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The Role of the Military in Turkish Politics: To Guard Whom and From What?

Journal Name:

  • European Journal of Economic and Political Studies

Publication Year:

  • 2011

Key Words:

Author NameUniversity of Author
Abstract (2. Language): 
This paper tries to reveal the chief determinants of the Turkish Armed Forces’ (TAF) role in political sphere. In order to shed a light upon the “guardian” role of the TAF for the secular nation-state in general and the Kemalist ideology in particular; the historical, theoretical as well as legal and institutional traits of the military interventions in Turkey will be analyzed. As already known, Turkish military played a key role in the nation-building process, hence the modernization era was also stimulated by the Army. It can be argued that, having a role like this, the military elites from the very beginning of the Republican era up to present, have not been experiencing any appreciable difficulties in placing themselves in the political life. Unlike its counterparts, the Turkish Army has a considerable amount of political and institutional autonomy which ultimately leads to emphasize its role in guarding the state from “internal enemies”. This term of “internal enemy” refers to political Islam and Kurdish movement, and from time to time the TAF exercise direct and / or indirect political authority to a variety of extents. The question of why the military elites still regard themselves as the only guarantor of the Turkish state is a crucial one to be answer ed. The role of the civilians, the political culture, historical background, socio-cultural structure, level of economic development and legal regulations of Turkey, all to some extent affect that role of the Army. Here I argue that multidimensional factors are determinant in shaping the military’s role in politics. In addition to that, by regarding the Islamic and Kurdish identities as security issues, the military gives itself the role of guardianship of the Turkish state too. The major argument of the paper is that, the Turkish Army protects the Turkish State from the Turkish nation in the context of “internal enemy” thanks to its so-called guardianship role of the Turkish State.
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  • English