United Factions of the Turkish Military
The Abant Platform gathered this year to discuss "Democratization: Political Parties from Sept. 12 [coup] to European Union." Discussions will continue tomorrow (Saturday), but what I understood from Friday's discussions is that for a more democratic Turkey, we need more democratic political party and election laws ― and to have these laws, we first have to amend the Constitution, but that seems impossible.
Because the Republican People's Party (CHP) opposes any constitutional change ― especially if it means more democratization and liberalization ― even if the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) amends the Constitution, the CHP will take it to the Constitutional Court and the court will easily trespass its constitutional limits by saying, “As this change may weaken Turkish democracy and democracy is a fundamental characteristic of the state, we have a right to look at the content of the amendment, and we thereby quash the amendment.” This may sound absurd and bordering fantasy, knowing that the Constitution clearly dictates that the Constitutional Court does not have any power to look at the content of constitutional amendments, but this is exactly what happened when 411 out of 550 members of Parliament voted for a constitutional change that allowed everyone to enter universities regardless of their dress. Unless the AK Party finds a creative solution to amend the Constitution (where there's a will, there's a way), with the current member composition of the court, any democratization in political parties and the electoral system seems unlikely. So, instead of a futile talk about this “non-issue,” I decided to write about a more relevant issue: Turkey's most powerful political party and its factions.
Unfortunately, it is not news that the Turkish military deals with everyday politics, makes political statements and preventively talks about issues that are normally considered within the ambit of politics. Despite all legal bans and all rhetoric, this is the everyday practice of our politician generals. And this is not entirely their fault. We have substantial numbers of Jacobins in our media, business and bureaucratic circles who do not trust the choices of the people and condone the military's political role. Thus, the recently leaked military plans about disintegrating the ruling AK Party, secretly planting weapons at the Gülen movement's institutions to later “discover” them, etc., surprised no one. Yes, of course, many of us negatively reacted to the plans, but our reactions were similar to a mother's reaction to her ultra-naughty son who ― again ― did not behave properly. We were upset and angry, but we were not surprised. So what is going on in the military?
All my readings of the news, interviews, books on the military, leaked documents, Ergenekon case files, memoirs by former generals and my conversations with retired military officers and so on convince me that there are not just secret and clandestine factions in the military but that there is actually an unofficial and unnamed political party system operating in the military. As they insist on giving a united picture to the outside and deny any nonhierarchical formation within the military, one may call it the “United Factions of the Turkish Military.” Thanks to these opposing factions, we know what is going on in the military, we can read leaked documents and, most important of all, we do not have a brand new coup.
It is obvious that at least one these factions does not care about the European Union process, Turkey's international stature, definite humiliation, economic disaster and even a civil war. The only thing that stops them is the fear that after they stage a coup, their newborn coup may quite probably be snatched away by another faction. And, other factions, by leaking documents and sometimes sacrificing their individual members, show every sign of their dedication to snatching. The only difference between these military political factions or parties and civilian ones is that only frontrunners, spokespersons or brokers, as it were, of these parties may be known, as they get their power from the secrecy of their members. These brokers bargain, negotiate, form coalitions and even decide what the chief of general staff will do and say. I think this explains why a seemingly democratic chief of general staff such as Gen. İlker Başbuğ behaves undemocratically and is incapable of eradicating coup-loving military officers.
As poor civilians without guns, there is not much we can do about this situation, for the law does not work in this arena. The only option is to accept the Kemalist claim that Turkey is sui generis and to legalize the Turkish military political party system. If we do this, at least things will be more transparent as far as our soldier masters are concerned, and our good old politicians may convince the masses that they are really doing something about political party laws.
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