Civilian-military ties witness dramatic change, says expert

Civil-military relations in Turkey have been witnessing a dramatic change, which is independent of the country's accession process to the European Union, said a prominent Turkish scholar.

“Further democratization in civil-military relations that are unfolding has nothing to do with Turkey's EU aspirations. It is rather a pragmatic process,” said Professor Ali Karaosmanoğlu at a conference held on Monday in Istanbul. While there have been times in the past when civil and military circles decided to cooperate, that understanding has been ephemeral whereas the changing situation we are currently witnessing might be continuous, said Karaosmanoğlu, who lectures at Bilkent University in Ankara.

Karaosmanoğlu said some found it surprising to see secular generals cooperating with members of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which is said to have religious roots. He said that civil-military relations went in a completely different pattern, especially after the government strongly refuted the army's warning in 2004. The army issued a written statement ahead of presidential elections to prevent AKP members from getting the post, prompting early general elections that brought the AKP a second term in government with a record 47 percent.

According to Karaosmanoğlu, it will be impossible to understand the dimension of the current change without taking into account the global and regional context. Ethnic separatism combined with rising liberal and democratic standards have blurred the demarcation line between internal and international. The internal dimension of security was undermined and political aspects of the problems increased the need for military-political cooperation. Awareness emerged in Turkey that the problem of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has an international dimension, and that it required having politics given priority to solve the problem, said Karaosmanoğlu.

Nature threats

This view was equally voiced by Graeme Herd from the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, or GCSP. “The Turkish military rationally understands that the nature of the threats requires both civil and military tools,” Herd said.

Karaosmanoğlu said in the past there have been instances of shared understanding between the military and the civil society but it has not been continuous. This time however, it might not be ephemeral. The reason we should have more faith in the present process is the fact that the military mindset is changing, said Karaosmanoğlu. Dividing the army into two groups, Karaosmanoğlu said that while the traditionalists defend the status quo, the reformists are supportive of change. The fact that military compounds were open to prosecutors during the investigation of the alleged Ergenekon gang, which sought to topple government by spreading chaos, is a sign of evidence that the army supports the reforms. Two retired generals are currently on trial as well as active members of the military within the Ergenekon case.

Yet the General Staff finds itself in an awkward position since it wants to protect the prestige of the army and also avoid provoking the traditionalist group, which is not in favor of the reforms.

Karaosmanoğlu said that while military subordination to the civil authority is a given in consolidated democracies it not the case in unconsolidated democracies. “In unconsolidated democracies, civil control of the military has to be constructed; it must be rooted in convictions. The military should believe that subordination to the civil authority is a virtue. At the same time, the political leaders should demonstrate that they can lead. This is the process currently unfolding in Turkey. The present government is demonstrating that it can lead,” said Karaosmanoğlu.

Peter Volten, director of Dutch think tank the Center for European Security Studies, or CESS, which is one of the organizers of the conference together with Istanbul-based Sabancı University, said no one is suggesting that Turkey should not have a professional army, but the question that needs to be answered is how to further align civil-military relations with EU standards. CESS aims to help Turkey meet the requirements for EU accession in the field of civil-military relations. It also wants to promote better understanding within the EU of the challenges that Turkey faces in this regard.

The two-day conference started with the launch of the book titled, “Perceptions and Misperceptions in the EU and Turkey: Stumbling blocks on the road to accession,” a publication of CESS. A photocopied version of the book was presented to Alp Ay from the EU Secretariat General by Onno Kervers, consul general of the Netherlands. “One of the misconceptions we had was over the transfer of books from the Netherlands to Turkey. The books are right now in Turkish customs,” said Joost Lagendijk, senior adviser at the Istanbul Policy Center at Sabancı University, explaining why a photocopied version was handed to Ay, who came to Istanbul on behalf of Egemen Bağış, Turkey's chief EU negotiator.