Turkish bloggers divided over civil-military relations

By Alakbar Raufoglu for Southeast European Times

”]Following the abrupt resignation of Turkey’s top military brass, a heated debate on civil-military relations and democratisation ensued in the Turkish blogosphere.

On July 29th the Chief of the General Staff and the heads of the army, navy, and air force resigned en masse over the continued arrest of nearly 250 officers — nearly one-fifth of the officer corps — in multiple ongoing coup plot trials.

The resignations came ahead of the four day meeting of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) — bringing together the heads of the armed forces and government — which determines promotions and retirement of officers.

The row between military and government was directly attributed to the AKP government’s refusal to promote a number of arrested officers as desired by the military.

In a country where the military has historically played a dominant role, including the toppling of four governments, the general’s decision to step aside rather than confront a government they have often been at odds with signals important changes to civil-military relations.

What surprised many observers was the calm handling of the situation by the country’s political leadership, according to blogger Ubeydullah Goktekin.

“Now even soldiers, who until now made governments resign, can resign in Turkey; this time they were forced to leave quietly without a trace,” he said. The generals’ action, he noted, did not trigger widespread public outrage.

The incident was welcomed by many Turks as a major step towards the normalisation of the state, according to blogger Abdullah Ayan.

“Now, a whole period has finished in Turkey,” he wrote, adding that from now on the guardianship of the military over the government will never be the same.

Continuing the point, blogger Yusuf Gezgin called the generals’ resignation “a big victory of the ruling party over the soldiers”.

“The government stood upright, the president acted decisively and despite all of the bluffs he didn’t concede; he didn’t bend over and bow to anyone,” he wrote.

But other bloggers, such as Osman Hincal, view events as the “latest stage in Turkey’s de-democratization and de-secularization”, and worry about the removal of institutional checks and balances.

“Since the AKP came to power in November 2002,” wrote Hincal, “it has seen the Turkish army as the strongest power against it. To loosen its power, to wear it down and cut its voice was necessary.”

“Let’s admit it, to a large extent they [AKP] have been successful. In undertaking this operation they have also scared the civilian sector. There is no power left in Turkey to speak out against them,” he continued, reflecting the common belief the army is the guardian of the state and secularism.

“Democracy can only be called a healthy democracy if the ‘rule of law’ functions,” writes Utku Cakirozer. “Let’s see if events that have been occurring in Turkey meet [the standard] of a healthy democracy.”

“No matter who they are — civilians, military, students, teachers, women, men, even elected officials — thousands of Turkish citizens are arrested for months and years in deprivation of their freedoms,” he writes, adding that restrictions on freedom of press and expression have raised concerns among allies and financial institutions.

“After the general’s resignations is there any hope of preventing all of this from happening?” he asked.

This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.