The meeting was held amid increasing tension in the country over a suspected military plot to destroy the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and the faith-based Gülen movement. It also came shortly after the adoption of new legislation passed last week as part of European Union harmonization efforts to ensure that military personnel are tried in civilian courts in peacetime rather than in military courts. Even though news about the arrest of Col. Dursun Çiçek, who devised the alleged plot, came as the MGK meeting was in progress, this did not draw a reaction from the military members. The minutes of the MGK meeting indicate that members of the military did not voice any opposition to the legislation. They also vowed not to stand in the way of the investigation of the suspected plot. Taking all this into consideration, many say that the strong military tutelage from which Turkey has been suffering since its founding is finally losing strength, with the military refraining from intervening in politics and withdrawing from the civilian sphere.Akşam's Aslı Aydıntaşbaş says we are faced with a new reality in Turkey with the “historic” MGK meeting held this week and the arrest of Col. Çiçek, interpreting these as an indication of the change in military-civilian relations. “Nothing will be the same in Turkey from now on. There was Murphy's Law in Turkey in the past, which everyone knows. The army was always right, and when the army was not right, Murphy's Law was in effect. When there was a disagreement between the military and the government or a civilian body, what the army says was being put into practice. This situation has begun to change with Turkey's EU membership process. We have seen for the past years that the opposite law is valid: when there is a dispute between the military and a civilian institution, it is generally the civilians who win,” explains Aydıntaşbaş. Although Çiçek was later released, she says his arrest by a civilian court shows that the military has a diminishing influence on the civilian judiciary and the government. She likens this to the AK Party standing against a military memorandum released against it during the presidential election process in 2007, stressing that the government not remaining silent and raising its voice against the military's anti-democratic moves has caused it to be victorious.
According to Star's Nasuhi Güngör, the military is withdrawing from the civilian sphere to its own place in the system and wants politics to protect it during this process, as implied in its calls about not damaging state institutions. He thinks if this process can be managed well, the army may not interfere in politics again and will remain answerable to the government. In his view, the Turkish army has failed to read the course of developments in the world correctly, failed to reproduce its power in the system and more importantly, has taken a step back whenever it attempted to retain its position. “There is no option left for the Turkish army to be a harmonious part of the bureaucratic system. What it is trying to do is not to cause any damage while it withdraws to its own sphere. That is all,” suggests Güngör.
Yeni Şafak's Ali Bayramoğlu says Turkey is proceeding toward democratic principles more strongly and on more legitimate grounds today because a colonel can be arrested in this country despite the earlier statements of Gen. Başbuğ clearing him of charges. “A big hole has been opened in the military tutelage regime,” says Bayramoğlu, adding that the area of operation of the military is getting smaller by the day.
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