With 4 Promotions, Turkey Begins a New Era

By SEBNEM ARSU

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s civilian leadership appointed four new commanders on Thursday, decisively strengthening its control over its armed forces less than a week after the military leadership abruptly resigned in frustration over the continuing prosecution of officers accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

The new appointments of a chief of general staff and commanders of the army, navy and air force reflected the Islamic-leaning civilian government’s increased assertiveness in its struggle with the country’s military establishment, which has orchestrated three coups since 1960 and forced another government from power in 1997.

The appointments were announced at the conclusion of a four-day meeting of the Senior Military Council, a powerful group led by top military and civilian officials.

In prior years, the council funneled military influence into the public sphere. But on Thursday, the meeting was led exclusively by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a widely circulated photograph of the event seemed to illustrate his success in ensuring civilian supremacy in Turkish politics. The appointees resemble their predecessors in background and experience, but their rise is the start of what many see as a new era of civilian dominance here.

The resignations last Friday came as a shock inside and outside of Turkey, a NATO member and an increasingly influential economic power that maintains close ties to Europe and the Middle East. But Mr. Erdogan, a popular leader whose conservative, Islamic-oriented party came to power in 2002, took the moment as an opportunity to install a military leadership more likely to accept being subordinate to a civilian government.

The new chief of staff is Necdet Ozel; the land forces commander is Hayri Kivrikoglu; Mehmet Erten is now the air force commander; and Emin Murat Bilgel became naval commander.

Civilian control of the military is also an important requirement for membership in the European Union, which Mr. Erdogan’s government has been seeking to join since he took office.

“The military had some misconceptions and an incorrect, antidemocratic culture about the role of an army,” said Atilla Sandikli, a former military officer and now a researcher at Bilgesam, a research group based in Ankara, Turkey’s capital. “However, from now on, I believe that the army would not be able to dismiss any civilian authority or its decrees or manipulate governments like it did in the past.”

The four commanders who resigned last week were angry over the arrests and prosecution of hundreds of officers dating to 2003, accused of conspiring to destabilize the government and cause it to fall. The catalyst for the resignations was Mr. Erdogan’s refusal to take action against the slow-moving judicial process enmeshing about 200 military personnel, including 14 generals and admirals.

Critics of Mr. Erdogan say the case reveals his authoritarian tendencies and that much of the evidence has been fabricated. But Mr. Erdogan and his party, Justice and Development, enjoy widespread support among Turkey’s 73 million people, whose livelihoods have improved significantly under his tenure.

Some former members of the military have viewed the latest developments with a sense of resignation and defeat, fearing that the military will no longer be able serve as a balance of power against what they see as Mr. Erdogan’s efforts to erode the secular principles enshrined by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk at the founding of modern Turkey nearly a century ago.

via With 4 Promotions, Turkey Begins a New Era – NYTimes.com.