it is the one and only armed forces that can save the country with patriotic feelings. Upon staging a successful coup, the army should change the government or ruling group that had been a threat to the existing regime. After a considerable period of time, as the army thinks fit, it should be confined to its barracks once more. Cleansing the regime of the corrupt politicians by installing a new government is a key indicator of a successful coup. Its success depends on how the army creates a prelude to leading a coup by collaborating with the civil service and the conservative middle classes who are against any change in their status quo. It would be easy for an army to carry out coups in countries that do not have free and regular elections, so the army would remain the only source to change governments. Therefore, the army must eliminate this important aspect of democracy immediately after coming to power.

The course should also be designed in such a way, especially in military colleges, that the personal ambition of the officer or the corporate interests of the army or even constituency rivalries should be avoided by the coup-staging personnel. These personnel should also avoid keeping diaries or taking notes of the conversations among them on the issue of coup militaire. If they are afraid of forgetting their previous meetings on the subject, they should develop a secret code totally unintelligible to civilians; otherwise, these notes could be exposed to the public and they would become a laughingstock and their plans would ultimately be destined to fail because everybody knows that Aunt Sally is unable to carry out such a serious task.

Perhaps the most difficult task of the coup-staging personnel is to prepare the public for an upcoming intervention. The officers need to be very careful when they are developing strategies and plans for their action so as not to use the familiar names of politicians, journalists and businesspeople or even the names of the buildings or references to the belief system of the public that they would use after the coup. They must write scenarios as if they are living in a very far-off land like Patagonia. Otherwise, in the event of a failure, these people could sue them in the civilian courts no matter how hard the officer in charge tries to explain these plans on TV, saying that they were only preparatory exercises for a possible war against a neighboring country.

Of course, there are easier ways to stage a military coup, such as waiting for the political leader to leave the country and seizing power in his or her absence without having to send him or her to prison. The element of surprise is absolutely crucial in a coup, so all TV channels, radio stations and other media headquarters should be secured in a matter of hours; otherwise, some of these institutions would dissent and make it difficult for the officers. Therefore, controlling the flow of information through the selected media is only possible by imposing martial law. As journalists cannot leave their houses, military personnel would be employed in the media. However, whilst staying at home, these journalists and politicians would be able to use the Internet and their cell phones, so cutting off these channels of communication would come in handy to control the organization of unwanted rallies and demonstrations by democracy-loving people. The loyalists should not be afraid of clashing with the rebels; the mutineers could be confined in large places such as stadiums or other similar venues.

All in all, staging a military coup is good for a healthy army, and preparations for it keep army personnel from getting bored and help them believe that in the absence of a real enemy -- internal or external -- they are good and very well qualified to carry out serious business in the country.

As a cautionary note for those who would confuse the arguments in this opinion piece with the current situation in Turkey, or might find some similarities, let me make it crystal clear that the events are totally fictional and that any similarities are only coincidental and accidental. Everybody knows that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) has never staged a military coup in its entire history and that Turkish officers are totally ignorant of the fact that there is such a thing called a coup d’état at all.