Civil-military relations in Turkey: an historical study of foundation, tutelage, and transformation

Abstract

Turkish history is too often a history of authoritarianism, from Ottoman authoritarianism to military, and now civilian authoritarianism. Based on this authoritarian culture and historical legacy, civil-military relations and military interventions have been among the principal causes of the lack of a mature democracy in Turkey. The ‘foundation philosophy’ of the Turkish Republic placed the military at the centre of the constitutional system. This research seeks to analyse and explain how the military institutionalised their dominance of Turkish politics for nearly 90 years, and how that dominance came to be challenged and terminated. This thesis presents a theoretical framework in which continuity of military dominance is explained by reference to the main theoretical principles of historical institutionalism whilst those same principles are also employed to explaining the decline and collapse of military tutelage. The critical junctures in this historical process of institutional continuity and change are circumstantiated at various points to clarify the argument. This framework also allows a partial analysis of the trajectory of civilian authoritarianism under the Erdogan Governments and their changing relationship with the military. A critical analysis over the continuity of the state authoritarianism in changing military and civilian forms, the research employs the concepts of cognitive frameworks, norms, and rules to tease out the implications of the power of balance in Turkey. The research reveals the lasting impact of the cognitive, regulative, and normative frameworks in the formation, institutionalisation, and displacement processes of the military tutelage. The thesis re-emphasises the concern with the prospects for mature and democratic civil-military relations. In so doing it draws on the empirical research, particularly on the views of civilian interviewees. Key words: Historical Institutionalism, path-dependency, critical junctures, civil-military relations, authoritarian culture, coup d’état, military tutelage, internal-external determinants, gradual institutional change, civilian authoritarianism.