In an action full of confidence and control President Abdullah Gul of Turkey on Thursday (4 July 11) approved the appointments of a new chief of staff, and new commanders to head the navy, army and air force. The announcement was made at the end of a key four-day meeting of the Supreme Military Council, presided over by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and attended by the Defense Minister and Army officers. For the first time the meeting was not attended by top 4 commanders who have earlier resigned collectively.
Calling the resignations as bluff, The National Turk reported, “Turkey’s powerful army could roll into the nation’s cities, or simply make plain its refusal to tolerate this policy or that person, and the government of the day would fall. But these times seem to be in the distant past. Last Friday’s resigning of the top military brass in Turkey will change that probably forever. The Head of General Staff Gen. Işık Koşaner, Land Forces Commander Gen. Erdal Ceylanoğlu, Air Forces Commander Gen. Hasan Aksay and Naval Forces Commander Adm. Eşref Uğur Yiğit resigned from their posts and walked off the job. Turkish citizens barely noticed.”
“The New York Times” published online the news of new appointments with the head line: “With 4 Names, Turkey Marks a New Era”. The report from Istanbul filed by Sebne Arsu, said: “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 prosecutions of officers accused of plotting coup to overthrow the government.”
It was announce in Ankara that General Necdet Ozel, former head of the military police ‘Gendarmerie’, was named the new chief of staff to replace General Isik Kosaner. Gendarmerie is large paramilitary police force which keeps order in rural areas among other tasks and works under Home Minster. Ozel had been made the acting chief of staff on Friday, within hours after Kosaner resigned. General Mehmet Erten was promoted to head the air force, General Hayri Kivrikoglu becomes the commander of land forces and Admiral Emin Bilgel will lead the navy. Confirmation by the cabinet remains merely a formality.
Reporting the development VoA said, “Gen Ozel is seen as a-political, but staunchly “secular” officer, acceptable to both the government and to the officer corps as a whole.” In the dictionary of Turkish Army and Judiciary, term “secular” is essentially meant “Anti-Islam”, non tolerance of religion in civil life.
Marc Champion reported in The WSJ: “The decisions followed the shock resignation of the chief of the general staff and three service chiefs Friday, which had briefly rattled the Turkish lira.”
WSJ noted: “Thursday's appointments showed that the Civil government had succeeded in forcing the armed forces to pass over some of the most senior generals in line for promotion, either because they were awaiting trial on charges that they plotted against the government, or because the country's Islamic-leaning government considered them hostile.”
The development is important because in the meeting of the Supreme Military Council—a twice-yearly gathering--- civil authorities traditionally rubber-stamped top generals' picks to lead the country's military and had no say in the postings. This is for the first time that Civilian Government has exerted to have a say. Therefore it is absolutely factual that these appointments heralded a new era for Turkey. The Civil Government headed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with full support of President Abdullah Gul, has successfully exerted its supremacy on Military Establishment. How things have changed since 2002 when AKP came in power for the first time, may be gauged that at one time, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current AKP leader and former mayor of Istanbul, was banned from electoral office by “secularist” judges, due to his image of a devout Muslim and more.
Though professional autonomy for Armed Forces is universal rule, however, in Turkey the military has gone beyond professional autonomy to the point of operating independently of the government and interfering in civil matters. Turkey's civilian governments had nothing to do with the affairs of the military, including their training and structure and promotions. Recent developments have clipped the wings of hot headed generals and established authority of Civilian Government in postings of top generals.
The Turkish Army freely acted as self-appointed guardian of the State and its policies. As ‘National Turk’ commented, “The Military could roll into the cities, or simply make plain its refusal to tolerate this policy or that person, and the government of the day would fall.” Consequently the army staged four coups since 1960 and pressured a fourth democratically elected government to resign in 1997. The critical moment came when Army High Command announced through e-memorandum on the army’s website, threatening to intervene, if Abdullah Gul was elected president, because he had begun his political career as an “Islamist”. Without losing initiative, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan went to the people immediately, who helped him bury the generals under an avalanche of votes in a referendum. Mr. Gul was then elected president and military could not intervene.
A large scale conspiracy was being cooked to over through AKP Government since 2003 that baked present crises like situation. “Since then, magistrates have uncovered a baroque series of alleged plots against the government, leading to the arrests of hundreds of serving and retired officers. Tensions between the military and the government have been tenacious in recent years as hundreds of high-ranking officers were put behind bars in the ongoing “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) and Ergenekon (The name of an ancient Turkish Saga) coup-plot cases. ….One in 10 of Turkey’s hitherto over mighty generals is now behind bars and a clear majority of Turks appears to support this.”
Some journalists were also arrested in February, being part of conspiracy. US Ambassador in Turkey chose to interfere in the internal matters of Turkey and objected the arrests in the name of ‘freedom of press’. He did not notice that this freedom was being misused to promote the coup through their websites.
