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Foreign Affairs
The Turkish Military's March Toward Europe
Ersel Aydinli, Nihat Ali Özcan, and Dogan Akyaz
Summary: Without the Turkish military's support, Ankara cannot comply with the reforms necessary for Turkey to join the EU. So far, the top brass have cooperated, even when reforms have curbed their power, because they have looked at EU membership as both the culmination of the country's modernization and a way to battle nagging domestic problems. But how much further will they go?
ERSEL AYDINLI is a Visiting Assistant Professor at George Washington University, on leave from Bilkent University, in Ankara. He worked on this article while on a fellowship at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. NIHAT ALI ÖZCAN is a retired Major from the Turkish armed forces. DOGAN AKYAZ is a Major in the Turkish armed forces.
WILL COOPERATION LAST?
Turkey's accession to the European Union has long been an issue of great debate. Some have questioned the EU's willingness to welcome such a large, poor, and culturally distant country as a member; others have wondered whether Turkey can transform itself enough to meet the EU's demands. Yet much of this talk has overlooked the Turkish army, even though it is a key player in the process thanks to its critical role in founding modern Turkey, its continued popularity within Turkish society, and its uniquely powerful voice in politics. None of the reforms the EU still requires of the Turkish government can be achieved without the military's backing.
Recent changes have already dramatically curbed the power of the Turkish military in several of its traditional areas of influence and reduced its long-standing authority in some civilian institutions. Not all of these adjustments have been greeted with open arms, but the Turkish General Staff (TGS) has largely complied with the EU's demands even though doing so has forced it to let go of power it had felt necessary to build up and carefully guard for decades. The explanation for this sacrifice is twofold. Turkey's generals have adapted because they see EU membership as the final stage of a modernization process they have supported for nearly a century. They also believe that the process leading to EU membership is the best means to confront key domestic challenges with which they have long struggled, such as Islamism and Kurdish separatism. So far, the deal has been worth their while. But with the EU's decision in October to begin membership negotiations with Ankara, the need for reform, especially regarding the military's policies on Kurdish secessionism and the status of Cyprus, will only intensify. And it remains to be seen how much further the Turkish military leadership will be willing to retreat.
A MILITARY LIKE NO OTHER
The Turkish armed forces have an unusual relationship with both the country's civilian leadership and Turkish society. Despite its record of tampering with civilian politics and ousting democratically elected governments, the military remains extremely popular. A poll published in the daily newspaper Hürriyet last September found that the military was Turkey's most trusted institution. The relationship between the Turkish military and Turkey's civilian authorities may be an "exception to the 'standardized' civil-military relationship," Chief of the General Staff of the Army Hilmi Özkök said in a speech in August, but every country has "different needs, conditions, values, histories, societal concerns, and dynamics."
This popularity is largely a result of Turkey's modern history. As the Ottoman Empire was collapsing after World War I and the ruling aristocracy was dithering in the face of invading foreign powers, the armed forces, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (later known as Atatürk), struggled side by side with the people of Anatolia to protect the homeland. "While saving the very country, these soldiers also destroyed the political structure that had been based on the sultanate and caliphate," Özkök said last August. "They built up a ...