Turkish president hosts army day as power shift gains pace

The military’s removal from its website Monday of a 2007 memorandum criticizing the nomination of President Abdullah Gül marked the latest in a series of symbolic steps curbing the army’s influence ahead of Victory Day.

The new momentum in normalizing civil-military ties was accelerated by new top commander Gen. Necdet Özel’s proposal that President Gül, in a break with decades-old tradition, would receive greetings on Victory Day, the Aug. 30 holiday that commemorates the final battle in the Turkish War of Independence in 1922.

Since Gen. Özel’s appointment as chief of General Staff following Gen. Işık Koşaner’s resignation in late July in protest against the arrests of high-ranking officers, a number of steps have been taken to cement the elected government’s oversight of the military. Gül’s new role at Victory Day was preceded by milestone changes in the seating arrangements at both the Supreme Military Council, or YAŞ, and the National Security Council, or MGK. Illustrating the growing civilian control over the army, these symbolic moves have had visible effects on the Turkish political landscape as both sides show willingness to adopt a more European standard in defining civil-military relations in Turkey, which has experienced periodic military coups d’état since the 1960s.

The recent process was kicked off by the resignation of former Chief of General Staff Gen. Koşaner, along with three forces commanders, which paved the way for the government to appoint Gen. Özel, a four-star general known to be on good terms with the ruling party. During its nine-year term in power, the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has often faced off against the military and succeeded in shifting the balance of power in civil-military ties.

Another important factor strengthening the AKP’s hand has been the change in leadership at the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, which traditionally sided with the army. New CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu amended the party’s stance significantly in favor of the civilian government.

Amid these sea changes, telling remarks by Gen. Koşaner that had been illegally recorded while he led the General Staff were released on the Internet last week. The former top general’s self-criticism of the military has drawn significant attention following his resignation from the army due to a disagreement with the government over the status of generals arrested in various alleged coup plots. Koşaner’s stepping down was seen as marking the end of an era in which governments were the ones to back down when the military and civilian leadership clashed.

The drastic ongoing changes in the Turkish political landscape were magnified by the General Staff’s removal Monday from its website of the April 27 e-memorandum, also referred to as the e-coup, in a move long-expected by the government. The much-criticized e-memorandum was taken down as part of what the military called an “update” of online content that amounted to the removal of the bulk of archived statements from the website.

On April 27, 2007, the General Staff, under now-retired Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt, posted a statement on its website that was interpreted as military interference in the politically tense presidential elections. In the statement, the military criticized the government’s decision to nominate Gül, whose wife wears the Islamic headscarf, to the presidency and threatened to step in to protect Turkey’s secular system.

Government members welcomed the removal of the e-memorandum, with Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazıcı calling it “a right but late move.” “I am of the opinion that the removal of this memo will contribute to increasing the level of democracy [in Turkey],” he said Monday.

Youth and Sports Minister Suat Kılıç also expressed satisfaction with the military’s gesture. “The belief in democracy should be reinforced by concrete steps and realistic stances. Turkish democracy is no longer open to anti-democratic interventions that ignore the will of the people,” he said.

Based on his performance as top commander during the past four weeks, Gen. Özel’s four-year term seems likely to see more important changes. Upcoming discussions on the new constitution will surely include subordinating the military to the Defense Ministry and increasing civilian control over the military budget.

However, questions still linger over whether the entire army is ready to embrace this normalization at the same level as Gen. Özel and the military command.


/Hurriyet Daily News/