The surprising thing was not the military making coup plans; Turkey is already accustomed to such plans. The acceleration of these efforts during the governmental term of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was not surprising either because it is obvious that a government that aims to integrate the country with the world, seeks further democratization and represents the majority of the people will irreversibly restrict the political influence of the army. Add to this the Islamic sensitivities of the same government, and it is easy to imagine what sort of “panic” the military has gone through since this implies the defeat of the army and the republic as they conceive it.What came as a surprise to society was that the coup plans lacked a certain quality and implied ruthlessness, such as committing massacres. Perhaps for the first time in history, Turkey came to the point of perceiving its own army as a threat against itself.
The problem is about how the “republic” is conceived. “Republic” implied not only the establishment of an independent nation-state, but also the transformation of society into a nation that deserves the state in line with a positivist dream. The institution that would assume the task of transforming society had to be “ahead” of society and be capable of guiding it correctly. However, it was considered unrealistic to entrust civilian politicians with this task since civilians were not regarded as reliable in terms of their loyalty to republican ideals. Indeed, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk not only ruled the country with a single party, but also appointed the heads of local branches of his own party as governors and closed down other parties. In this case, to ensure its permanence, the system needed a “robust” institution that would remain above politics, but continue to shape it, and this was the task that the army was expected to perform.
Thus, the institution of the armed forces that knows what is right for society, that has the final say in basic issues, that determines the threat perceptions of the country, that “rectifies” affairs when the military’s tutelary role is weakened and that stands immune to financial, administrative, legal and political review was created. This institution still prepares a secret document called the National Security Policy Document, which cannot be audited and is renewed every five years. This document defines the “internal threats” and their scope. The army’s relations with the government rely on fighting against these internal threats. Indeed, the EMASYA protocol, which is one of the main agenda items these days, allowed the military to collect intelligence and intervene in social incidents to ensure security and public order without civilian review. In other words, the army could have created a “state of emergency” without having to declare martial law.
This protocol was not negotiated in Parliament and did not rely on any law and was in breach of numerous provisions of provincial law. It was sufficient for the Interior Ministry to issue a circular to abolish it, but it was not easy to do so because the government was afraid of violent incidents and knew well from the previous coups that it could have paid a heavy price for offending the military. Indeed, the Sledgehammer coup plan suggests using the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and al-Qaeda to inflict violence on society. It follows that the military has the ability to use these organizations as its puppets. Therefore, a government that does not get along well with the military may find itself facing a wave of terrorism even threatening the cities.
The meaning of this scene is that politics has been taken hostage by the military in Turkey. It is not easy to take steps for further democratization because you cannot guarantee that this process will not cost you your life. Indeed, we know thanks to the Ergenekon investigation that more than 10 attempts to kill the prime minister had been made since 2002. In this case, for military tutelage to come to an end in Turkey, the army should understand that it will be isolated and will not find social support and cannot manipulate the people to this end if it overthrows the government. However, for this to happen, society should perceive the military objectively and pass the psychological threshold in order to do this.
This psychological threshold is the process of the military becoming ordinary and losing the artificial respect paid to it. It seems that the low and vulgar quality of the coup plans has made a major contribution in this respect. We face a military mentality that lives with a compulsive urge to overthrow the government and spends all its energy pursuing this end, but knows nothing about the world or the society we live in. Moreover, they can even consider “feasible” plans suggesting mass killings in order to “correct” society.
Today, society is experiencing a major disruption in its perceptions and the military is being “seen for what it is.” Now the floor goes to the government to act boldly.
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