During the course, the army has eroded its public image greatly. Revelations during ongoing trails that illegal activities were being nourished in the midst of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) to topple or weaken the democratically-elected government has dealt a blow to TSK reputation. Shockingly the coup plans include shooting down a Turkish fighter jet over the Aegean to blame the Greeks and embarrass the government, killing non-Muslim minority leaders, blowing up mosques including one in Istanbul and provoking sectarian or ethnic violence among Turks, Kurds, Alevis and Sunnis, aimed to defame and de-stabilize AKP Government. The Army has accepted existence of such blue print.
A court on Friday (29 July) accepted an indictment in another alleged military plot, known as the “Internet Memorandum” case, in which anti-government propaganda websites were established by generals in the military. Prosecutors demanded the arrest of 22 people, including the Aegean army commander and six other serving generals and admirals. This irked the top generals and they resigned blaming the arrests illegal.
Mensur Akgun, a political analyst at Istanbul's Kultur University argues that the military has brought its present predicament on itself by assuming it retained a right to interfere in politics as before.
"The military made enormous mistakes and they were not hiding what they were intending to do," Akgun says, "and there have been several court cases in Turkey questioning the coup attempts and all other possible adventures that some military personnel were obviously designing and this has created public opposition towards the military's further involvement in politics."
‘The TSK also suffered in public opinion when conscripted soldiers were killed by outlawed armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Many questioned the competency of the generals, and some accused the TSK of covering up officers’ mistakes.’ ‘The Turkish media accused the TSK of gross negligence with regard to the attacks in Dağlıca, Yüksekova, which took place on Oct. 21, 2007; in Aktütün, Şemdinli, which took place on Oct. 3, 2008; in Gediktepe, Şemdinli, which took place on June 19, 2010; and in Hantepe, Çukurca, which took place on July 20, 2010.’ (Today Zaman)
Following the coup of 1980, the army imposed self drafted constitution that circumscribed democratic rights and enshrined military privileges. The democratically elected government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to change this constitution. A day after the top officers resigned on 29 July, the P.M. pressed ahead with plans for a new constitution that he said would boost democracy. “I believe our biggest duty is to prepare a new constitution, democratic and liberal and without shortcomings, which meets the needs of today,” Erdoğan said in the address to the nation.
AKP Government believes in “evolution” and not “revolution” and is treading cautiously. While accepting the resignations immediately it did not hesitate to make a compromise by “Secular” Generals of the Army at four days crucial Supreme Military Council Meeting. Chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and attended by top army officers, it was agreed in the meeting, as demanded by outgoing Chief of Staff General Isik Kosaner that jailed commanders facing charges of plotting coup against democratically elected Government won't be made to retire formally as the government had wanted earlier. Instead, they will have their right to promotion and perks accordingly.
The decisions meant that government succeeded to pass over several higher ranking generals, including Gen. Aslan Guner, who is senior to Gen. Kivirikoglu. Guner created headlines when he publicly snubbed President Gul's wife on two occasions, refusing to greet her—apparently because she covers her head with scarf. Gen. He has been sent to Military Academy as head until he retires next year. Gen. Bilgin Balanli, who had headed the Military Academy, who was in line to take over as Air Force Commander, has also been passed over. Gen. Balanli was arrested at the end of May for his part in a plot to topple the government. Some 250 military officers have now been indicted in coup-plot cases, of whom Gen. Balanli is the most senior active-duty general.
An analyst noted, “With the end of the Cold War, tolerance for the military's dominance of Turkish politics dwindled both at home and abroad. Thursday's (Aug 3) reshaping of the military command by the government represents the end of a lengthy struggle between the ruling, “Islamic-leaning” Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the hard-line secularist (anti Islamists) generals—one that Mr. Erdogan appears to have won.
The mass resignations failed to rattle AKP Government as President Gul proceeded to Istanbul from Ankara, according his preset program and Prime Minister even did not mentioned the resignation in his address to the Nation. Public also remained unconcerned. After exerting its authority on Army, the Civil Government will be required to take some more steps to consolidate civil control on Army. The steps include public auditing of military expenditure and revamping the curricula of Military Academy which groom officers’ intolerance towards religious freedom and disrespect towards the will of the people.
To conclude a quote from Anthony Shadid analysis in The NYT:“Since winning its first election in 2002, Mr. Erdogan’s AKP has overseen a transformation of this country of 73 million. Turkey has emerged as a decisive power in a region long dominated by the United States. Its economy is booming (at the rate of 11%, highest in the world).”
“Military officer are growing religious, municipal officials trying to curb drinking alcohol in the streets of Istanbul and a foreign policy in the capital, Ankara, which looks more eastward, to the Middle East, than west, to Europe. The foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, once quoted an Ottoman decree in a speech, an occasion that seemed a metaphor for re-engaging an Ottoman past from which modern Turkey had long sought to distance itself.”
(syyedagha@hotmail.com)
(Writer is Gen. Sec, Forum for Civil Rights)