July 15: the glorious resistance of Turkish democracy.

• Author: Yayla, Atilla
• Position: Report

Introduction: Turning Points in the History of Turkish Coups

The history of Turkish coups is a long one. Turkey experienced several military interventions in the Ottoman era, which either resulted in the elimination of colleagues close to the Sultan and meeting the demands of the rebels, or the dethroning of the Sultan. While some of the dethroned Sultans were put away to prison, others were killed. And even though the old military was replaced with a military of European standard during the reign of several sultans, this still did not prevent military interventions. Indeed, in 1876, at a time when it was said that a coup was not possible, Sultan Abdulaziz was dethroned by a military coup. According to some historians, this was the first coup of modern Turkey. (1)

The dissolution period of the Ottoman Empire totally removed political authority from some areas and diffused it in others, placing the current lands of Turkey, namely Anatolia and Thrace, into a political authority vacuum. England, France, Italy and Greece invaded some parts of Turkey. However, with the War of Independence that started in 1919 on its own accord and was later led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey defeated the regional invasions. After the War of Independence, the Republic of Turkey was established on 29 October 1923. The establishment of the Republic meant a radical political transformation and a sharp separation from the past. The newly formed Republic started to break its historical and cultural connections with the Ottomans and adopted an introvert policy, which was the complete opposite of their former policy. The founding fathers not only made political reforms, they also sought to change Turkish social life with the aim of virtually re-creating individuals and thus Turkish society. However, since the essence of culture is not discontinuity and revolution but durability and reproduction of itself, the aim of crafting a new society was not completely successful. Thus, the political culture and tradition, including the vulnerability to coups which had plagued the Ottomans, continued in the Turkish Republic.

In 1923, "modern" Turkey emerged as a partial pluralist political structure. Before long, in 1925, it inclined towards a one-party regime. During the one-party period between 1925 and 1945, there were no military coups. This situation has been analyzed in two ways. According to the first analysis, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his successor, ismet inonu, were experienced in the painful consequences of the military rebellions among the Ottomans and thus kept the military away from politics and under very strict political control. For this reason, the military did not or could not execute a coup. The second analysis posits that the soldiers were under the control of leaders who were from their profession and reflected their mentality, so they considered a direct intervention in politics unnecessary. We can consider the latter as an institutionalization of the pro-coup mindset, ironically preventing a coup. In my opinion, both factors were effective and explain why there were no military coups during the one-party period.

At the end of World War II, Turkey had to make a decision regarding its place in the world: either be part of the democratic western bloc or be a part of the eastern bloc lead by the Soviet Union, which at the time was an ally of the West against Germany. In terms of its official ideological imposition, witnessed in the pruning and suppression of civil society, and the state's control over the economy, Turkey bore more resemblance to the Soviet world rather than to the west. However, two factors influenced Turkey in deciding not to ally with the Soviets: the west seemed more powerful, and the Soviets had tried to bully Turkey into giving them land in eastern Turkey and a base in the Bosporus.

At the time, Turkey seemed to be in a position where it could not resist the Soviets on its own, thus it was in a way forced to side with the west. Hence, Turkey's dictator ismet inonu initiated a transition period for Turkey's political system. The establishment of opposing political parties was permitted, control over media was loosened, and suppressions and limitations on religious freedom were eased. This process, which started in 1945-46, was completed in 1950. The first of the multi-party elections, which was conjured by judicial control, led by the liberals of the era, was held on 14 May 1950. In this election, the Republican People's Party (CHP)--which claimed to have built the state but was in fact formed by the state as a mechanism to control Turkish society, and had held power over the state since 1923--unexpectedly lost. The surprised CHP leaders had considered themselves as the benefactor of the society; thus, they believed that the people had a debt of gratitude toward them and in return would keep them in power. However, it was clear that the people were not going to return the so-called favor, since the one-party regime did not go beyond a dictatorship that extorted freedom, and also caused widespread poverty with its statist economic policy all over Turkey.

After 14 May 1950 elections, the Democrat Party (DP) took power, and the Kemalist military bureaucracy was not happy with the results. They laid plans to interfere and made inonu an offer to eliminate the Democrat Party as soon as possible. However, inonu prudentially refused the offer and transferred power to the DP. This moment was an important democratic victory, both for Turkey and the Islamic world at large.

Unfortunately, the conflict between pro-democracy forces and the Turkish military was far from over. After the victory of the DP in 1950, Turkey ushered in a wave of coups that has plagued almost all of the country's subsequent experience of democracy. Although some were complete coups, there were other military interventions of a smaller scale that demanded ruling constitution provisions or political changes. The traditional coups of 1960, 1971, 1980 and the post-modern coup of 1997 can be considered as the main military coups of Turkey's democratic period. There were also coup attempts during this time; Colonel Talat Aydemir, as an active officer in 1962 and as a retired officer in 1963, attempted twice to make a coup with the excuse that the 1960 coup d'etat did not reach the goals it aimed for, and was inconsistent with Kemalist ideals. He gave up his first attempt under the condition that he would not be put on trial; however, his second attempt ended with his execution. We can list these two coups as the unsuccessful and prevented coups that occurred before 15 July 2016. An important factor in the failure of these earlier coups is the fact that these coups were attempted against ismet inonu, who was both a historical figure and a former military general. inonu managed to prevent these coups, and catch and put the culprits to trial, with the help of his loyal troops.

The coups and coup attempts prior to 15 July 2016 were all seemingly based on Kemalist ideology. In every coup and coup attempt, the plotters stated their loyalty to the Kemalist notion and sought to legitimize their actions by attributing their work to Ataturk's principles and his aims. Many civilian groups also supported these interventions and claimed to act on behalf of Ataturk, or used his name along with the army. The Kemalist leaders considered military intervention a last resort against politicians that they did not like, and who did not share the same worldview with them, and could not be beaten in the political arena.

The military coups were sometimes carried out by juntas inside the army, as in the case of the 1960 coup d'etat, or sometimes by the chain of command inside the whole army, as in the case of the 1980 coup. According to the statements of the coup plotters, the coups were carried out with such aims as, "protecting secularism, reaching to a level of a modern civilization, fighting against communism and reactionism; preventing commotion, disorder, anarchy, internal conflict; protecting and establishing democracy." However the coups were more about fighting against the center-right conservatives and in opposition to conservative liberal political power.

Military Tension in the AK Party Era

The AK Party, led by the former mayor of Istanbul Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was established in August of 2001, in a political system overshadowed by the military. Although the AK Party was founded by religious leaders and was based on a political tradition that gave importance to religion, it joined the race with more democratic values than its precursors. While it was only 2 years old, the party managed to win an unexpected election victory by gaining 36 percent of the votes in 3 November 2002 elections. Due to the 10 percent election threshold, the AK Party managed to win the right to form a government with the majority, since the rest of the parties, with the exception of the CHP, were unable to win a single seat in parliament. Once imprisoned and deprived of his political rights by the Kemalist regime leaders for reciting a poem, Erdogan was elected a member of parliament and took office as Turkey's Prime Minister in spring 2003. Since that time, except during a transitional government between 7 June 2015 and 1 November 2015, the AK Party has managed to remain in power as a single-party government. The AK Party is thus considered one of the most successful political parties in the history of Turkish democracy.

For much of its tenure, the AK Party endeavored to continue its power despite military oppression and threats. Turkish soldiers felt no need to hide their discontent and frustration with the AK Party: not only did military officers verbally bully AK Party politicians, they also hindered the political activities of the AK Party government. Military generals attacked the AK Party and its administrations, sometimes anonymously, through the media. According to...