Turkiye'de Militarist Devlet Soylemi (Militarist State Discourse in Turkey).

• Author: Efe, Ibrahim
• Position: Book review

Turkiye'de Militarist Devlet Soylemi (Militarist State Discourse in Turkey)

By Ali Balci

Ankara: KadimYayinlari, 2011, 168 pages, ISBN 9789759000240.

ALI BALCI's Militarist State Discourse in Turkey is an adaption of the second chapter of his PhD thesis that surveyed the period between 1960 and 1983 in Turkey, which witnessed three military coups in row. Following Michel Foucault's understanding of discourse, Balci analyzes the militarist discourse between 1960 and 1983 that thoroughly dominated the state discourse. The main argument of the study is that the militarist discourse dominated all spheres in Turkey, from the state apparatus to society and the economy, in this period of history. Although the book can be read as part of the growing critical literature on civil-military relations in today's Turkey, it differs from other studies by situating the dominant militaristic discourse within a specific period. The first part of the book accounts for the term "militarism" and elaborates on the global context of militarism, namely the Cold War period. "Militarization" and "militarism" are used interchangeably to denote the intervention of the army in politics and the prevalent military-inspired practices in state institutions and society (pp. 20-1). Both terms are also replaced by a "militarist discourse" which refers, rather ambiguously though, to a comprehensive set of discursive practices embodying the military's effect(s) on politics and society. Therefore, Balci uses the term "militarist discursive period" (militarist soylemsel donem) to refer to a specific time span in the political history of Turkey when militarism, militarization and militarist discourses were not challenged by any notable opposition. The book also challenges existing analyses of military takeovers in Turkey which view them either as inevitable results of an evolutionary process or historical characteristics of society, and instead argues that the militarist discourse of the period can only be understood by looking at concomitant conditions of the day and their fusion in Turkey and the world (pp. 11 and 33-41).

The rivalry between the US and Russia and its ramifications on global politics sets the historical ground for the emergence and spread of militarist discourse all over the world. The examples of military takeovers from Third World countries are evidence of how comprehensive the effects of this rivalry were in the Cold War era (pp. 19-32). Therefore, the...